Lighting accounts for approximately around 10% of electricity usage in households, and 18–40% of in commercial premises, but is an area in which the most advances are being made quickly. While the cost of good LEDs is higher, the initial outlay is repaid many times over. Changes to your light bulbs and lighting strategies are one area you can both save money and reduce your greenhouse gas emissions at the same time without much effort.
LED lights is that they last way longer and are by far the cheapest lights to run - at about half a CFL and one tenth the cost of an incandescent. They don’t contain mercury (although they contain nickel and the red ones contain lead and arsenic). LEDs emit half the CO2 of a CFL, have a life span of 50,000 hours compared to 8,000 CFL hours).
Light emitting diode (LED) lamps contain no mercury, they turn on instantly at any temperature, their extremely long lifetime is unaffected by cycling on and off, they have no thin glass that risks breaking.
Governments around the world have regulated to phase out incandescent light bulbs for general lighting in favor of more energy-efficient lighting alternatives like CFLs and LED.
According to Energy Rating, it is estimated that the phase out of incandescent light bulbs, which commenced in 2009 in Australia (along with state based energy efficiency obligations schemes) is saving around 2.4 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity each year (equivalent to the total annual electricity consumption of 400,000 homes). The average household is estimated to be saving $70 per annum, with cumulative national savings of an estimated $5.5 billion.
Change your globes! It is that simple. Everytime an older style light blows out, for both the environment and your wallet, make sure you replace the globe or lighting with the most up to date and most efficient bulb. Lighting technology and efficiency continues to advance so it's important to go with the latest.