Does switching the lights on and off use more energy than leaving them on? The answer is no, despite the common misperception that turning a light on creates a power surge. The thinking is that it’s more economical to just leave a light on rather than pay the costs of flicking it back on.

In reality, that “surge” lasts for only a fraction of second, according to Francis Rubinstein, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Any “start-up” energy costs are minuscule at best and are more than offset by the money you save from turning your lights off, even if it’s only for a short time.

So if you’re strictly concerned about saving energy (and money), you should turn your lights out when you’re not using them.

The bigger issue with turning lights on and off frequently, though, has to do with shortening the product’s lifetime, says Christina Kielich at the Department of Energy.

It doesn’t affect the lamp life of an incandescent bulb very much, says Rubinstein. So it makes sense to always turn them off when you a leave room, even if it’s only for a few minutes.

Compact florescent light bulbs, on the other hand, are a somewhat different story. Flicking them on and off repeatedly will affect how long they last, although, Rubinstein points out that the impact is minimal for most households.

How much flicking on and off is too much? The general consensus is that it’s best to turn off CFLs when you are leaving for 15 minutes or longer. In fact, Energy Star recommends installing florescent bulbs in fixtures that are used for at least 15 minutes at time. So it doesn’t make sense to use them in places where you’d need to switch them on and off constantly.

The rule of thumb is a little different when you’re at the office, according to Rubinstein. Turn out florescent lighting when you’re leaving for at least 5 minutes. The reason? Full-size florescent systems aren’t as sensitive to frequent cycling as CFLs and won’t impact the life of the bulb as much.

I have not posted in a while but this video really caught my eye and I thought I would share it with the team.

As a side note , I like everybody else am waiting to Citizenre to move forward. I receive daily emails about the status of the company checking to see if anything has changed over the last couple of years. There seems to be new possibilities that come up e very week but the company has stayed in the ideation stage. Is that going to change ? We all have to wait and see what results are created.

When we do launch , we will be the ones to launch the company into the solar lead.

Tim Padden
House of Solar

Stop Bush’s Last Attempts to Weaken Standards

President Bush may be a lame duck, but he can still do irreparable harm to the environment. The Bush Administration is in the midst of a last-minute push to weaken environmental standards, like allowing drilling in Arches National Park.  These are regulations that would be difficult or impossible for the Obama Administration to reverse.  Send a message to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, and Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne today to protect our planet! 

Click here send a message!

YOU ARE THE LANDLORD OF THIS HOUSE. CAST YOUR VOTE TODAY !!!

Bill Moyers speaks his mind on Bush-brand environmental destruction and more
By Amanda Griscom

26 Aug 2003
Bill Moyers is best known as the broadcast journalist who, for more than 20 years, has brought the public frank, soul-searching, and sometimes frightening examinations of — well, of almost everything under the sun. On air, he’s equally comfortable discussing politics or poetry, scriptures or science.

Bill Moyers isn’t pulling punches.

Photo: PBS.

Born in Oklahoma in 1934 and raised in Texas, Moyers has had a highly celebrated and peripatetic career that has included stints as a Baptist minister, deputy director of the Peace Corps in the Kennedy administration, and press secretary to President Johnson. Moyers later became publisher of the New York daily Newsday, an analyst and commentator on CBS and NBC news, and a cofounder, with his wife Judith Davidson, of Public Affairs Television, where he produced series ranging from “God and Politics” to “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth.”

Having racked up more than 30 Emmy Awards during his television career, Moyers is now the host and producer of the Friday night PBS series “NOW with Bill Moyers.” He is also one of the few TV news and culture journalists who believe that there are still plenty of viewers who want to think and learn. At “NOW,” Moyers has focused with increasing intensity on the Bush administration’s environmental record. Since his show launched in January 2002, Moyers has produced more than 20 reports on environmental subjects ranging from mountaintop-removal mining to the industry backgrounds of Bush’s key political appointees. This Friday at 9 p.m. EST, he’ll put the Bush record in a larger context, airing an interview with award-winning scientist David Suzuki, who believes the global environment is in its final moments of sustainability.

Grist tracked Moyers down at his office to discuss environmental policy rollbacks, the ecological concerns that he says “burn in his consciousness,” and the world he wants to leave for his grandchildren.

In the year and a half since the launch of your PBS program “NOW,” you have done extensive reporting on the Bush administration’s environmental record. At a time when most news outlets have focused on war and recession, you and your team have been among the few journalists who’ve consistently taken a hard look at these policy rollbacks. What has been motivating you?

The facts on the ground. I’m a journalist, reporting the evidence, not an environmentalist pressing an agenda. The Earth is sending us a message and you don’t have to be an environmentalist to read it. The Arctic ice is melting. The Arctic winds are balmy. The Arctic Ocean is rising. Scientists say that in the year 2002 — the second-hottest on record — they saw the Arctic ice coverage shrink more than at any time since they started measuring it. Every credible scientific study in the world says human activity is creating global warming. In the face of this evidence, the government in Washington has declared war on nature. They have placed religious and political dogma over the facts.

MORE>>>

A great context check.

Top 5 Alarming World Poverty Statistics

5. More than 800 million people suffer from malnutrition.

4. The United States spends 0.16% of its budget on aid to poor countries, the second lowest percentage among all developed countries.

