In the U.S.’ biggest compact fluorescent light bulb giveaway, California utility PG&E began handing out 1 million energy-efficient CFLs today. The bulbs use 75 percent less electricity than conventional incandescent lighting and they’ve become something of an icon in the fight against global warming given that lighting accounts for a big chunk of greenhouse gas emissions. Wal-Mart (WMT) in particular has jumped on the CFL bandwagon, announcing Tuesday it had already exceeded its goal of selling 100 million bulbs by the end of 2007.
The PG&E (PCG) giveaway is part of its efforts to push 20 million CFLs into customers’ homes by the end of the year. PG&E spokesperson Keely Wachs told Green Wombat that the utility will spend $1.25 million on the freebies. Or more accurately, PG&E customers will spend that as the giveaway comes under the utility’s state-mandated energy efficiency efforts whose costs regulators permit to be recouped through electricity rates. "The benefits of handing these out and the energy efficiency that will be realized far outweigh our costs to customers," Wachs says.
PG&E estimates over the lifetime of the 1 million bulbs – if they’re installed in California homes – will save more 400,000 megawatts of electricity and eliminate 200,000 tons of greenhouse gases. Tomorrow PG&E will announce a deal with Safeway (SWY) grocery stores to sell CFLs at a discount.
Green Wombat 
A drop in the bucket when retailers run A/C onto the streets in the belief it attracts customers as they do in Key West. I’d wager it happens MANY other places as well.
Conservation is great; but unrealistic untill substitutes like the light bulbs noted in this article are available at acceptable initial cost.
When it seems that so many are playing the denial game, at least PG&E and Wal-Mart are doing something. Kudos to both companies!
As far as the initial cost of the bulbs go; yes it is expensive but… I converted my home to all CFLs about 7 years ago, my energy bill dropped dramatically and I’ve only had to replace 3 or 4 of them in that entire time. I was replacing incandescent bulbs once or twice a month. In my humble opinion, they are well worth the initial investment.
PGE, to their credit, was doing this almost 20 years ago when I lived on the Peninsula. A representative came to our house and set up a number of large and small FLs, and that started us off. Turning off lights, using less heat – we live in CA, after all – using fewer power tools, walking instead of driving, etc. – all small contributions which, when multiplied by the large population we have, make a large difference. We can’t fix the whole problem immediately, but we can start chipping away at it.
You can get a 6 pack of these bulbs in the Wal*Mart brand for about ten dollars. They’re making strides in making these affordable for everyone, and the drop in your energy bill will allow these to pay for themselves many times over.
Every little bit helps, I just started recycling my trash and I went from 1 big bag per week down to 1 small bag every other week.
One guy making a dent is Eric Woodroof, Ph.D. who is training companies to “go green” and be profitable at the same time.
http://profitablegreensolutions.biz
I was amazed to discover that you can buy 4 of the 100 Watt bulbs for $1.99 at Wal-Green and 10 of the 60 watt bulbs for $3.89 at Costco. All thanks to PGE’s giveaway. If people in California don’t pick these up, they’re really crazy!
We are trying to look up a symbol for school. It looks like a energy efficient light bulb (swirl) with a green leaf. Do you know what this represents? Thank You!
Any information about the city of San Francisco’s undergrounding project of fibre optic wires for monitoring energy usage?
-Just found your website by chance; great source of environmental topcs esp. in CA.
Handy Man Magazine says we should not throw these new spiral lights into the trash. They have to be disposed of at special places. Does anyone know about that? I just replaced all my regular lightbulbs with the longer lasting ones. Now I am worried about what to do with them when they burn out.