It is generally recommended to turn off lights whenever you leave a room. However, the actual energy savings of a lightbulb will be determined by the operating life and power used by the specific type of light (e.g. incandescent lights, fluorescent lights or compact fluorescent lights). Incandescent lights (or bulbs) should be turned off whenever they are not needed or when leaving a room for 3-5 minutes. Fluorescent lights should not be turned off unless you will be out of the room for more than 15 minutes. You can find more information about this topic from the U.S. Department of Energy and energystar.gov.

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