TURN OFF THE LIGHTS
Wouldn’t life be amazing if every room in your house was like your refrigerator, magically turning the lights off when you weren’t there? Actually, that’s very possible with today’s technology, but let’s assume you don’t have the cash to buy all the bits and pieces or the know-how to replace your existing shit without hiring an electrician. Let’s also assume you’re like me and want to save both money and the environment.
Whenever you leave a room, just flip the switch to turn off the light.
As far as habits go, this one’s easy enough to do, just sometimes hard to remember. Also, make sure no one else is in there before you turn the light off. Otherwise, they’ll think you’re a dick.
One simple way to get into this habit is to place brightly colored reminders like post-its or stickers either near the light switch or near the doorway so you’ll definitely see it on your way out, It’ll remind you to take that half-second to save the world and your wallet.
I’m mostly talking about your old-school incandescent bulbs. They’re remarkably wasteful with only 10% of their energy being converted the light and the rest being lost as heat. If you still have these little bastards for some reason, or Halogens (commonly found in track lighting), you might consider replacing them.
I highly recommend (as does pretty much everyone) that you switch out the bulbs in your house to LEDs. They’re definitely expensive, but it’s only because you’re replacing years of bulbs at once, thus saving money all around and cutting out all those times you have to find a fucking ladder or stepping stool to change the things out when they die.
If you’re worried about using dimmers, yeah, it sucks but you might have to switch some of those out as well. It’s still well worth the cost and effort. If you’re not handy or haven’t done this before, be really fucking careful or just hire someone. I take no responsibility if you electrocute yourself.
If you already have Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFLs) or Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) instead, the need to do this drops considerably. In fact, CFLs use the most energy in the “startup” process so frequent on/offs is actually more wasteful. With LEDs, it almost doesn’t even matter if it’s on or off since they’re so efficient.
However… You should still make this a habit since you’re not always at home and incandescent bulbs are still the most commonly found bulb. Turning off the light is something you can carry with you wherever you go.
This rule also applies to other devices beyond lights such as TVs and computers but let’s start with the easy shit first.
Learn to turn off the light and you’ll lower both your power bill and your carbon footprint with just a flick of the switch.
Read the new Essential Guide to Habits at GoodFuckingHabits.com.
