Compact Fluorescent: Um... no.

Did you go buy your compact fluorescent light bulbs yet?

Don't.

Don't go buying into all that CFL B.S. That isn't what's going to save the planet. Yeah, you'll be all impressed that they use only 25% of the power and last ten times as long as incandescents, but keep looking, Pecos Joe. There's more story to hear.

They keep working on it, but the light they produce generally looks like shit (what, with the subtle strobing and slight blue cast.) Oh, and the bulbs contain mercury. Oh, and they give off small amounts of UV, which really isn't good for the eyes and also eats your Vitamin A. Oh, and there's a much better solution. Oh, and the solution is crazy expensive.

LED bulbs are awesome. Compact fluorescent bulbs look like energy hogs next to LED's that use less than half the power and last at least five times as long. They don't get hot, either. They're also really, really expensive. Did I mention that? Google it.

Do you have a 70W light bulb in your lamp? An LED bulb that's just as bright uses 9W. That's about 1/8 the power. There. You just cut your light bill by 87%. Get 100W of light from a 10W LED bulb. There. That's 1/10 the power. Better? Oh, and the bulbs will last you 12 years @ 12 hours/day at least. 100k hours is not out of the question.

Do you like Christmas lights? Notice they don't make any compact fluorescent Christmas lights? You haven't noticed that? Well they don't. But they do make LED Christmas lights, and yes, they use a lot less power, and yes, they don't heat up and burn your tree -> house down. Wait, you live in a tree house?