GE Brings Green Lights to Life

At GE's historic 90-acre Nela Park in Cleveland--home to America's first industrial park and to GE Lighting--a light bulb revolution is underway that could help solve one of the world's greatest environmental threats: climate change.

Tucked away in a brick lab building of this leafy technology research campus, veteran GE lighting engineer and physicist Gary Allen reviews a chart of global greenhouse gas emissions that points in one direction—up. But, Allen says, there's a simple step we can take to curtail these emissions and change course; screw in a more efficient light bulb.

"The number one thing we can do to cut greenhouse gas emissions is to change our light bulbs....it's the strongest lever we have to get CO2 emissions out of the atmosphere. So if you are going to spend money on anything, spend it on energy efficient lighting."

And there's one more advantage to the light bulb revolution; jobs. Last year, GE invested $60 million to produce energy efficient florescent bulbs at its plant in Bucyrus, OH, creating about 100 new positions in job-hungry Ohio. And there are over 100 jobs posted on GE Lighting's website now.

For the past 24 years, Allen has been a key engineer and physicist at GE's world-renowned lighting research center, where many of the 700 people who work there toil away on the latest lighting product designs and strategies.

All that tinkering in the labs has paid off. Today there are more money saving, energy efficient bulbs on the market than ever before, including advanced incandescents, compact fluorescent and LEDs.

And more are on the way. Industry powerhouses like GE, Sylvania and Philips are all coming out with dozens of new lighting products that will result in huge energy savings—and help save us all from the dire consequences of a rapidly changing climate. 

Anyone who still wonders if the threat is real should check out new figures released for greenhouse gas emissions; they jumped to record levels last year during a global recession. Just wait until a global recovery takes hold.

Decorating during the holidays is a tradition for many, a mission for some. But keep in mind those lights can put a dent in your budget if you're not careful.

Dump your old lights. Go with LED lights which use 90-percent less electricity and last 10 times longer than old-style lights. If you have lots of the old, start weening yourself off this year by incorporating new LED lights where you can and using less of the other stuff.

Use timers. You can pick up a timer for about $20 or less, that way you can leave your lights without worrying you will forget and leave them on all night to entertain the neighborhood stray cats.

Go with smart strips. Newer power strips allow you to selectively turn on some fixtures while leaving others off.