Energy Star

Light Bulbs and Fixtures

Changing the world starts with simple actions. When you replace light bulbs or entire light fixtures in your home with ones that have earned the government’s ENERGY STAR, you help preserve energy resources and reduce the risks of global warming while saving money and time buying and changing lights in your home.

ENERGY STAR qualified lighting provides bright, warm light but uses about 75% less energy than standard lighting, produce 75 percent less heat, and lasts up to 10 times longer.

Did you know?

To save the most energy and money, replace your highest used fixtures or the light bulbs in them with energy-efficient models. The five highest use fixtures in a home are typically the kitchen ceiling lights, the living or family room table and floor lamps, and outdoor porch or post lamp. ENERGY STAR qualified lighting fixtures and replacement bulbs can be found at home improvement and hardware stores, lighting showrooms, and other retail stores, including on-line outlets.

The smallest things can add up to a real difference. We encourage you to change out the light fixtures or bulbs at home that you use most with ENERGY STAR qualified models. If every American home replaced their 5 most frequently used light fixtures or the bulbs in them with ones that have earned the ENERGY STAR, we would save close to $8 billion each year in energy costs, and together we would prevent the greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from nearly 10 million cars.

FACT: The energy used in the average home can be responsible for more than twice the greenhouse gas emissions of the average car. When you use less energy at home, you reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and help protect our environment from the risks of global climate change.

Residential Light Fixtures

By replacing the five most frequently used light fixtures in your home with ENERGY STAR qualified models, you can save more than $65 each year in energy costs. Light fixtures that have earned the ENERGY STAR combine quality and attractive design with the highest levels of energy efficiency available today.

Earning the Government's ENERGY STAR

ENERGY STAR Qualified Fixtures:

• Use 1/4 the energy of traditional lighting.
• Save money on energy bills and bulb replacements, with bulbs that must last at least 10,000 hours (about seven years of regular use).
• Distribute light more efficiently and evenly than standard fixtures.
• Come in hundreds of decorative styles including portable fixtures — such as table, desk and floor lamps — and hard-wired options such as front porch, dining room, kitchen ceiling and under-cabinet, hallway ceiling and wall, bathroom vanity fixtures, and more
• Deliver convenient features such as dimming on some indoor models and automatic daylight shut-off and motion sensors on outdoor models.
• Can be found at most home centers, lighting showrooms, and specialty stores.
• Carry a two year warranty — double the industry standard.

Remember, saving energy prevents pollution. When you use less energy at home, you lessen greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere. If every home in America completely replaced the five light fixtures they use most with ENERGY STAR qualified models, we would collectively prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 10 million cars.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

Earning the Government's ENERGY STAR

ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs:

How to Choose and Where to Use CFLs:

ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs provide the greatest savings in fixtures that are on for a substantial amount of time each day. At a minimum, ENERGY STAR recommends installing qualified CFLs in fixtures that are used at least 15 minutes at a time or several hours per day. The best fixtures to use qualified CFLs in are usually found in the following areas of your home:

• family and living rooms
• kitchen
• dining room
• bedrooms
• outdoors

How to Choose the Right Light:

Matching the right CFL to the right kind of fixture helps ensure that it will perform properly and last a long time.

For example:

• CFLs perform best in open fixtures that allow airflow, such as table and floor lamps, wall sconces, pendants, and outdoor fixtures.
• For recessed fixtures, it is better to use a reflector CFL than a spiral CFL since the design of the reflector evenly distributes the light down to your task area.
• If a light fixture is connected to a dimmer or three-way switch, you'll need to use a special ENERGY STAR qualified CFL designed to work in these applications. Make sure to look for CFLs that specify use with dimmers or three-way fixtures.
• Choose a qualified CFL that offers a shade of white light that works best for you. For example, while most CFLs provide warm or soft white light for your home, you could choose a cooler color for task lighting.
• To choose the ENERGY STAR qualified CFL with the right amount of light, find a qualified CFL that is labeled as equivalent to the incandescent bulb you are replacing. Light bulb manufacturers include this information right on the product packaging to make it easy for consumers to choose the equivalent bulb. Common terms include "Soft White 60" or "60 Watt Replacement."

You should also check the lumen rating to find the right CFL. The higher the lumen rating, the greater the light output. Consult the following chart to determine what CFL wattage is best to replace your incandescent light bulb:

CFL Disposal — Closing the loop:

CFLs contain a small amount of mercury and should be disposed of properly, ideally recycled. More information regarding mercury in CFLs, including proper disposal options and what to do if a bulb breaks, can be found below, in this fact sheet.

Broken CFL?

If a CFL should break in your home, EPA provides clean-up guidelines that can be performed by the general public.

CFL Sizes and Shapes

CFLs come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The majority of CFLs are designed to look identical to the incandescent light bulb version. The table below identifies the most popular CFL shapes that are available at retail:

Bare Products		Covered Products			Reflector Products
Mini-Spiral or Twist	Tube or Universal	Incandescent/ A-line	Globe G25, G30, G40	Candelabra, Post or Bullet Shape	Indoor and Outdoor R20, R30, R40, PAR38

Where to Use CFLs Around Your Home

Now that you know CFLs are available in a variety of shapes and sizes, where should you use them?

The following chart provides guidance on how to choose the best CFL for a specific fixture. You can either look for the fixture you want to use a CFL in, or pick your favorite CFL and see where the best fixtures to use it in. In many cases, a certain CFL type can be used in multiple fixtures. For example, today's bare spiral CFL is small enough to use in table lamps, wall sconces, ceiling-mounted fixtures, ceiling fans, etc.

ENERGY STAR Qualified CFLs and Color

Example of a 2700K qualified CFL

Example of a 3500K qualified CFL

ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs can produce varying shades of white light. The shade of white light is identified by the correlated color temperature or CCT, which is measured in kelvin (K).

Lower kelvin numbers mean the light has a warmer color, while higher Kelvin numbers mean the light has a cooler color.

The majority of CFLs available in the market offer soft or warm white light (2700K–3000K), which is comparable to an incandescent bulb.

This color range works well in most residential settings and enhances warmer colors (red, yellow, orange) found in your home.

Qualified CFLs are also available in higher kelvin color temperature CFLs (3500K, 4100K, 5000K, 6500K) and will emit more white to bluish-white light. These products are usually identified with the terms "bright white," "natural" or "daylight."

These colors will enhance cooler colors (blue, green, violet) in your home.

What to Do if a Fluorescent Light Bulb Breaks

Before Clean-up: Air Out the Room

Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces

• Carefully scoop up glass pieces and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
• Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
• Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place towels in the glass jar or plastic bag.
• Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug

• Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
• Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
• If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
• Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.

Clean-up Steps for Clothing, Bedding and Other Soft Materials

• If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from inside the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be thrown away. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.
• You can, however, wash clothing or other materials that have been exposed to the mercury vapor from a broken CFL, such as the clothing you are wearing when you cleaned up the broken CFL, as long as that clothing has not come into direct contact with the materials from the broken bulb.
• If shoes come into direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from the bulb, wipe them off with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place the towels or wipes in a glass jar or plastic bag for disposal.

Disposal of Clean-up Materials

• Immediately place all clean-up materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area for the next normal trash pickup.
• Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials.
• Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states do not allow such trash disposal. Instead, they require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.

Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug: Air Out the Room During and After Vacuuming

• The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window before vacuuming.
• Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.

Congress passed a bill which would require Americans to buy CFL’s and bans incandescent bulbs by 2014.

Our concern is that CFL’s contain mercury. They must be disposed of in a particular way. See above to view the EPA’s recommendations for what to do if a fluorescent light bulb breaks.