This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.
January 15, 2008
Sales of Compact Fluorescent Lights Jump to 20% of the Market
The 2007 sales of ENERGY STAR® compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) have nearly doubled since 2006, according to the estimations of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 2007, 290 million CFLs were sold, and the special energy-saving bulbs now account for approximately 20% of the American light bulb market. ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs use approximately 75% less energy and last up to ten times longer than traditional bulbs.
The sale of CFLs has been on the rise since 2006, when their market share jumped from 5% to almost 11%. DOE and EPA have also been working to promote the sales of CFLs throughout 2007 with their "Change a Light, Change the World" campaign, which encourages Americans across the country to sign a pledge to change at least 1 bulb in their house to an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL. The campaign has gathered over 1 million pledges so far. See the Change a Light, Change the World Pledge on the ENERGY STAR Web site.
An ENERGY STAR CFL can save about $30 or more in energy costs over the length of its lifetime. It is predicted that if every U.S. household replaced just one light bulb in their homes with a CFL, the United States would save more than $600 million each year in energy costs and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of more than 800,000 cars. See the DOE press release and the ENERGY STAR Web site.
