Greening your parents
I'm spending Thanksgiving weekend with my parents in Holland, Michigan. One of the problems I always deal with at this time of year is what to get two 81-year-olds for Christmas.
This year I had an inspiration. I offered to replace all the traditional incandescent lightbulbs in their house with energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs. I did the same in our own house in Harrisburg, Pa., and the savings on my electric bill were noticeable and immediate. I'm probably saving 10 percent on my bill. With CFL's you get the same light for less electricity .
My parents liked the idea, so I jumped in the car and headed for Menard's, a regional home improvement store, and Home Depot. Turns out Menard's had the better prices and selection.
Before I left, I inventoried the bulbs in the house. I counted 30, but it turned out I missed a couple. I needed eleven 100-watt equivalent CFL's, nine 60's, four 3-way bulbs that went up to 150 watts, and five candelabra bulbs for a
light fixture in the dining rooms. Check these carefully to determine their wattage and what type base they have. You don't want to replace five 25's with five 40s and have the room lit up like a prison yard. I assumed they had
the pencil eraser size candelabra base, but instead they had the 'Edison' base like on a regular lightbulb.
I paid $82 for the bulbs. I didn't get the candelabras because I wasn't sure if my mother would like their shape. I'll keep looking for those.
The only problem we had was that three of the light fixtures were too small for the slightly larger CFL bulbs. The tiny overhead light in the library was slightly too small for even one of the new mini-100's I found at Menards. I thought I had it, then heard an ominous cracking sound. I removed the broken bulb and out the incandescent back in. Two of the three-ways were simply too large to fit in old lamps. I had to put the old bulbs back I those, too. But in 27 of the light fixtures, the new bulbs worked fine.
One note: when you go to a store like Menard's, you will see both 'daylight' and 'soft' CFL bulbs. Get the soft. The light the produce is most like the light from incandescent bulbs. Also, tell your parents that CFL bulbs can take as long as a minute to come to full brightness, although it is typically much less.
You'll feel quite satisfied when you're done, having helped your parents save money and spared the Earth some greenhouse gases. And Santa will know you've been a good boy.