Subway and Green Lighting
October 11, 2008 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Small Business
Subway has recently announced that they are going green with their lighting. Green light bulbs are one of the easiest ways to go green AND save money, so it is a wonder that more businesses aren’t doing this!
According to reports, the Subway restaurant chain will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by - get this - THREE MILLION POUNDS just by replacing ONE incandescent light bulb with a CFL bulb in each store. That’s the same as removing 275 cars from the road for an entire year.
For more food industry news, check out Daily Blender, including this past articles on Subway.
Should you choose green lighting?
Without a doubt, the answer is YES. CFL bulbs look expensive at first compared to regular light bulbs, but trust me - you make your money back really quickly. Your electricity bills will drop, AND you’ll be doing something good for the environment. On top of that, CFLs will last a lot longer, so you’ll save money there too!
Here’s how I like to deal with the cost of green lighting:
If you replace all of the bulbs in your business (or house for that matter) at once, you’ll spend hundreds of dollars. Instead, every time you are shopping, pick up 1-5 bulbs. Replace lights as they burn out, or replace bulbs that you know are fairly old (and likely to burn out soon - you don’t want to create unnecessary waste by replacing bulbs you JUST bought).
When you spread out the purchases over weeks or months, the money is easier to find in your budget.
You can purchase CFL bulbs almost anywhere you can purchase regular bulbs, but here are some links if you want to order some right away. Note, these are the Amazon NEW prices, so some resellers (if you click the links) are selling them for even less than the price I’ve posted.
- GE 13-watt pack of six ($20.52, or $3.42 per bulb)
- Globe mini 23-watt pack of four ($15.99, or $4 per bulb)
- Honeywell mini 23-watt pack of 18 ($54.00, or $3.05 per bulb)
For reference, a 13-watt CFL is the equivalent of a 60-watt incandescent and a 23-watt CFL is the equivalent of a 100-watt incandescent.
