Week 35: #Waves4Change 2020 Sustainability Challenge: Turn Off the Lights You Don’t Need for A Week

Why Take This Challenge?

Turning off lights saves energy and it also saves money. To calculate how much energy you save for every hour each light bulb in your house is switched off, first check the watt rating printed on it. If the bulb is a 60-watt bulb and it is off for one hour, then you are saving .06 kilowatt-hours.

To then calculate how much money you are saving, grab your most recent electric bill, find out how much you are charged per kilowatt-hour, and then multiply the price by the amount of kilowatt-hours. This number changes depending on the region in which you live, as well as–in
some areas–the time of day or the season in which you use the lights. If your electric rate is 20 cents per kilowatt-hour, then you are saving 1.2 cents for every hour that one light bulb is turned off.

How Does This Challenge Benefit Me?

All forms of electricity generation have an environmental impact on our air, water and land, but it varies. Of the total energy consumed in the United States, about 40% is used to generate electricity, making electricity use an important part of each person’s environmental footprint.

Producing and using electricity more efficiently reduces both the amount of fuel needed to generate electricity and the amount of greenhouse gases and other air pollution emitted as a result. Electricity from renewable resources such as solar, geothermal, and wind generally does not contribute to climate change or local air pollution since no fuels are combusted.

What If I Already Do This?

Include other appliances and devices which use electricity into your daily routine. It might seem like a small amount, but it all adds up, especially if you think in terms of the entire population.