Why Go Green?
"Going green" (also occasionally referred to as doing things which are beneficial for, or at least less harmful to, the environment) is practically an advertising buzzword lately. No company is "cool" if they're not jumping on the "Go Green" bandwagon and spending obscene amounts of money on advertisements (ironically, including advertisements in Dead Tree Format publications) promoting how they're doing things which are great for the environment. This concept of becoming more environmentally-conscious and working to promote sustainable lifestyles used to be restricted to relatively quite few people who were occasionally derided in semi-private conversation. Now, however, "going green" is becoming pervasive — hybrid cars, pushing for computers and laptops consuming less and less energy, advertisements for better insulation in homes to reduce energy consumption, promoting alternatives to driving alone in your vehicle and a preference for materials which are either reusable, biodegradable or not currently known to be poisonous to the environment, just to name a few. Yes, I know the new "environmentally-friendly" compact fluorescent light bulbs have mercury in them, no I don't like it, but they're "environmentally-friendly" because of their "low" energy consumption. And they're perfectly safe, so don't worry about it. Just try not to drop one on your floor, mercury is bad for both you and the environment. You know what? Just skip the CFL bulbs and get LED bulbs instead. They may be more expensive but they use even less energy without the mercury content and last much longer.
Now, not all of us are so caring about our environment for various reasons, but jumping on the "Go Green" bandwagon is still beneficial even looking only at the one thing most people (and the vast majority of companies and shareholders) truly care about: money. That's right, being environmentally-conscious not only helps you look like a better person (or corporation), it also saves you money long-term. It's a bigger initial investment even for individuals, you may need to put a little extra effort in, but long-term the total cost savings can be substantial. Take the difference between CFL bulbs and LED bulbs as one example. To buy a CFL bulb you can expect to pay a couple dollars per bulb, maybe less. For a LED bulb, you should expect to pay significantly more — $50 or more per bulb. However, the total cost savings can make the bulb worth it if you look over the life of the bulb rather than your immediate bank balance. The Bright Star bulb costs about $100. It's a 10 watt LED bulb equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb, using only about one-tenth of the power, and is rated for eleven years of continuous usage. That's about 96000 hours. It's expected that you will save about $400 over the life of the bulb. Compare that to the average CFL bulb, which is expected to save you significantly less over its lifespan and lasts anywhere from 8000 hours (less than one year) to 15000 hours (about 1.7 years, or about one year, eight months and two weeks). The good LED bulb saves you enough to buy three to four bulbs to replace each one that expires and still break even, not considering future improvements to LED technology. And that's on average per bulb, so if you have ten of these you can expect to save thousands of dollars. Wouldn't it be nice to say that you paid for a vacation out of money previously earmarked for your power bill? The downside is that LED bulbs don't always give you very white light. Neither do CFL bulbs, but thanks to additional funding for CFL technology it's gotten better a lot faster than for LED bulbs. However, if you're already used to the average CFL bulb, a good LED bulb won't look much different in my opinion.
Light bulbs are of course just one example. There are other things you can do, like buying a hybrid car, to save more noticeable amounts of money in a shorter amount of time. Another suggestion that saves relatively small amounts of money each month is to use power bars and turn off the power bar when you're not using something. Hook one up to your office desk and turn it off when you're not using the computer. Do the same for the living room, turn off a power bar when no one is watching TV or playing games. Turn off lights when you're not in the room (which will make those LED bulbs last much longer than eleven calendar years — they're rated for eleven years continuous usage remember) and use cold water for washing clothing. Each thing may only save small amounts each month, but together they can add up to real savings before too long.
Going green isn't just for the environmentally-conscious. It's a great reason, but let's face it, a lot of people don't care about the environment. But especially with the recent global financial fiasco, which is still being felt even though most financial experts claim we're past it, more people are more concerned than before about their money. So even if you don't care about the environment, jump on the "Go Green" bandwagon to help protect your bank balance. You even get to choose between saying you're looking out for the Greater Good or for yourself, most people probably won't know the difference, and you look better for doing it.
