Have you seen the odd looking, spiral-shaped light bulbs known as CFLs (compact flourescent light bulbs)? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, they use up to 75% less energy and last up to 10 times longer than standard light bulbs.

What does that mean for us?
A six-pack of CFLs will save you about $200 over their lifetime on both energy and new light bulbs. According to Energystar.com, you could see a savings of about $30 per bulb.

What does that mean for the planet?
Jean Chatzky of Money Magazine writes “each bulb will keep a half-ton of carbon dioxide out of the air”. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if every American home replaced just one standard bulb with a CFL, we could prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.