Light It Up with Fluorescent Bulbs

You keep hearing the term “Go Green” all over the news, in magazines and on billboards but just how do you do that?

You can actually do something very simple to get started on the “Going Green” path: simply purchase compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.

CFL bulbs are those funny-looking bulbs with swirls of glass tubing, lit with argon gas and mercury vapor. They are slightly more expensive than traditional incandescent light bulbs, but they pay for themselves in six months and can last 10 times longer than the incandescent light bulbs you’re using now.

That means if you have a light fixture you use quite a bit and find yourself changing the light bulb in it every six months, using a CFL bulb means you won’t change that bulb again for five years. The higher the wattage of a CFL bulb, the longer the bulb will be, with more fluorescent glass spirals. That means a 40 watt CFL bulb is smaller than a 100 watt CFL. You can even purchase CFL bulbs for recessed lighting.

And since CFL bulbs use less energy, you will eventually notice a dip in your energy bills in the coming months and years.

No need to replace your incandescent bulbs all at once; that would be quite an expense. As your incandescent bulbs burn out, replace them with CFL bulbs. Don’t forget that since each CFL bulb utilizes a small amount of mercury, you can’t just throw away a burned-out CFL bulb, it must be recycled. Many recycling locations will take your used CFL bulbs at no cost or give you a discount on future CFL bulb purchases.