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All Fluorescent Light Bulbs are Not Alike
Re: All Fluorescent Light Bulbs are Not Alike
I agree!
There are "Daylight" fluorescent bulbs. They're more expensive, and they're not quite as efficient, but the light is a so much better than cool white or warm white.
A lot of folks fing them harsh, that's because they're so accustomed to the ubiquitous CW & WW trash that's out there.
For some applications the plain old incandescent bulb is still king as far as I'm concerned. Unfortunately the "eco-police" are taking them away from us. That's part of the reason I've become vocal, on so many topice. I'm all for conservation, efficiency, cleaner alternatives to pollution, but all things in moderation.
If you're just relaxing of performing some non-critical task, then the quality of light probably isn't on the top 10 list. Few fluorescents and none of the LED's can truly match the full spectrum light quality of incandescent or halogen bulbs, but they're ok, just for general illumination.
I've converted most of the bulbs in the house to CFL, we've still got a pair of incandescent floods & spots, one big halogen flood, 1 yellow bug bulb, etc...
I use the daylight tubes above my shop bench, and found a daylight CFL for the desk lamp, my nightstand reading lamp will always be halogen.
FYI: Whatever you do, don't try to put CFLs in your garage door opener, I wasted 4 lamps because of the vibration. :-( Maybe LED's would work better?
Re: All Fluorescent Light Bulbs are Not Alike
the link on the past commetn doesn't work. I'm not sure what it realetes to but LED lights last almsot forever and onlu use 1/10 the energy of old lights. That's a 90% saving in electricity not to mention the coolness with no heat produced. Here in the AZ heat that adds up to less air conditioning.
I get mine on line from ccrane.com http://www.ccrane.com/
the solar stacks
Re: All Fluorescent Light Bulbs are Not Alike
There is a new product that can save you an average of 15% on your utility bills for fluorescent lighting - check out www.enerfume.com.
Re: All Fluorescent Light Bulbs are Not Alike
I now use LED lights. You can get them at many places even LED Christmass (Holiday PC) lights. I get some at ccrane.com they use 1/10th the energy and last forever. Also they emitt almost no heat which can cost you in the hot summer.
PS don't try and use an LED to hatch chicks like some farmers used to. There is no waste heat, just light.
the solar stacks
Re: All Fluorescent Light Bulbs are Not Alike
I believe there are some new CFLs that will work with a dimmer switch - most will not.
You save a lot of $ buying CFLs in a multi- pack (available for 40, 60 and 100 watt equivalents.) Like $2.00 or less vs. $6.00 individually. Has anyone seen a multi-pack for the R-30 & G-25 styles (for recessed lights, fan lights and round vanity lights)?
Re: All Fluorescent Light Bulbs are Not Alike
Rick,
I think it depends on which manufacturer of CFL that you purchase. I know exactly what you mean, as I've also had some that don't fit. My solution was to go to Home Depot and search through the CFL selection - I was able to find one that did fit after a little digging.
Charley
Re: All Fluorescent Light Bulbs are Not Alike
I've been hearing some new updates about "the concern" over mercury contained in fluorescent light bulbs. The amount of mercury in a CFL is very minimal - approximately 4 milligrams. The CFL manufacturers are now working on a substitute for the mercury in CFL and they feel optimistic in being able to come up with a different non-mercury solution. For point of comparison a standard watch battery contains about 25 milligrams of mercury. So what can/should we do in the meantime? We should definitely continue to use CFL in place of standard light bulbs. That absolutely continues to be a no brainer - the generators and pollutants required to power the extra electricity for a standard light bulb is far and away more detrimental to our planet and us than the concern about the small CFL mercury. What we can do to be even more eco-friendly with our CFLs would be to find a high-end recycling center which will take the time to actually go through the recyclables and properly separate them. Don't forget that a standard CFL under normal use will continue to work for a long period of time before having to be replaced, so for most of us any concern about mercury in CFLs won't even be an issue.
- Joseph
Hi, interesting discussion.
Hi, interesting discussion. I was quite surprised by Shawn's warning...way at the top... that flourescent bulbs should only be used in areas where the light will be left on for over an hour. I was under the impression that this was old technology and that current flourescent bulbs do not share this limitation. I was ready to argue with a friend about this. Am I off base?
What I really want to know is, does anyone know how the wildly popular halogen bulbs rate for efficiency?
Daryl
I think what Shawn meant
I think what Shawn meant (Shawn, please chime in) is that CFL are most effective if used in areas where the light will be on one hour or longer not that they should not be used in areas where the light will be used for less than one hour.
