Why Changing Your Lightbulbs Doesn’t Matter
OK, I'm officially sick of it. Let's stop talking about changing our world by changing your light bulbs. There are a few reasons why people tell you that switching from incandescents to CFLs should be done, and they're all crap reasons. I'm tired of it.
First, they'll tell you that 22% of America's energy is eaten up by light bulbs. And that, absolutely, is true. But the majority of that 22% has nothing to do with household lighting. It's streetlights, supermarkets and other businesses that gulp down the majority of lighting energy.
But mostly, that's not what bothers me about these "campaigns". More than anything, I'm sick of pretending like we can solve the energy crisis by asking people to make decisions that are counter to their interest.
We will never significantly reduce our energy use in this country by asking nicely. If you tell someone "Save the planet, change your light bulb" you'll be lucky to get a 20% action rate. But if you say "save $200 per year, change your light bulbs" you're suddenly on the right side of every argument.
That's why I believe in EcoGeek's mission. Because I can see throughout history technology leading positive change. Whether it's the freedom of expression heralded first by the printing press and then by the internet, or the bicycle bringing freedom and mobility to oppressed women, or digital downloading completely revolutionizing and negating copyright law.
It's not about asking people to choose, it's giving them a better choice. If you build a light bulb that's cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, has better light quality, and works exactly the same, people won't be choosing a better technology, they'll be choosing the only technology left.
That's what EcoGeek is here for, to talk about those technologies as they arise, whether it's a new light bulb that actually will make a difference (because it's for large-scale business application) or a new car that you'll only need to fill up a couple of times per year. We don't talk about why you should adopt a new technology, we talk about why you'll want to.