CFL Facts & Figures

• If every household replaced just one light bulb with and ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

• In 2007, Americans saved $1.5 billion by switching to ENERGY STAR qualified CFL's. The energy saved could light all the households in a city the size of Washington DC for more than 30 years. In other words, changing these bulbs removes as much greenhouse gas pollution as planting 2.85 million acres of trees or taking 2 million cars off the road each year.

• Using ENERGY STAR qualified CFL's results in less mercury in our environment. Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of human caused mercury emissions in the United States. A coal-fired power plants produces 13.6 mg of mercury to power one 60 watt incandescent bulb, but only 3.3 mg to power an equivalent CFL. Even with 5 mg of mercury inside, using CFL's results in 5.3 fewer milligrams of mercury compared to incandescent bulbs.

• The average ENERGY STAR qualified light bulb is designed to last more than 8,000 hours - more than 7 years based on typical household use. That's long enough to watch your first grader transform into a teenager.

SOURCE: US Environmental Protection Agency, Dept. of Energy