Currently, lighting accounts for 22 percent of the nation's electricity usage, according to the DoE. So it's little wonder that long-lasting, energy efficient bulbs would go a long way to easing the burden on our power grids. Hence, the attention lavished on CFLs.

But some are already looking past CFLs to LEDs. Consumerist points to a nice LED Lighting 101 article over at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Currently, price is what's keeping these from mass market adoption. However, with the cost of white LEDs dropping fast, consumer-friendly units may be only a couple of years away.