01.03.07
Wal-Mart’s Bright Idea
Kudos are due to one of the institutions we love to hate. The NYT reports that Wal-Mart is planning to push fluorescent light bulbs as replacements to incandescents in the home. Should they succeed in their quest to make 50% of the light bulbs Americans buy fluorescent, it would save Americans $3 billion per year in electricity. It’s enough to power almost half a million homes. So we are talking about saving 1/6 th of one percent of the electrical power generated for use in the home. It’s not much, but you have to start somewhere.
The project resulted from a “light bulb summit” held in October between environmentalists, lightbulb manufacturers, and retailers. And it would increase the sale of fluorescents from about 3 million units per year to 100 million units per year. It’s an easy change to make. The technology is ready. It’s time to act responsibly.