You know the little bit of oil that lasted 8 days? Here is your chance to re-enact extraordinary energy savings in celebration of the holiday.
 
Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) use 75% less energy than incandescent light bulbs. This means less production of greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and toxic waste. If every U.S. household replaced one bulb with a CFL, it would have the same impact as removing one million cars from the road. To maximize your energy savings, we recommend replacing your 4 most frequently used bulbs with CFLs.
 
If you are pondering where to put the CFL bulbs, you’ll be glad to know that they fit in all the traditional sockets where your usual incandescent bulbs fit. Some examples of great places to put CFL bulbs:
 

• In your living room table or floor lamp. Covered with a shade or pointed toward the ceiling or wall, CFLs create a soft light that fills the whole room. And in your living room, you can show off your energy savings to your friends!
• In your bathroom, particularly if you keep the light on for all of Shabbos. Less energy and more light.
• That light over the stove that stays on all of Shabbos. A bright, low-heat light will save you energy there!
• Any other place where the light stays on for a long time!

 
Saving energy makes sense for your wallet, the environment, and for national energy security. You can save energy by buying inexpensive, high-quality lightbulbs.
 
Want to do more than buy your own bulbs? The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life has launched a nationwide campaign to address the climate change crisis by celebrating Chanukah with a campaign to help congregations, Jewish institutions, and individuals purchase and install energy efficient, cost effective compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. To join the campaign and get your community involved, email climatechange@coejl.org today.
 
Originally posted in “On Eagles’ Wings” December 19th 2006