Getting bit by the green bug

Here's a couple of stats for you. According to the EPA, we spend roughly 1/4 of our energy bill on lighting alone. More than $37 billion each year! They also say,
"If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars."
Wow. Earlier this year, I decided to make a concerted, albeit small, effort towards minimizing our demand on oil consumption and energy waste. While it may be small on an individual level, it can turn huge on a global scale. We started using compact florescent bulbs in our house and at a rental property that we own.
CFs have been around for several years and unless you are coming out of a cave, you have seen them somewhere if not in your own fixtures.
I started out testing 2 different types in our home earlier in the year. I went with the daylight type bulb in our bathroom area. It genuinely replicates the type of light you see coming through a skylight. It was sort of strange at first especially in a dark bathroom. At night, it can seem like daylight fills the room. That took a little time getting used to, but now it's not even an issue.
We then changed out numerous lights throughout the house with the soft white cf bulbs. Their soft white glow is certainly comfortable and what is the norm that most of us are used to.
Much to my surprise and/or ignorance, the bulb manufacturers have a wide range of products including numerous decorative styles, outdoor flood lights and interior recessed flood lights.
At our rental property, the lights in the common areas are on a timer that starts approx. at 5pm and goes until 7 am. For the last 5 years, we were changing out the incandescent bulbs constantly. This was a time consuming and somewhat costly event. In May, I replaced a handful of them to see how they would do. As of the first week of October, they were still going strong and our power bill for those lights alone had dropped substantially. I then replaced the remaining bulbs. All of the common areas, roughly 24 lights, are now CF bulbs. Between those and the ones at my house, it looks like I just helped light a few more homes or remove a few more cars worth of pollution from the air. I guess It's a start at the least.