In 2007, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act into law with broad bipartisan support from both parties in Congress. The law had a slow roll-out by design to give both consumers and light bulb manufacturers time to adjust to the new regulations that were being put into place.

The law prohibits the production and selling of incandescent light bulbs of any size. Bulbs of 100 and 75 watts were phased out at the beginning of 2012, and 60 and 45 watt bulbs began their own phase out at the beginning of this year. Old incandescent light bulbs that already exist can be sold, but new ones cannot be created.

The United States is not the only nation that is beginning to embrace more energy efficient lighting. According to a new study, 88 percent of United Kingdom households have made the transition to CFL light bulbs. The survey was conducted as a part of the ongoing PremiumLight project, an initiative that is dedicated to informing consumers about the quality of energy efficient light bulbs and the money they could be saving by investing in them.

Those who participated in the survey cited their main reason for investing in the CFL light bulbs was to save money on their energy bills each month. A third of those who answered the survey have purchased LED bulbs, which also use much less energy and electricity than their incandescent counterparts. Figures from the UK Energy Savings Trust estimate that citizens can save a combined 1.4 billion pounds – or roughly $2 billion U.S. dollars – by simply investing in these new kinds of light bulbs.

To increase the energy efficiency of your own home, Alban Inspections recommends investing in CFL bulbs.