Incandescent light bulbs produce light through heat: an electric current passes through a thin filament, heating it up. The heat makes the filament white-hot, producing the light that you see. 90% of the energy used to create the heat that lights an incandescent bulb is wasted.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs use a different technology: they contain a gas that produces invisible ultraviolet light (UV) when the gas is put in the presence of 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.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if every household in the United States replaced just ONE regular incandescent light bulb with an Energy Star approved compact fluorescent bulb (CFL) we’d save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.
Such a savings is possible because a fluorescent bulb creates light using an entirely different method that is far more energy-efficient, in fact, 4-6 times more efficient. This means that you can buy a 15-watt compact fluorescent bulb that produces the same amount of light as a 60-watt regular incandescent bulb.
ENERGY STAR qualified lighting provides bright, warm light but uses about 75% less energy than standard lighting, produce 75 percent less heat (cutting energy costs associated with home cooling), and lasts up to 10 times longer. They save about $30 or more in electricity costs over each bulb’s lifetime, and are available in different sizes and shapes to fit in almost any fixture, for indoors and outdoors.
As for drawbacks, CFLs don’t operate well in frigid conditions, limiting their use for exterior lighting in cold areas. But the biggest problem with them is their mercury content. It’s recommended to recycle CFL bulbs, since breaking or incinerating them releases mercury into the air. The poisonous metal can then find its way into soil, water, fish and fish-eating humans.
The mercury problem can be avoided through proper handling and recycling of the bulbs. Other than that, considering that lighting accounts for roughly 7% of the average lighting bill (compact fluorescents will reduce that by over half), CFLs make sense for just about everybody, both financially and environmentally.
Tags: incandescent light bulbs, Lighting
#1 by sportsjunkie244 on June 10, 2010 - 6:20 am
The easy and cheap way is to upgrade to electronic ballasts and T8 tubes. Linear fluorescent tubes are rated in size by length and the "T" number which is the diameter of the tube in eights of an inch. For instance old tubes are T12 which is 12/8ths of an inch which is an inch and a half while newer ones are skinnier because generally speaking the skinnier the tube is the more lumens per watt it produces. The GE UltraMAX ballast series is a good choice because they are available in different configurations to match the usage situation. For instance for classrooms with many 4 tube fixtures the 4 lamp L series (ge-432-max-l) is appropriate because it slightly underdrives the tubes to make them last longer and use fewer watts so it saves money not only in the energy bill but in fewer tube replacements. They are also universal voltage (120-277V) so if the school rewires the lighting for a different voltage they don't have to replace the ballasts again.
I probably sound like a marketing person from GE at this point but I have no ties to them other than having bought a ge-232-max-h ballast off of Ebay to upgrade a 2 tube 4 foot shop light and I couldn't be happier with the ballast so far. The only thing I need to do now is get a decent set of tubes since the current ones are cheapies from Walmart and don't have a very good color temperature.
#2 by gutierrez_10 on June 10, 2010 - 7:35 am
Lets burn a single bulb for 12 hours per day for one month. A 20 amp CFL will cost about 65 cents to run. A 100 amp standard bulb will cost $3.25 to run the same amount of time. They both put out the same amount of light. The CFL will last longer and run cooler also. 1/5th the cost. And they don't flicker or poison the earth if they break. That is silly talk. Try a few, you will like them. They won't work with a dimmer.
#3 by i love lax !!! on June 10, 2010 - 5:16 pm
Not nearly as much as they'd save if they switched to clothes lines or energy efficient washing machines or insulated their houses correctly or turned the heat down a few degrees or slowed down a couple miles per hour or inflated their tires correctly or mowed their lawn a day later than they think it needs to be done…. Could probably not need to build one medium sized coal fired power plant if all bulbs were switched over.
#4 by rosielee on June 10, 2010 - 11:50 pm
Just like the old bulbs, turning them on and off when you enter or leave a room is better and more economical than if you leave them on.
#5 by OZ2003 on June 11, 2010 - 2:25 pm
I bought the ones at Home Depot and have them through out my house and never have to wait for them to fully light. I can't remember the brand though, sorry.
#6 by Tess Tickles on June 12, 2010 - 5:59 am
Since most energy efficient bulbs use fluorescent tubes, normal dimmers will not work because of the way they operate. There are dimmers available for use with these types of lights but they are significantly more expensive than conventional dimmers. If you are not handy with electricity you will need an electrician to install them. I suggest you buy a "nite light" which uses a 7 watt incandescent bulb. This will be as inexpensive as any solution and they work great.
#7 by nl8uprly on June 12, 2010 - 11:35 pm
You may have a voltage problem. Check and make sure you are getting at least 110 V to your branch circuit. Also, the quality of these bulbs varies greatly. Do not buy these at the dollar store! Stick with a reputable manufacturer, GE or Feit or Sylvania. The light output is measured in Lumens, look for this measurement on the label. Watts is how much energy they will use – notice that a 60 Watt regular bulb produces about as much light as a 13 watt energy efficient.
Try this link for more information:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls
Please also know that these bulbs contain trace amounts of mercury, please dispose of them properly (NOT in your household trash!) and if you do break one, clean up with gloves, a damp cloth to make sure you get all the materiel, and then dispose of the damp cloth and gloves as you would the light bulbs.
#8 by gerlawgoody1 on June 13, 2010 - 6:09 am
Prince Charles talks to his plants regularly so maybe he would know but I've just rang him and he's out.
Anything that comes out of the ground that I touch usually dies so I'm not a plant expert. But I know a bit about light. Light is measured in 'temperature' and plants feed off light. As a pure guess I would deduce that low energy bulbs give off not nearly enough light temperature as fluorescent.
PS This is my 'week end' avatar now.
#9 by scramo on June 13, 2010 - 3:05 pm
You can use a switch but not a light sensor (photoelectric cell) or other resistive switch. The CFC's require the full hit of voltage to turn on properly; the resistor types bring up the voltage too slow to have them work.
You'll have to read the fine print very closely. I searched for a digital timer light switch and found only one out of about six that was a real switch and not a resistive type.