In Honor of Earth Day

* CFLs generally use less power, have a longer rated life, but a higher purchase price. In the United States, a CFL can save over US $30 in electricity costs over the lamp's life time compared to an incandescent lamp.

* The average rated life of a CFL is between 8 and 15 times that of incandescents. CFLs typically have a rated lifespan of between 6,000 and 15,000 hours, whereas incandescent lamps are usually manufactured to have a lifespan of 750 hours or 1,000 hours.

* While the purchase price of an integrated CFL is typically 3 to 10 times greater than that of an equivalent incandescent lamp, the extended lifetime and lower energy use will more than compensate for the higher initial cost. A household that invested $90 in changing 30 fixtures to CFLs would save $440 to $1,500 over the five-year life of the bulbs, depending on your cost of electricity.

* CFLs, like all fluorescent lamps, contain small amounts of mercury as vapor inside the glass tubing, averaging 4.0 mg per bulb. READ THIS ONE AGAIN... ALL FLUORESCENT LAMPS CONTAIN MERCURY VAPOR.

* In areas powered by coal, CFLs end up saving on mercury emissions versus incandescent bulbs, due to the offset power use (coal releases mercury as it is burned).

* Conventional tubular fluorescent lamps have been in commercial and domestic use since the 1930s with little public concern about their handling; these and other domestic products often contain MORE mercury than modern CFLs.

* A broken fluorescent tube, should be cleand up the same way you would clean up a broken CFL, but no one does. Offices routinely throw them in the trash.