Between 5 percent and 10 percent of your home’s monthly energy bill goes toward lighting. You can reduce that spending by switching from incandescent bulbs to today’s new compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.

CFLs provide the same amount of light as standard incandescent bulbs, but use fewer watts of energy and produce less heat. They are four times more efficient and last up to 10 times longer than incandescents. Over its lifetime, a single CFL will provide around $30 in energy-bill savings.

In addition to its cost-saving benefits, the use of CFLs is better for the environment. Each CFL prevents more than 450 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions over its lifetime. That's the equivalent of saving more than 210 pounds of coal from being burned. And if every American home replaced their five most frequently used lights or the bulbs in them with ones that have earned the ENERGY STAR, we would prevent the greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from more than 8 million cars.

Compact fluorescents work best in fixtures that will be used consistently for four or more hours per day. They work both indoors and outdoors and can be purchased where most other light bulbs are sold.

Switching to CFLs is an easy way to save money and energy in your home and help reduce pollution and waste in the environment.

Take the Energy Star CFL pledge and help change the world by changing a bulb.

Recycling

It is recommended that when your CFL burns out, you recycle the bulbs at authorized locations. To find local recycling facilities, contact your area's municipal solid waste agency, or on the Web, visit epa.gov/bulbrecycling or earth911.org. You can also take your bulbs to The Home Deport, which has launched a national CFL bulb-recycling program. Just bring your expired, unbroken bulbs to the returns desk at any U.S. store, and the bulbs will be recycled by an environmental management company that manages packing, transportation and recycling of the bulbs to ensure safety and environmental compliance.