When compact fluorescent lights came on the market, I was skeptical, and I was dismayed by their high cost. I really had a hard time convincing myself to spend over $8 for one 200-watt-equivalent bulb, so I decided to figure out whether the purported energy saving would translate into actual savings in real life.
The first CFL I bought listed an energy usage of 40 watts to generate the lumens of a 200 watt standard (750-hour) bulb. We pay 9-10c per KWH. I installed that bulb in an office lamp, and rather than try to track the on-time of the lamp with precision, just estimated that the lamp was in use for five hours per day.
Bottom line: The bulb would pay for itself if it lasted for 100 days. That was over two years ago. And the packaging I saved when I got it says it can last "up to 5 years." No matter. The bulb has easily paid for itself - many times over.
If/when I have another house, I'd also like to investigate the possibility of lighting it with LEDs.
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CFLs are awesome.
ReplyDeleteLEDs just aren't there yet. Wwwwaaayyyy too expensive to be practical for anything but accent lighting and very very specific small spot lights.
CFL's are economical, to be sure. The problem I have is my wife is very sensitive to light, and fluorescent lighting strains her and gives her headaches. And we all know if our wife is grouchy, we are all in trouble.
ReplyDeleteSo, we'll stick with the old bulbs until LED lighting (or another technology) is ready for everyday use.
Yes, I hope that LED's are commonplace in the future.
ReplyDeleteI do have a few CFL's, Only Two Downsides; slow to warm up, and Mercury.
Disposing of the bulbs was a concern Fortunately, Home Depot has a collection point in their stores. I've replaced all the incandescent bulbs I use with any regularity with CFL's.
ReplyDeleteCFL's have four major problems.
ReplyDelete1) first your estimate of your power savings is off by a factor of perhaps 1.5. Most (though not all) CFL's have a power factor of about 0.5. which roughly means they draw twice as much current per watt then is needed for that watt. the current is "out of phase" or at other frequencies so it does end up as useful light. But the power company still has to ship the electrons to you and back again so their is loss in the lines
2) CFLs have mercury. bust one and not disclose this to the next buyer of your house and you could be breaking the law. to properly clean up the mercury spill can be expensive. to hire someone would cost over a thousand dollars. You could do it yourself if you knew how to getter mercury with sulfur.
3) they don't turn on quicky or reach full brightness or color spectrum for a minute or so.
4) Some cheap ones flicker within a human detectable range.
I have replaced all my incandescent bulbs with CFLs. My electric bill went way down. As for sensitivity, there are newer CFLs with different lighting qualities, e.g. "daylight".
ReplyDeleteThe claim that the cleanup of a broken CFL requires the skills and expense of a hazmat team is an urban myth.
ReplyDeleteExplanation at Snopes -
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp
Always find it interesting how things seem to get branded more and more dangerous as time goes by. When I was a kid mercury thermometers were common place, I distinctly remember standing on one and no special cleanup procedure was followed. My mother insists that when she was at school they were regularly given blobs of mercury to play with in chemistry and the children would roll it across the table and push it round with their bare hands.
ReplyDeleteI used to play with liquid mercury in the 1950s-60s. I also have asbestos samples in my mineral collection; they are in little plastic boxes. It's interesting how people will recoil if/when you just pop the lid of the box open.
ReplyDeleteLED light bulbs are now available at my local Walmart. 40$ (US) each still a bit 2 much for me.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the Dim Bulbs up to? It's amazing! Can people be so stupid?
ReplyDeletehttp://animal-farm.us/change/dim-bulbs-535
The LED bulbs are expensive, but they last longer and provide a better quality of light. And regardless how many CFL collection bins there are, most people are going to just toss their old CFL bulbs in the trash, and they will wind up in the landfills. In a few generations, the mercury they contain will be in our water, and then everyone will be moaning about that, all thought of 'green' bulbs out the window.
ReplyDelete