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This article is the first of a list of practical things you can do to save lots of money on your monthly electric consumption bills with DIY cut monthly electricity costs. You could get yourself some new green products or even take you and your family on a mini vacation.

Compact Fluorescent Lamp aka CFL or circular fluorescent bulb. Incandescent bulbs generate light differently to a CFL bulb.

Thomas Edison was the inventor of incandescent light bulbs and since his invention the general principle of them is still the same. After electricity is connected to both sides of the carbon filament it gets hot and the outcome is light. In CFL bulbs, as with older fluorescent tubes, a closed glass tube is coated with a fluorescent coating that glows when current is applied to the argon and mercury vapour inside.

Now you may have heard this before, however unless you are only turning that incandescent bulb on a couple of times per year, you’re wasting money, doesn’t matter how cheap that bulb is. If you want to save money look for the green products. Compared with an incandescent bulb the newer Energy Star CFL bulbs can save around 75% in costs. In a period of 6 months A CFL bulb will pay for itself and save you about $30 per bulb over the period of its lifetime!

The CFL bulb has come a long way these days giving us a much wider choice of light spectrum that is omitted. This can really enhance the mood of the room, home office or family room. The CFL color choices vary from a daylight blue to a warm yellow. If you like the mood that incandescent light bulbs produce then going for a warmer CFL light would suit you better. Be aware that the daylight or bluer light comes across as very harsh white light and can have negative effects on people that are sensitive to light.

If you look at the package that the bulb comes in it should have K for Kelvin rating, which gives you the “temperature” of the bulb. A Kelvin rating of 2700K-3000K means it’s a warm/yellow bulb. 3500K-4100K Kelvin rating will get you a cool white bulb. And if you wanted the Daylight Blue bulb look for a Kelvin rated bulb of 5000K-6500K.

If you are looking to replace 40 watt incandescent bulbs, use 9-13 watt CFL bulbs. For a 60 watt incandescent bulb use a 13-15 watt CFL. Replace a 75 watt incandescent with an 18-25 watt CFL. And to replace 100 watt incandescents use 23-30 watt CFLs.

Please remember to recycle all compact fluorescent bulbs. In some states disposing of mercury filled bulbs with solid waste rubbish is illegal. Thats because in one CFL there is about 5 milligrams of mercury.

If you want places to recycle your used CFL bulbs and other green products you can take them to places such as IKEA, (OSH) Orchard, ACE Hardware and Home Depot.

If you are wanting decorative lights, consider Energy Star qualified light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. These LEDs use up to 90% less energy than the same incandescent bulbs to produce exactly the same amount of light! I have heard that the power needed for only one 7 watt incandescent bulb could be used to power up to 140 LEDs!

So it’s a good idea to use CFLs inside and outside you could try the LEDs. These will reduce your carbon footprint and save you lots of money at the same time.

Without forking out too much money before you can actually save, you can convert your home into an energy efficient environment. Here are 8 different ways you can make your home more energy efficient.

Installing plastic window covers on your windows, or tinting them. This will help keep the cool air inside, and slow down the process of heat entering the home. Or it could go the other way around if you are trying to heat the home.

Door gaps usually occur when the wood used for your door shrinks due to the temperature change or if the doors are not properly installed. If this happens, make sure you seal and remove these door gaps. As was mentioned above, leaks could cause additional work on your heating system that in turn, cost you a lot of money. Make sure you keep your doors sealed and tight.

By using fluorescent bulbs you can also take a chunk of that power bill out of the equation. Also, fluorescent bulbs can last up to 10 times longer than regular light bulbs, they may be a little more expensive but they are worth it in the long run of saving money.

If you have a high pressure shower head, replace it with a shower head that has a built in water saver. Not only will this save you about 50 bucks a year on your energy bill, but it will also help conserve water.

Keep the volume of your electronic devices at the moderate level. Sure, many people would like their televisions or their stereos to be as loud as their ears can endure. But, as the speakers get louder, more electricity is consumed. If you really have the urge for loud music, using a headphone is a great idea.

Having energy efficient appliances is probably the biggest energy saver of them all. When purchasing a new appliance, make sure that it has a good energy rating, most new appliances do. Ovens, air conditioners and heaters are the biggest energy hogs.

Keep the walls sealed. You would not only concentrate on your windows, doors, sills, on joints, you should also consider sealing the walls. Any cracks have a tendency to grow larger and larger. Make sure that your walls are sealed so that the air from the outside would not enter.

Desktops can use up to 10 times more energy than laptops do. Think about that if you are looking to by a new computer. You can also take into consideration about purchasing printers and fax machines that are energy efficient as well, as there are many of them out there.

If you seen this article beneficial about energy efficiency tips then you should stop by the authors page which goes over in passion do it yourself tips.