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I have noticed in several post how people are posting about lightbulbs (just mentioning them in their budget, etc.) If you have not yet heard about Compact Flourescent Bulbs, I'll tell you a little about them. First of all they do cost more that a regular lightbulb, but they use less energy and last much longer. For example, a bulb that uses 10 watts of electricity will put off as much light as a 40 watt bulb which is 520 lumens (whatever lumens are???). This GE package I am copying some of this info from says the bulb will last appx. 5 years or 8000 hours. This bulb is approved with the Energy Star. On the package it says over the life of the bulb it will save $24 in energy costs and that it lasts 8 times longer than a regular 40 watt bulb. I can't remember how much I paid for these bulbs because I bought a lot at once. At Meyer's they had this deal that for each bulb you bought, you got $2 worth of free gasoline. So, I stocked up and as each of my regular bulbs burns out, I am replacing it with one of these compact flouescent bulbs. But normally, I think one bulb is $6-8. So when you consider that you save $24 minus the difference in price between a regular bulb and a compact flourescent bulb, you are still saving about $20 in energy costs per bulb. I hope that if you have not already switched to this type of bulb that you will consider replacing burned out bulbs with these as it will save you money and use less energy. Also, it reduces waste because you are not changing bulbs as much. The plastic package that my bulbs came in is recycleable. And, as with any flourescent bulbs, there are special ways you are supposed to dispose of them because I think they contain mercury. Since none of mine have burned out yet, I havn't checked into disposal yet, but there is a 1-800 # on the package that tells you a good way to dispose of them.
