Green Myth Busting

April 22, 2008— -- To help celebrate Earth Day, "Good Morning America" decided to help bust some environmental myths.

Heather Stephenson and Jennifer Boulden, the founders of the green-living Web site, IdealBite.com, joined Sam Champion live at Battery Park in New York City to share their tips for what you can do to protect the planet, and save some green.

Myth 1: You shouldn't keep turning your computer on and off because you'll wear it out.

Computers purchased in the last 10 years will not be damaged by lots of powering on and off. Today's PCs are designed to handle 40,000 on/off cycles before a failure, and that's a number you likely won't reach during the computer's typical five-to-seven-year life span.

Myth 2: Online banking might save paper, but it increases the chance of identity theft.

Internet banking actually reduces the threat of identity theft and banking fraud. In fact, a study by Javelin Strategy & Research found the average time to detect fraud for online banking users was 18 days; for non-online users it was 114 days. Online banking also uses 128-bit encryption, one of the most advanced technologies available for safeguarding sensitive information.

Myth 3: Compact fluorescent light bulbs might lower your energy bills, but they contain too much mercury to make them good for the environment.

CFLs have a very small amount of mercury, but nothing compared to the mercury created by mining coal for electricity, which incandescent bulbs use 10 times more of. Thus, using compact fluorescent bulbs actually reduces mercury pollution, because CFLs use far less electricity than incandescent bulbs.