This past week my wife and I have been in Northwest Arkansas for a family emergency situation. While there, we stopped in a gas station to "take care of some business" and I snapped this picture with my cell's camera.
The owner of this gas station seems to be a little unsure as to which light bulb is best. So which is it? CFL (compact fluorescent lamp), incandescent, or no bulb at all? Can you help him out?
As you can see (if you look closely) in the picture, the bulb on the left is the CFL. The bulb in the middle is an old fashioned incandescent. The bulb on the right is...non-existent. That brings up a good question.
Does the lack of bulb, i.e. an open light socket, save energy or does it actually waste it?
It might make sense to say that energy in an open light socket is just running out of the socket into thin air, running up your electric bill. This, however, isn't true.
To the best of my knowledge of basic electrical, and from a similar question asked on Yahoo Answers, power is still running to the socket, but without something to close the circuit like a light bulb or a finger, no energy is being consumed.
Back to the finger thing. Though this gas station isn't wasting energy in that empty socket, they are presenting a very real and very dangerous safety risk. What if someone turned on the water to wash their hands and then for some reason decided to stick their finger up in that socket? Yikes.
Anyway, if you're new to this fun green conversation and lifestyle, check out this previous post about CFL's and incandescents. You can save more energy and money than you may think.
A Special Note:
Thanks to Lynnette from the original The Fun Times Guide for guest posting two great articles about Time Magazine's 51 Ways to Save the Environment [Part 1 & 2] for me here on The Fun Times Guide to Living Green while I was away last week.
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Thanks for the returning welcome Meredith. You make a great point about what CFL's can do for businesses. Unfortunately, they can't see past a couple dollars extra on the fore front. Hence, they cut off their noses to spite their faces.
Glad you're back! I noticed on our recent trip that both our hotels had converted to compact fluorescent bulbs in all light fixtures. I never thought about it before, but businesses can save power AND the time you need to replace traditional light bulbs every few weeks!