Cut Your Energy Bill This Winter with 35 Pro Tips

2. Change your light bulbs to LED bulbs or CFLs

Replace your traditional incandescent light bulbs with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) or light-emitting diode (LED) lights. Here’s why: CFLs are about four times more efficient than incandescent bulbs in terms of wattage, and they generally last about 10 times longer, too, while costing not too much more.

The folks at GreenAmerica.org have noted, “According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), if every household in America replaced just one incandescent bulb with a CFL, the energy saved would be enough to light 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gas emissions from the equivalent of 800,000 cars.” LED bulbs generally last twice as long than CFLs, are more efficient in terms of wattage, and run cooler, too — though they cost more. Still, if you don’t have to change your bulbs for a decade, the higher cost can be worth it.

The government has estimated that electric lighting is responsible for about 7% of the country’s total electricity usage and for about 9% of the average residential electric bill, so don’t assume that your home’s lights don’t affect your energy bill all that much.