Free Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb

You've probably seen (and maybe already use) those light bulbs with the twist shape. They use fluorescent instead of incandescent light and save a lot of energy. Well, there's a project called "The Million Lights Project" which is giving away 1,000,000 of these compact fluorescent bulbs. It's sponsored by a group called Greener Impact.

Even if you just switch one incandescent light bulbs to a compact fluorescent, you can reduce your carbon footprint by approximately 400 pounds over the life of the bulb. And along the way, save cash on your electric bills. If all one million bulbs replaced one million incandescent ones, a collective savings of more than 400,000 megawatt hours could be generated. This is the equivalent of powering almost 60,000 homes.

Their goal had been to get the million bulbs registered by Earth Day but the site is still active and taking registrations. All you have to do is enter your mailing address and e-mail. They then send you an e-mail in which you click a link to confirm, and they'll send you a bulb in the mail. Their site indicates it may take a while to get your bulb, but if you can get one for free, why not take the wait?

Their privacy policy indicates they won't do anything with the information but send you a bulb -- however I still use a back-up e-mail address (not my primary personal address) when I sign up for things like this.

One other note... compact fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, so when it comes time to dispose of them, you can't just throw them in the trash; they need to be disposed of properly.

To visit The One Million Lights Project click this link.