How does a CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) bulb operate?

All types of Fluorescent light bulbs (including CFLs) are much more energy-efficient than standard household bulbs because they use different method to produce light. Normal household bulbs (also called incandescent bulbs) provides light by heating of the tungsten (metal) filament. Due to heat the filament becomes white hot & provides light which we can see. Llot of the energy used to create the heat that lights an incandescent bulb is wasted. While in case of fluorescent bulb which contains a gas that produces invisible ultraviolet light (UV) when the arc is generated between two cathodes in presence of conductive gas due to electricity. The UV light hits the white coating inside the fluorescent bulb and the coating changes it into light you can see. Because fluorescent bulbs don't use heat to create light, they are far more energy-efficient than regular incandescent bulbs. Most of the CFL’s does only consumer around 25% energy (watts) to provide same amount of light provided by a standard household bulb.