Amid what has been called the green revolution, many people are looking for simple ways to do their part for the environment -- without breaking the bank.

One bright, and relatively cheap, idea is changing the light bulbs in the home. According to the government-run Energy Star Web site, energy used in the home contributes twice the amount of harmful greenhouse gasses than the average car.

Experts said that glut can be slashed as simply as changing a light bulb.

Since Thomas Edison produced the first practical electric bulb in 1879, the incandescent bulb has been the standard for household lighting. But recently, the standard bulb has come under fire for its inefficiency -- just 2 percent to 5 percent of power becomes light, with the rest becoming heat.

The inefficiency has even prompted many governments to phase out the incandescent bulb altogether. The European Union, Australia, New Zealand and Canada are all working on plans to ban the light bulbs.

The countries hoping to ban the old bulbs have been pushing compact florescent light bulbs (CFLs), which boast efficiency between 6 percent and 15 percent.

In the United States, both California and Connecticut have bills in the legislature that would halt the sale of the bulbs by 2012. In New Jersey, Republican Rep. Larry Chatzidakis introduced a bill that would call for a switch to more efficient lighting in government buildings over the next three years.

He said the government must take advantage of the new technology.

"The light bulb was invented a long time ago, and a lot of things have changed since then," said Chatzidakis.

Critics of the switch cited cost as a major deterrent, but experts said that as demand for new fluorescent bulbs skyrockets, their prices will drop.

Nelson Industries, an Australian lighting importer, said that prices that started at $10 per light bulb have dropped nearly 600 percent.

"These days you can buy a six-pack at the $10 mark," said Colin Goldman, head of Nelson Industries. "The prices are coming down, and as soon as you get volume with greater numbers on the market, they come down further."

According to Energy Star, buyers would save up to $30 over the life of an average CFL, which lasts up to 13 times longer than its incandescent counterpart. The organization also said that if every American household replaced just one incandescent bulb with a CFL, it would save more than $600 million in annual energy costs.

The savings, however, were not the first reason for the bans.

According to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, electricity generation is the No. 1 contributor of the gasses linked to global warming. Energy Star said that apart from the monetary savings, if each American household changed one bulb, it would prevent harmful emissions equivalent to 800,000 cars.

Experts suggested that homeowners replace highly used bulbs first, such as in the kitchen or living room, to maximize the efficiency of the new bulbs. And to make the switch to CFLs as hassle-free as possible, manufacturers of the new bulbs are also manufacturing them at a much smaller size than bulky bulbs that were first available. Energy Star also provides a guide to finding the right bulb for existing fixtures.

The government-run Web site also offers a lighting guide that helps buyers find bulbs that mimic incandescent bulbs and avoid the washed-out fluorescent lighting found in supermarkets and other big-box stores.

Experts said that as a rule of thumb, a 15-watt CFL is equivalent to the standard 60-watt bulb.

For homeowners who want to get the most efficiency regardless of cost, there are even more alternatives.

Two of the most efficient lighting technologies are light-emitting diodes and low-pressure sodium lamps, which can reach 10 percent efficiency and 27 percent efficiency, respectively. Both alternatives, however, require special fixtures and cost a lot more than current CFLs.