Switch to Fluorescent

Everyone needs light bulbs in just about every single room in the house. However, we often don't think about this energy guzzler when trying to reduce energy.

If you have incandescent light bulbs currently, consider switching them for fluorescent ones. According to the U.S. Department of Energy:

"If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars."

That's pretty amazing, isn't it? And just think of how much we could save if we replaced more than one light bulb. I'm in my dining room right now, and I see that the chandelier has 9 light bulbs. It really wouldn't be much harder for me to switch all of those light bulbs rather than just 1, would it?

Energy Star qualified compact fluorescent light bulbs use 75% less energy than standard bulbs, and they last up to 10 times longer. That means you can save 30 dollars or more over each bulb's lifetime. Seriously, these bulbs pay for themselves. I do not know of an easier way to save money than this.

I read somewhere that incandescent light bulbs are so inefficient, 90% of its energy is wasted as heat, while only 10% of the energy used is actually used for the lighting. So, what are you waiting for?

Here's the government's website about CFLs. It's extremely helpful in providing guides and tips for what kind of bulb to buy depending on what you are using now.

This image is from Daily Danny.