Many people use incandescent bulbs, but I think cities should start transitioning into using fluorescent bulbs. This type of light bulb would greatly decrease the emission of greenhouse gases. In addition, since these bulbs last longer, more than a billion light bulbs would be kept out of the trash. Not only does it help the environment, but it would also help people save up to thirty dollars on each light bulb because of its efficiency. I think switching to fluorescent bulbs is an easy and effective way for people to help decrease carbon emissions. For good information about fluorescent light bulbs and ways to help, visit this website: http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/saving_en … facts.html

You are definitely taking a step in the right direction through switching to fluorescent, but before you do, consider LED's!  They have over 2 and a half times the life of a CFL and the same energy savings! So, instead of replacing your CFL's every 9 years (which is eco-friendly, still), you only need to replace your LED's about every 23 years, (which is super eco-friendly because it keeps even more bulbs out of the trash!) You can refer to this picture to see all my info: [BULBS](//muut.com/u/footprint/s1/:footprint:RJgE:bulbs.png.jpg)

I agree with both of you! LED's and flourescent bulbs save emissions of greenhouse gasses, and can greatly impact the environment. I think that since they both last longer than incandescent bulbs, and consume less greenhouse gasses than standard light bulbs, we should definitely consider the switch!

I agree! I think that cities could save a lot of money and time by simply replacing incandescent bulbs to more energy efficient bulbs such as LED's. Since those bulbs don't need to be replaced as often, maintenance workers could work towards making the city greener in other aspects.

I had no idea how much more efficient the LED bulbs are than the incandescent! I only have a few LED bulbs in my house, but now when we have to replace burned out lights I'll be sure to try using LED bulbs instead! They definitely last longer than regular light bulbs, and I didn't realize the helpfulness of that.

Unfortunately I can only partially agree with your suggestion to start using fluorescent bulbs. This mainly because I'm almost sure that we are poisoning the planet with tons and tons of highly toxic mercury (each bulb contains typically around five milligrams; see also http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic … -dangerous). So just using the same idea expressed in the link you provided you can easily immagine of the amount of mercury I'm talking about. This issue bring to my mind other planetary ecological disasters we have seen in the past, i.e. DDT as a powerful insecticide and lead as an additive for improving the performance of gasoline. I see two main problems with fluorescent bulbs. The first is related to information; most of the people does not know about mercury content and does not know about basic rules for correctly using and disposing those bulbs. The second is related to laziness of people; "Why should I bring this small bulb to city waste recycling? I will trow it in the trashcan, just this time..." multiplied by millions  of times! Fortunately a solution exist and maybe is not too late: LED bulbs (mercury free!). Just a few years ago they where too expensive or not bright enough. Now technology improved a lot and several city in my area have just replaced public street illumination with LED lamps. At home we do not have any fluorescent bulbs but recently my father replaced most of the home bulbs with LED: energy consumption for illumination dropped by a factor of 8-10 and general brightness improved...