An article in Saturday’s Age mentioned a UN International Energy Agency study that said if every old light globe was replaced by an energy-efficient one, it would save 16,000 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in the next 25 years — the equivalent to taking every car in the world off the road for six years.

I’d started replacing my lightglobes with the energy-efficient variety anyway, starting with those around the house that are routinely left on for long periods of time. But a factoid like this will help spur me on. Environmentally, and even from the point of view of having less-frequently to fiddle around changing globes, it makes perfect sense to switch.

Economically? Well in New South Wales they give them away. I’m not so lucky to get them for free, but it does seem that given the lower wattage and longer life, despite the higher price, it’ll end up being cheaper in the long run. (Origin Energy claims up to $55 over the life of the globe.)

So as the remaining conventional globes around the house expire, I’ll replace them with the efficient ones. The only exceptions might be lights such as those in the toilet which are turned on for short periods of time only (and would be problematic given the warm-up time some of the new globes require). There’s also a couple of the old light shades/fittings that may not fit them.

Oh, and the kitchen down lights. I’m not clear on whether there is an energy-efficient version of them available at present, and I assume they will rarely, if ever, need changing — at least I hope so, as I’ve no idea how it’s done.

PS. Tuesday night: There’s a wealth of information about energy efficient lighting from the esteemed commenters.