The sad thing about the new “efficient” lightbulbs that will become mandatory in the U.S. is that it’s best to either turn them on for 15 minutes (minimum) or not at all. You can turn them on for just a flick of light if you need it, yes, but it shortens the life of the bulb. So if I need to go into a room for just a second, I’ve been trying to not turn on the light at all if it’s a room that has a compact florescent.
Other than that, I never turn the TV off (because I haven’t turned it on in four years now), I car pool to work, and if it’s water for one cup of tea, I usually just heat it up in the microwave, but it’s not often I drink one cup of tea.
Am I saving the world? No. Are we all saving the world together? No. Things have to get past recycling and efficiency to get us out of the handbasket we’re travelling in. But the lightbulbs are expensive, and shorter lives can’t be less wasteful than just using an incandescent, since they don’t just grow on trees. Hopefully I won’t have to buy too many of those.