Switching off the lights both at your home and business could save you a whole lot of money and do good for the earth as well. “Residential lighting consumption was about 215 billion kWh, equal to about 15% of all residential electricity consumption. About 311 billion kWh was consumed for lighting by the commercial sector, which includes commercial and institutional buildings and public street and highway lighting, equal to 23% of commercial sector electricity consumption,” according to the Electricity Information Administration (EIA).
Turning off your lights when you are not in the room helps use less coal. In the United States (in 2007) 617 electric generating facilities burn coal. Generating electricity is dirtying our air with pollution from the coal burning.
In 2008, 65 nuclear power plants with 104 operating nuclear reactors generate more than 808.97 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), or almost 20% of the nation’s electricity. Nuclear power plants create radioactive material which must be disposed of; but there is no place on earth which is really safe for this disposal and the waste is building up.
The message is clear: turn off the lights - simply turning off your light switch when you are not in the room brings humanity a little closer to living cleaner, plus it saves you a bundle of money during a difficult economic time.
Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com
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