Compact Florescent Lighting (CFL) is a "relatively" new technology which is growing in popularity with a lot of attention being placed on its use in business and home lighting.

CFL bulbs are without a doubt an important way for you to reduce your energy consumption, while at the same time, have a positive impact on the environment.

It has been calculated that if every household in the United States would replace just ONE incandescent bulb with a Compact Florescent Light (CFL) bulb, it would eliminate the emissions of approximately 1 million cars! Just imagine the environmental impact if all households were to replace most indandescent bulbs with CFLs?

"But I heard that CFLs contain mercury--isn't that bad for the environment?" Yes, mercury is harmful to the environment and to humans. CFLs do contain a tiny amount of mercury, but let's put it into perspective:

• Each CFL blub contains between 1-3mg of mercury and approx 2.4mg of mercury is emitted by coal plants to power that bulb over its lifetime. This equals at most 5.4mg mercury/bulb over its lifespan.
• Incandescent bulbs contain no mercury, but the increased energy they consume produce approximately 10mg of mercury from coal plants.
• So you can see each CFL bulb contributes almost half the mercury than its equilivant incandescent bulbs. Plus, the mercury in CFLs can be recovered, bringing the overall mercury impact to the environment even lower. (local resources for CFL recyling & safe handling are listed at the bottom of this article)

Nowadays, CFLs come in all shapes, sizes, color temperatures and wattages. We are used to incandescent bulb wattages, but not so for CFLs. Here is a simple guide:

• 40 watt incandescent bulb = 9-12 watt CFL.
• 60 watt incandescent bulb = 13-18 watt CFL.
• 75 watt incandescent bulb = 19-24 watt CFL.
• 100 watt incandescent bulb = 25-30 watt CFL.