Houston and Reliant have a brilliant idea

The city and Reliant Energy have teamed up to encourage local residents to switch to more energy efficient lights. They are urging Houstonians to switch to compact fluorescent lights, which use less energy and are a lot cooler. Which means saving money and reducing your demand for power. Which means less demand for polluting power plants.

Reliant's program is called Compact with Texas. It includes CFL bulb giveaways at four local participating Home Depots this Saturday. (See the list of stores here). The lifespan of a CFL bulb is up to 15 times that of a regular incandescent one. They also use 1/5-1/4 of the energy that ordinary light bulbs do. However, they are often more expensive, but the price rates have been steadily decreasing. Plus, with their lifespan and energy efficiency, they're a better investment.

The city has participated in the program by retrofitting sixty-four police and fire stations with these light bulbs. That means an energy usage reduction of 9.7 million kilowatt-hours - and over $1 million dollars. That might not sound like a lot when the city's electricity bill is $150 million each year, but every little bit helps.