Light saving time: Changing to energy efficient light bulbs will save you cash

- Offset your carbon emissions

You may not realise it but lighting is responsible for a whopping 19 per cent of the world's electricity consumption - and here in the UK more than 90 per cent of UK households are still using incandescent light bulbs.

If each household in the UK changed just one incandescent bulb to an energy efficient bulb, we would save enough energy to run the country's street lights for a year and save more than £200m on electricity bills.

In December 2006 Philips, the global lighting partner of Live Earth, called for all incandescent light bulbs to be replaced with alternative energy-saving solutions within 10 years. Along with the lighting industry, non-governmental organisations, energy suppliers, governments and the individual, a successful switchover would make a significant contribution to the climate crisis.

The UK Government is already taking action by announcing they will be the first European country to phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2011. It makes environmental sense and will also no doubt save a big wedge of cash too.

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Did you know?

• In the UK alone, £180m a year is wasted by leaving lights switched on unnecessarily. A 100W light bulb left on for half an hour creates enough CO2 to fill a party balloon

• That 95 per cent of the energy consumed by incandescent bulbs is wasted as heat -and with lighting accounting for 15 per cent of every electricity bill, switching to energy efficient bulbs is a simple way to cut down on costs

• If everyone installed just one energy saving light bulb, the CO2 emissions saved would fill two million double decker buses

• With new lighting technology, a global saving of up to £35bn on energy costs is possible, reducing CO2 output by 594 million tons per year. This equates to up to 1,560 million barrels of oil annually

• Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tour and the newly re-furbished O2 arena in London are all lit with energy efficient light bulbs

• More than two billion inefficient incandescent bulbs are purchased every year in Europe, with up to three quarters being used in the home and the remainder in the commercial sector

• If each house installed just three energy saving bulbs, it would save enough energy to run the country's street lights for a year or save enough CO2 to fill 6,000 Royal Albert Halls