ComEd Not All Bad, Just Mostly Bad

By Louis in News on Oct 4, 2007 9:09PM

ComEd will again be giving a $2 discount on Compact Flourescents as a part of their aptly named ComEd Discount CFL Bulb Program. See? Energy conglomerates don't want the earth to die, you silly environmentalists.

CFLs are those delightful little spiral light bulbs that use 75% less energy and can last 10 times longer than regular, evil incandescent bulbs. Normally, CFLs can run a few dollars more than a standard bulb, but over the course of its life saves an estimated $30-$35. Customers will be able to go to participating Ace Hardware, Do It Best Hardware, Menards, Home Depot and True Value stores and buy the discounted bulbs until the end of the year, or while supplies last. Last time ComEd ran the promotion, 1.2 million CFLs were purchased in less than six weeks. Chicagoist likes to consider ourselves incredibly green, so about a year ago we switched all of our regular lightbulbs to CFLs, and we've been extremely happy. We were afraid the light would be office-ish and fluorescent, but it's really not; we can't tell the difference between CFLs and incandescents. Plus we haven't had to replace a bulb in well over a year.

Though we didn't get the day off from work, yesterday was apparently Change a Light Day and the Change a Light Bus is rolling in to town next week. The real winner is Al Gore the Earth. ComEd said that residential customers who switched to CFLs saved over 79 million kilowatt hours last year. That is a lot, we think.

Go save the planet, Chicago!