Light bulbs are measured in watts, which is how much energy they use.  A typical light fixture in your home takes a 60 watt bulb, but if it were a CFL, which is more energy efficient, you would only need 13 watts to give you the same amount of light.  This can be confusing when you just want to replace that burned out light and can’t find the same wattage on the shelves at your hardware store. 

Light bulbs can also be measured in lumens, which is the amount of light they give off, or brightness.  In the example below, the incandescent bulb gives off 820 lumens of light and uses 60 watts, whereas the CFL (on the right) gives off 870 lumens of light and uses only 13 watts.

Compact fluorescent bulbs can produce the same amount of light (lumens) as a traditional incandescent bulb, while using significantly less energy (watts).  However, current light bulb packaging only advertises watts, but in mid-2011, the packaging will be more like nutrition facts that call out lumens, the estimated yearly energy cost, lifetime expectancy and light temperature of the bulb.

When I asked some friends, “What would you do to lower your electric bills?”, they got creative and sent me a list of the top things they have done in the past year to save money on their gas, electric and heating oil bills.  Here are some of my favorites:

1. “Put surge protectors on more outlets and turned them off - it would be awesome if we had a master switch in the front of your house that could control all of those accessories that don’t need to be plugged in.” -Ash B.
2. “Got rid of cable TV which means our television is only on when we are watching a specific show. That cut out electric bill in more than half!” -Liza T.
3. “We put blinds on every window so that we can open them to let in heat and light in the winter and keep out those same elements in the summer.” -Julia B.

What have you done in the past year to lower your energy bills?