I use energy efficient bulbs and even rewired all my dimmer switches so that I could use them. I also turn off the lights whenever possible. We actually leave the lights off most of the time.

Indeed, the energy efficient lights do have mercury which is a little off-putting. Also, I noticed that some of them just plain old don’t work. Out of about 25 I bought for my house, 2 of them didn’t work at all!

LED lighting is in the works which will actually be much better, safer and more energy efficient. That’s a few years off though!

Many so called "green solutions" often have other consequences that come up. "Green" light bulbs, the curly type, do save electricity. However, they do not last as long as you might think! Also, because of the mercury in the bulbs if you break them you are supposed to call a hazmat team to clean up the debris!

I do turn lights off when I am not in the room. But I didn’t need any "green program" to inform me! Even during WWII ordinary citizens were turning off lights to save energy for the war effort. They were also composting, recycling metal and saving newspapers for recycling too!