It's been said that some of the best stock investment ideas/decisions take place after an investor reads about the company in a typical American newspaper. Had you read about the recent meeting of leaders of the European Union last week, that would have been the case.

At the meeting, European leaders agreed to have the EU's executive arm develop a plan to promote the use of energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs and phase out/reduce the use of incandescent bulbs, following the example of Australia, Chile and other countries.

Fluorescent bulbs light by heating gas inside a glass tube, compared to incandescent bulbs that heat a filament for light. Fluorescent bulbs emit about 90% of the light of comparable incandescent bulbs but only use about 27% of the energy of an incandescent bulb -- roughly one-fourth the energy, an enormous energy advantage.

In a world seeking to reduce green house gases, cutting electrical power required for lighting by more than 50% is substantial, especially when one considers the lower amount of coal/natural gas-generated energy required to light these bulbs. "Fluoros" have another advantage: they last longer, in some cases 5 times longer, than incandescent bulbs.