The following tip is brought to you byCleanEdison.
Tonight, after work or school, stop by the hardware store and pick up some compact fluorescent lightbulbs(CFL) or, if you know you’ll be living in the same place for a long time, some light-emitting diode (LED) light bulbs.
CFLs use 75 percent less energy and last 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb. I know that when I purchased new lamps for my house, they had a whole shelf of incandescent bulbs right next to it, and I had to go search the store for CFLs, so I understand if you are currently using incandescent bulbs. But it’s worth the switch — not only are CFLs equal in light quality, they last way longer and will save you hundreds of dollars over their lifetime.
LEDs are very interesting too. They do cost more, but they use much less electricity than both incandescent and CFL bulbs, have extremely long rated lives (25-50 times that of an incandescent), produce very little heat, do not emit UV or infrared energy, contain no mercury, are resistant to shock and vibration, and can operate effectively in extremely cold environments. They are generally a sound long-term investment if you know you will be in the same place for more than 8-10 years, and you’ll get a crazy return-on-investment over the lifetime.
