A wide range of energy-saving light bulbs are available on the market today. The most common and most widely known is compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

While California leads the nation in the use of CFL's, CFL market share—after peaking at about 9% during the height of the energy crisis in 2001—average about 5% to 6% for the last 2 years (compared to just 1% to 2% for the country).

If advanced lighting technologies were fully applied in California, the resulting electricity savings would negate the need for 15 1,000-megawatt power plants. Doing this would save ratepayers $4 billion a year just on the cost of operating those plants (never mind the cost of building them).

In addition to ratepayer savings, the reduced energy demand will eliminate the pollution associated with this energy generation, including and annual reduction of:

• NOx emissions by 2,800 tons
• SOx emissions by 9,400 tons
• CO2 (GHG) emissions by more than 6,000,000 tons

By transitioning to currently available efficient lighting technologies, California can reduce electric demand for the same level of lighting by 50 percent in 10 years.

Net Reduction in Mercury emissions

Roughly 20 percent of California's annual energy capacity is provided by coal fired power plants. Coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of mercury air pollution, accounting for roughly 40 percent of all mercury emissions nationwide.

Mercury is a highly toxic metal that, once released into the atmosphere, settles in lakes and rivers, where it moves up the food chain to humans. An extremely potent neurotoxin, one tablespoon of mercury is enough to pollute a 20 acre lake beyond acceptable health standards. The Centers for Disease Control has found that roughly 10 percent of American women carry mercury concentrations at levels considered to put a fetus at risk to neurological damage.

California coal-fired energy providers are responsible for more than 1600 lbs of mercury emissions annually. Reducing California's lighting energy demand by 50 percent can reduce these emissions by 175-200 lbs annually.

Another source of mercury emissions in the environment is the illegal disposal of mercury containing fluorescent lamps. Mercury levels vary significantly by lamp manufacturer, and range from a low of 2.2 mgs to as much as 15 mgs in 12 foot tubes. But the amount in CFLs is gradually decreasing as manufacturers work on lowering levels of mercury in their products. Also, using CFLs instead of incandescents actually reduces the amount of mercury as we will not need to mine coal for electricity. Because incandescents use much more electricity, using CFLs actually reduces mercury pollution because they use less electricity.