Good question about halogen bulbs. I know that halogens burn extremely hot so I find it hard to believe that they would be a high-efficiency bulb as compared with standard bulbs, but actually they are more efficient than standard bulbs although considerably less efficient than CFL, especially due to the fact that several halogen bulbs are typically used, such as in the kitchen on gas range hoods, etc.
- Joseph
I've probably installed
I've probably installed 20,000+ of these Compact Fluorescents Lights (CFLs) over the last few years and have been personally using them for about 16 years. I have some that have replaceable glass bulbs that have lasted more than 10 years.
For long life and optimal performance I would recommend:
Use them where you usually leave the light on for at least 1 hour or more. (The average cfl should last 8-10,000 hours of burn time or years and years in that situation).
Don't use them in bathrooms because they will burn out quickly (less than 6 months) because of "on and off" cycling burns their electronics out.
If you have two light fixtures with separate switchs in the bathroom, place a cfl in the socket that is left on for more than 30 minutes at a time.
All fluorescent tubes and CFLs lamps have small amounts of mercury and the ballasts contain some heavy metals so please use them where they will last the longest and request that utilities/stores that sell them to recycle them properly.
LED lights are even more efficient and last longer but are much more expensive per lumen for a hardwired fixture.
Battery powered LEDs and LED Christmas Lights are OK for specific applications or experimental applications.
I would stick to CFLs for now until LED prices and technology improves.
probably more than you wanted to Know?
energy conservation tech and Oregon's #1 cfl installer (as of 2005)
Hi Corinnekramer,
I think
Hi Corinnekramer,
I think you bring up a good point and one that has two sides. While you may save some engery with a water softner, my understanding is that a water softner should help save water. While not having a water softner, as any appliance that uses eletricty will save the enery otherwise used to do its job, if that appliacne provides benifits in others ways, as in the case of saving water (possibly) perhaps it "banlances" the equation.
Just a thought -
Cheers,
Kona
I think it would depend on
I think it would depend on how old your water softener is and whether your new one is Energy Star certified or not. To answer how much energy a typical water softener uses I would think that comparing to typical appliances might give you an idea, but typically a water softener doesn't use much energy. Here's a chart that I found which would give you "typical" appliance wattage ratings:
Blender: 300 watts = .300 kilowatt (kW)
Can Opener: 100 watts = .100 kW
Clock: 2 watts = .002 kW
Corn Popper: 600 watts = .600 kW
Curling Iron: 40 watts = .040 kW
Food Processor: 450 watts = .450 kW
Hair Dryer: 1200 watts = 1.200 kW
Juicer: 90 watts = .090 kW
Knife Sharpener: 100 watts = .100 kW
Mixer (stand): 150 watts = .150 kW
Sewing Machine: 75 watts = .075 kW
Shaver: 15 watts = .015 kW
Waffle Iron: 1200 watts = 1.200 kW
Water Softener: 2 watts = .002 kW
Hope this information helps you.
Naida
I watched Oprah last week,
Excellent start in fact. I
Excellent start in fact. I think that changing your light bulbs from standard to fluorescent is one of the simplest and highest impact changes that everyone can do to help fix the planet. This weekend I noticed that Home Depot was actually giving away free fluorescent bulbs as a promotion for Earth Day. I am almost all fluorescent in my home and plan on converting the rest of my bulbs by month's end. The only difficulty that I've found (minor) is that if you have a switch to control the brightness of the light a fluorescent bulb will not work - at least I haven't found one that will actually adjust in brightness - it must be a standard on/off switch. At any rate, this represents only two switches in my house so we're also on the way to using full fluorescents. One thing to be aware of is that not all fluorescents are alike - be sure to look for Energy start compliant ones so that you'll actually end up saving energy. Some of the cheaper Chinese fluorescents will actually not give you the savings that you may think. Congrats on moving forward with your own Green Efforts.
- Joseph
Re: Excellent start in fact. I
Are there any CFL's made in the United states? The great majority I have found are made in China, and the remainder are from the Philipines. I am a label checker, and try not to buy unnecessary items from countries that practice poor environmental controls and unjust labor practices in their industry. This gives them an unfair market advantage over American Manufacturers, and is bad for our economy in the long run. I have a few CFL's installed, but am hesitant to purchase more because they aren't made in the U.S. We have installed motion sensors, with automatic shut-offs in our kids rooms. I keep lights off when not in a room. I'm thinking the next step is sky-lights. If anyone knows of a brand of CFL that is U.S. made, and a store that sells them please let me know.
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I've just recently found out that some of the fluorescent light bulbs that you may be using are not necessarily giving you the energy savings that you may believe. Be sure to look for Energy Star rated bulbs - the EPAs rating service, and you'll be assured that you are in fact using some of the best energy savings bulbs that are available. There are many cheaper imports from China and other countries that won't give the savings that you expect and that we all need.
- Joseph