In the past, we bought light bulbs based on how much energy, or watts, they use. Wouldn't it make more sense to buy lights based on how much light they provide?

When you're shopping for light bulbs, you can choose your next light bulb for the brightness you want by comparing lumens instead of watts. A lumen is a measure of the amount of brightness of a light bulb-the higher the number of lumens, the brighter the light bulb.

If you're replacing an inefficient 100 W bulb, look for an energy-saving bulb that puts out about 1600 lumens. To replace a 60 W equivalent, look for a bulb with about 800 lumens.

So when you're looking for a new bulb, look for lumens-or how bright the bulb is. Now that's a pretty bright idea!