Editor's note: Replacing a 60-watt bulb that is on six hours a day with a compact fluorescent bulb yields an estimated yearly savings of $5.38, or $26.90 over the bulb's estimated five-year life.

In the lighting aisle of hardware and big-box stores, consumers are wrestling with one of the most important questions of the decade: Will my next light bulb be a familiar incandescent or a swirl-shaped compact fluorescent?

Here in Western Virginia, the common incandescent bulb perfected by Thomas Edison 130 years ago is the bulb of choice. But anecdotal evidence suggests the odd-looking compact fluorescents, sometimes called CFLs, have plenty of fans in the region.

Yahoo is reporting an estimate that more than 95,000 CFLs have been bought in the Roanoke metropolitan area since the start of this year. That's nearly one per household.

The number climbs by several hundred daily, as a screw-in strategy to battle high energy bills gains acceptance in a region that has shown keen sensitivity to the price of power.

Compact fluorescent bulbs have grown in performance and fallen in price since they were first released in the 1990s and became unpopular because of their high cost and unsteady, cool light.

Today, the newfangled bulbs run about $2.50 apiece when bought in a three-pack and $3.50 or much more when purchased in singles. Incandescent bulbs cost less than a quarter each in bulk packaging.

But advocates say the special bulbs pay for themselves in energy savings and empower individuals to help curb power-plant emissions that contribute to global warming.

Yahoo's chart offers the first glimpse at how well the odd-looking CFLs are selling in Western Virginia. Yahoo is getting data from consumer-information giant ACNielsen, which puts total U.S. purchases in 2007 at more than 66 million so far.

Hall Associates, which manages 24 commercial properties in the Roanoke Valley, is using CFLs as often as possible. It has for years used fluorescent tubes, which are also undergoing an upgrade, according to Tommy Hendrix, director of facility management. The switch from screw-in incandescents to screw-in compact fluorescent bulbs is about saving money, he said. But the cooler color of fluorescent light is not for every situation.

"If you're displaying art, that's a real good instance of where we're not going to use them," he said. "An ideal applicaton would be an atrium or an entranceway into a building or a corridor."

Similarly, developers Brent and Suzi Fortenberry plan to use CFLs for general indoor and outdoor lighting in a 26-home residential project to be called The Preserve at Two Ford in Roanoke County. "What we've done is use them in all the places where it made sense," said Brent Fortenberry, who noted that he isn't convinced the technology works well enough yet in fixtures with dimmers.

Virginia lawmakers think it is time to give energy conservation a push and have set a goal to reduce electricity consumption by 10 percent by 2022. Wider use of compact fluorescent bulbs "will be discussed among the various ideas," said spokesman Andy Farmer for the State Corporation Commission, which is leading a related study group.

Might Virginia require CFLs, following the lead of a California proposal to ban incandescents in 2012? "That's a policy question" for lawmakers, Farmer said. Lawmakers will receive the SCC work group's energy-conservation recommendations in December.

Wal-Mart is counting on selling many CFL bulbs in markets such as Southwest Virginia where the world's largest retailer is strong. At the Valley View Wal-Mart, the CFLs are positioned at eye level above the incandescent bulbs in what Shenandoah Valley market manager Mike Young said was a conscious decision.

"They're definitely put out prominently," Young said. "It has gone over well in our stores. The sales on those items have definitely increased and our customers seem to be embracing CFL light bulbs."

But some builders say purchasers of new homes, when selecting light packages, still go with incandescents.

Overall slow consumer acceptance breeds some puzzlement.

To be sure, there is not the same financial incentive to conserve electricity here that there is in places such as Maine, for example, with its high northeastern U.S. electricity rates. Virginians pay some of the lowest electricity prices in the nation.

But Southwest Virginians have shown keen sensitivity to the cost of electricity. Last year, when Appalachian Power Co. announced a major rate increase, the state said it received 40,000 complaints.

And yet, the energy-wasting incandescent bulb is still king.

Irene Leech, a Virginia Tech professor who is the volunteer leader of the state's consumer group, estimated that only 20 percent of residential light sockets in the region have a CFL.

Others put the penetration rate at 10 percent -- tops.

Compact fluorescent bulbs are believed to be used in 9 percent of U.S. homes, although 49 percent of households reported knowing about them, the U.S. Department of Energy reported.

Mark McClain, treasurer of the Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition and chair of the Roanoke group of the Sierra Club, said consumers' attitudes toward CFLs might take years to develop, just as resistance to smoking did.

"Everyone used to do it ... 40-plus years ago," McClain said. "Then we started to find out that it wasn't a good thing."

Beginning with opinion leaders, opposition to smoking grew in the body politic, McClain said. Significant anti-smoking forces have in recent decades relegated smokers outdoors, placed heavy taxes on the product and now are angling to have the FDA regulate cigarettes as drugs. But it took years for smoking to become uncool, McClain noted.

He's hoping the nation will more quickly break the incandescent habit. "You'll feel better, the air will be cleaner, you'll save money," he said.

It starts with education, he thinks, which is why the coalition offers a wide menu of programs dedicated to energy security and avoidance of global warming.

The first step is relatively easy. It's buying a few bulbs at the grocery or home improvement store to try at home.

If that's too pricey, another option is stopping by one of several giveaway events held by diverse groups dedicated to putting the bulbs in more hands. RIDE Solutions, a ride-sharing program operated by the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission and New River Valley Planning District Commission, will donate 200 CFLs to a household hazardous waste collection event in Roanoke Aug. 5. Used CFLs, which contain trace amounts of mercury, can be dropped off at the event for recycling by those who have registered.

The Cool Cities Coalition is gearing up to offer 1,000 of the long-lasting bulbs to clients of a Roanoke Valley charitable organization to be named soon.

It will cost Cool Cities $2 a bulb and save the recipient $40, according to McClain.

Here's the math on that claim:

A person whose 60-watt lamp switches to a compact fluorescent bulb that delivers equivalent or nearly equivalent light, which would be a 13-watt bulb. If the lamp is on six hours a day, the person could save $8.97 a month in electricity charges, according to an energy-savings calculator on the Web site of Appalachian Power Co.

Over five years, the potential life of the bulb, that's $44.85.