Increasing your lighting efficiency is one of the fastest ways to decrease your energy bills.

• Turn off the lights in any room you're not using, or consider installing timers, photo cells, or occupancy sensors to reduce the amount of time your lights are on.
• Use task lighting; instead of brightly lighting an entire room, focus the light where you need it. For example, use fluorescent under-cabinet lighting for kitchen sinks and countertops under cabinets.
• Consider three-way lamps; they make it easier to keep lighting levels low when brighter light is not necessary.
• Finally, use compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs); they are much more efficient than incandescent bulbs and last 6 to 10 times longer. CFLs are more expensive than incandescent bulbs, but they pay for themselves by saving energy over their lifetime.