How much can I save?

You can save up to $45.00 in electricity costs by replacing just one 100 watt incandescent bulb with a 26 watt CFL. CFLs will give off as much light in a variety of warm colors, as incandescents. They will last between 7,000 and 10,000 hours compared to 720 hours listed for they typical incandescent counterpart. Sound too good to be true? It's not, and now you can save even more! Try one or two or even three with a rebate from Elk River Municipal Utilities! Call us at 763-441-2020 for coupons good for $4.00 off your purchase of any size CFLs at any of the stores listed on the coupon.

What's An Incandescent Bulb?

An incandescent bulb is a plain old inefficient light bulb. It's inefficient because nearly 90% of the energy that goes into it is given off as heat. Ever accidentally touch one after it has been on for a few seconds? In fact, some light bulbs are used for just that, to provide heat! That brings up an important point. Because so much energy is lost as heat, you pay extra to get rid of that heat in the summer by running your air conditioner longer just to keep cool! That wastes energy!

What's Different About CFLs?

Incandescent bulbs give off light by heating a high resistance filament to white hot! This explains why they get so hot and are relatively poor at what they do from an energy efficiency perspective.

Compact fluorscent lamps are merely condensed versions of fluorscent lamps that have been in existence for over 50 years, except they can now be used in incandescent light fixtures as well. Fluorscent lamps enjoy a completely different low temperature technology to produce light. It's not the intent of this brochure to discuss the physics of fluorscent lighting, but instead to show you how this technology can be applied in your home to save you money!