I have been trying to follow the rules of this week’s green challenge by turning off all lights when I leave a room and I understand that it saves energy, but I think it would be a good exercise to find out specifically why this is a good idea. “Save energy” is such a broad term and it seems to help me to take a look at specific reasons why I should be turning off lights to save energy.
One of the most common ways electricity is created is by burning fossil fuels. When fossil fuels, such as coal, oil or natural gas, carbon dioxide is released into the air and that is the nasty stuff that leads to global warming. So, by keeping the lights on when you are not using them is just an exercise in wastefulness. To turn OFF those same lights is an expression of conservation and only using what you need.
How big of a difference does this make? Although I usually really like doing the math, I am going to rely on other people’s math today. A 60 Watt light bulb consumes .06 Kilowatt hours of electricity. If I can prevent this light bulb from being on 3 additional hours by turning off the light when I am not using it, this adds up to .18 kWh, or about 66kWh per year. According to this site, 1 kWh of electricity generated from coal creates 1-3 pounds of CO2. A simple step such as turning off a light saves 66-198 pounds of CO2 per year. If you start talking about households where lights are left on all the time, I suppose the potential waste can get into the thousands of pounds.
This is such a small step and such a big reward for our planet. Let me know if you have any other interesting information on the subject in the comment area below.