3. A worker in Bangladesh making garments for Disney would have to work 210 years in order to earn what Disney’s CEO gets paid in one hour.

2. 35,000 children a day die from diseases related to malnutrition, or 1 every 2 seconds.

1. Over three billion people (roughly half the world’s population) live on less than two dollars a day.

Top 5 Alarming United States Poverty Statistics

5. In 1968, the minimum wage was 86% of the living wage. By 1998, that figure had fallen to 64%.

4. On any given night, 750,000 Americans do not have shelter, or 1 in 400.

3. 40 million Americans do not have medical insurance, 0r 1 in 8.

2. 10 million Americans go hungry each day, 40% of them children.

1. In 1996, one in four Americans under 18 was living in poverty.

Top 10 Alarming United States Wealth Statistics

10. Since 1950, Americans have used up more resources than everyone who ever lived on earth before 1950.

9. In 2000, CEO’s earned 475 times what their average workers made.

8. 57% of those listed on the 1997 Forbes 400 started life as millionaires.

7. Americans spend more on trash bags than 90 other countries spend on everything.

6. 27% of people earning over $100,000 agree that “I cannot afford to buy everything I really need.”

5. On 15% of Americans report that they would be satisfied with a comfortable middle-class lifestyle.

4. The Unites States comprises 5% of the world’s population, yet accounts for 40% of its gasoline consumption.

3. The average size of a new home today is double what it was in the 1950’s.

2. The average American consumes 5 times more than a Mexican, 10 times more than a Chinese person, and 30 times more than someone from India.

1. If everyone in the world consumed at the same rate as Americans do, we would need six planet earths to meet the demand for resources.

Friends,

Congress is set to vote on the future of solar in America in the next 36 hours.

The Senate has included the critical clean energy tax incentives–including an 8 year extension of the 30% investment tax credit, with removal of residential caps–in the bailout package (aka the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008). This adds a significant job development enhancement to the package–according to this study by Navigant, 1.2 million of them.  Now the bailout is not just greenbacks for Wallstreet, but also green jobs for Mainstreet, if you will. The bill will likely pass the Senate tonight, but prospects in the House are much more uncertain.

If you want to see the tax credits go through, call your representative in the House to urge their support for the Senate-passed Stabilization Bill.

-Call Instructions-

1) Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard (202-224-3121) and ask for your House Member’s office number.

2) When you call the office, state your name and location and ask to be transferred to the Chief of Staff.  If she/he isn’t available, ask to leave a message for her/him.

3) Sample message: “My name is _____ and I am calling from (location) to urge Representative XX to vote “YES” on the Economic Stabilization bill coming over from the Senate. 

The clean energy tax incentives extender package was added to the bill, and if signed into law, 1.2 million employment opportunities, including 440,000 permanent jobs, and $232 billion in new investment would be generated in the U.S. by the solar energy sector alone through 2016.

Thank you in advance for building the clean energy economy of tomorrow by voting YES on the Economic Stabilization Bill coming over from the Senate.”

Dear House of Solar team,

In the 30-plus years I’ve been fighting to protect our environment, there’s never been a moment quite like this.

Right now, we have the scientific knowledge and cutting-edge technologies we need to cut global warming pollution and build a cleaner, greener energy future. But technology isn’t quite enough—we also need to have a strong, pro-environment Congress.

That’s why I’ve decided to get behind LCV Action Fund this year. Their top-notch election campaign WILL ensure that some of the worst environmental enemies—like Senators Ted Stevens, Elizabeth Dole, and Jim Inhofe—don’t make it back for another term. But they can’t do it without our help.

Will you give today to help LCV Action Fund make sure the Dirty Dozen don’t see another term in office?

Recently, I read a piece by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times where he said, “The greenest thing you can do is this: Choose the right leaders. It is so much more important to change your leaders than change your light bulbs.”

And I thought to myself, that’s exactly it. I’ve been appalled by the direction dirty politicians have been leading our country when it comes to the environment. They have been sitting comfortably in the pocket of Big Oil and Dirty Coal for far too long. They are the ones who are preventing us from passing laws to protect the environment. They are the ones who have made it possible for the polluting interests to profit while American families struggle with rising gas prices.

I know you are just as frustrated as I am. And that is why I am urging you to support LCV Action Fund. They know how to defeat the Dirty Dozen who have polluted the halls of Congress for years with their shameful environmental records. But they need our help before September 30.

We can’t let this critical moment pass us by. Click here to donate today.

LCV Action Fund has a sophisticated political targeting program that carefully identifies, persuades, and mobilizes undecided voters in the Dirty Dozen’s states and districts. It’s a time-honored program—and I’ve seen it work. Being named to the Dirty Dozen is as close to a political death knell as it gets—LCV Action Fund has defeated 41 of them over the last 12 years! That is an amazing record considering 96% of incumbents have won re-election since 1996.

Elections matter. Who controls Congress matters. Change is possible. I saw it when I lobbied for the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act more than three decades ago. And today, all that is standing in the way of our clean energy future is the selfish, negligent politics of the Dirty Dozen.

Don’t let them block progress to a clean future for our environment any more. Click here to help make this term their last.

Thank you so much.

Sincerely,

Robert Redford

P.S. LCV Action Fund is leading the charge to turn our environmental values into national priorities. Give today and help them in this fight by defeating the Dirty Dozen this fall.