If you've committed to replacing your incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) make sure you write down the wattage and lumens ratings for your old bulbs ... read full tip

If you've committed to replacing your incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) make sure you write down the wattage and lumens ratings for your old bulbs before you head out to the store to buy new ones. To save money and energy, you'll need to buy a CFL with roughly the same number of lumens as the old incandescent, not the same wattage.

Lumens are a measure of the amount of light emitted from a given bulb. Because CFLs generate significantly less heat than incandescents, they are able to supply the same number of lumens at a lower wattage, thus reducing energy consumption and saving you money.

Assume you have a 60-watt incandescent bulb that provides 800 lumens and operates six hours a day. If you replace this bulb with an 800-lumen CFL, you'll save an average of $10 per year in electricity costs.

If every household in the country did this, the annual monetary savings would exceed $1.14 billion, and the annual energy saved would total more than 11 billion kWh-roughly twice the amount of electricity generated per year by a 1,000 megawatt-rated coal-fired power plant.

Energy Star
U.S. Census Data
UtiliPoint International