Top: regular Nikon D50 color photo (your eyes see)
Bottom: Nikon D50IR infrared photo (your eyes can not see)
Both shot at ISO 200, f 13, 1/4000 s
Three bulbs are (from left) 27 W CFL, 30 W tungsten, 100 W tungsten

Invented more than one hundred years ago, the tungsten light bulb light our modern history. However, these bulbs emit more heat than light. Form the above regular color photo, we can see that a 27 W CFL is as bright as a 100 W tungsten. Why? Because it emits far less IR light than the 30 W and 100 W tungsten! It will be even better, if we could use LED lights (the one used in the newest Apple Cinema Display).

Waste not, want not. Even electricity from solar panel is not free: it already took a lot of energy to make! Please reduce, reuse, recycle. Turn off lights when leave the room, turn off the TV when not watch. Good for your bank account, and good for Pachamama.

Thank you!

San Diego Night Sky
Top:light on, as usual at 20:30:43,
Bottom: light off, for Earth Hour at 20:31:23
Both ISO 100, f 5.6, 2.5 s, tungesten WB, March 28, 2009

The best way for the environment is to reduce uncessory consumption. Frugal without hardship, I mean. We do not need to spend to be green:

Car pool, combining trips, walk, save more gas than Prius; (where will we dump the Nickle in the trunk?)

Turn off TV when nobody is watching, better than put a solar panel on the roof;

Turn off the unnecessory lights, surely burn less than CFL.and please be careful of broken CFL--it contains mercury.