I’m going to try a new occasional feature, Green Step by Step. The idea is to focus on the simple things one can change to live a more environmentally friendly life.

Changing your burnt out bulbs to CFLs or other high efficiency, long lasting bulbs is one of the simplest things you can do. In many areas you can find CFLs that are quite inexpensive due to support from the local power company, or you may be able to get them directly from your power company. These will generally just be the basic ones; if you need some that work with a dimmer switch or for other special situations you may still need to pay full price.

Even so, a good CFL saves more on your power bill per year than it costs. It’s a difference that’s hard to see but is definitely there.

Eventually, LED bulbs are expected to be a better choice, but there aren’t many good ones on the market. There can still be issues with brightness and color of light. Hopefully eventually they’ll be worthwhile.