In the spirit of reducing waste, which is even better that recycling the stuff, we need to look more closely at light bulbs in the home. In general, the thinking has been that the more we turn the lights off, the less electricity we use, and the more we save.

That’s true, but it’s not entirely a black-and-white proposition.

Older incandescent lights are the highest users of electricity, and 90% of the energy they use is lost to heat. In a Maine winter, that may not sound so bad. It raises what’s called the “balance point” of a house, which is the temperature at which the house will remain without the use of the central heating.

The issue, of course, is that electricity is expensive fuel. Once in the house, it’s very efficient as heat, but it’s inefficient and expensive to make and move around. It also doesn’t help us in the warmer months. Overall, incandescents are net losers, and also don’t last as long, so they need to be trashed more often. They cannot be recycled.

Turn these off as much as possible when they’re not actually being used.

The next step up is the CFL bulbs (the ones with the curly glass in them) that we were all urged to buy a couple of years ago. These use much less electricity, and also tend to last much longer. They can also be recycled at the places where we buy them, so the bad stuff in them can be recovered (and there is lots of that, the same as in fluorescent tubes).

The caution there is that CFL bulbs will fail more quickly if they are frequently turned on and off. Like other fluorescent bulbs, they have a sort of ballast, or starter in them, and that is what fails from being frequently switched on and off. The U.S. Department of Energy says that you can generally extend the operating life of CFLs more effectively by switching them on and off less frequently, and the total savings is greater than the cost of leaving them on a bit longer.

The third choice was halogen bulbs. These also burn very hot, and they cannot be recycled. They are difficult to change because you can’t touch the bulb with bare hands or it will cause it to burn out very quickly. While they are bright, so a lower wattage bulb is often adequate, they generally are not strongly recommended for general use today, except in some 12-volt or specialized systems.

The best choice today is usually LED lighting of any sort. LEDs run cool, use very little electricity for the amount of the light they emit, can be turned on and off as frequently as we like, and last a long time before we need to replace them.

The Recycle Bin is a weekly column on what to recycle, what not to recycle, and why, in Brunswick. The public is encouraged to submit questions by email to brunsrecycleinfo@gmail.com. Harry Hopcroft is a member of the Brunswick Recycling and Sustainability Committee.