Seth Godin ignited a blog push for a good cause, to encourage people to use/try compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of the standard incandescent light bulbs most people use today. I won’t rehash the benefits beyond saying they save money, last longer, and use way less energy than standard light bulbs. Instead, I’ll just mention my quick personal story with them.
I first read about the benefits of CFLs a few years back, and bought a few to try them out. Basically, my wife and I hated the flourescent feel to the light, they flickered and took a second to light up, and they looked “funny” in lights where you could see the bulb. Those reasons led us I guess to make the unconscious decision to not purchase them again although we never really discussed it.
It’s now a few years later, and the impacts of energy use are a bit more real, so we took another look. The newer bulbs I bought have a light that rivals the normal bulbs, they turn on much faster, and the flickering is gone. They still look a bit funny, but that’s really just because we’re not used to them. I’ve now started using them in place of any old bulbs that go out so soon I imagine all our lights will be switched over. Additionally, I’m looking at LED lighting for the recessed lights I have in my house because CFLs don’t fit there and LED lights also have low energy usage.
If you want to participate in the blog push for CFLs, there’s also a Squidoo Lens to note you’re participating.