There are a lot of ways to live "green" in our homes these days.  And one of the easiest involves the way we light them.

Marc Malvizzi is a lighting expert in Pennsylvania.  He says there's plenty of lighting technology to make your home environmentally-friendly.  But, it gets better.  It'll actually help you save money.

"There's no better way to tell how much money you're spending on your electric bill than watching your electric meter spin," Malvizzi says. "What we like to show our customers -with a 75-watt bulb, you can see how the energy meter is spinning.  The same lamp, 75-watt equal, which is 20 watts.  That is what we call a spiral fluorescent.  You can see how your electric meter is slowed right down, and that's money right there.  The faster your electric meter spins, the more money you're spending every month on energy."

Because the new bulbs use less energy, they significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced.  The new spiral fluorescents also come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.  They're made to fit almost any fixture.  They're more expensive than traditional bulbs, but they should cost you less in the long run.  Here's how:

"One lamp, for example, is 10,000 hours.  The average light bulb is about 800 hours to about 1,500 hours. So you might pay three times more, but it's going to last maybe 5 times longer."

An occupancy sensor is another good idea.  It's designed to turn the lights off automatically when people aren't in a room.  If you think sensors are a bit much, you could go with a simple timer.

"We're trying to have products that can save people money cause, let's face it, electric bills aren't going down," Malvizzi says.

So the bottom line when it comes to lighting is this:  It's good for your pocket and the planet. 

Legislation is already being considered that would ban the standard light bulbs we've been using for years.