reducing your personal carbon footprint

This summer I traveled to Europe where I was reminded how energy conscious the rest of the world is. All homes and hotels I visited sported fluorescent lights everywhere and all persons were sensitive to lights being on in rooms unoccupied or the use of appliances during the middle of the day. This got me thinking about my energy use and how if cutting back a little would mean anything in the bigger -save the planet- picture.

See this original post which I've moved to my other blog in February 2009 where I consider alternatives for reducing energy use just by residential lighting alone; http://leandisciplinedsystems.blogspot.com/

I've kept this graph below of mercury output because I find it surprising especially in lieu that many 'anti-CFL' folks blame their reluctance to switch based on mercury output. Surprising, no? If you're one that doesn't like CFL lighting, join the club - however, I've learned in the last two years that not only can you purchase varying colors of CFL light thus reducing harshness, eye fatique, and that "I look horrible" feeling actuallity, but you can also by lower wattages for a dimming effect.

So what about the mercury in CFLs, you say? Yes, that is an important and hot issue now. Read more information from Energy Star on their FAQ webpage and consider their graph of Mercury output in emissions due to both power generation and disposal for CFL verses incandescent light energy production: