ABOUT CFLs
What is a CFL?
CFL stands for Compact Fluorescent Light bulb.
CFLs can be used almost anywhere in your home and use 66-75 % less energy than incandescent bulbs.
An ENERGY STAR®-qualified CFL can last 6 to 10 times longer than a traditional incandescent bulb.
CFLs save you money.
The average U.S. household has more than 40 sockets for light bulbs, ranging from table lamps to ceiling fixtures. Larger homes can have far more. Lighting accounts for about 20 percent of annual household electricity bills, or approximately $200 per year.*
If you switch out the six most used light bulbs in your home for compact fluorescents, you could save up to $250 on your energy bill over the bulbs' lifetime.
Even if you only switch one light bulb to a CFL, you can still save around $42 in energy cost over the CFL's life.*
CFLs help protect the environment.
When you choose an ENERGY STAR qualified light bulb, you are making a difference for the environment by reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
The greenhouse gas emissions caused by generating the power you use in your home can be twice that of the average car per year.
CFLs are very energy-efficient. They can produce 75 percent less heat than traditional incandescent bulbs. In fact, of the total energy an incandescent bulb draws, only 10 percent produces light and the other 90 percent goes to producing heat.
If everyone in the country replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would conserve enough energy to light more than three million homes for a year, save more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.*
