By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Like most people, I hated the compact fluorescent bulb or CFL when it first came out, and to be honest, for some time after that. They were priced high but packaged in a gimmicky way that made me suspicious. Most hotels uesd them and it felt like it took five minutes for the light to come on and when it did, there was not much light, and it was not a warm looking lighting color. And then the price – at double or even three times the cost, who would take the chance on a bulb that would last years when there was little known about them? So I stayed away.
How wrong I was. Here is a great round-up of facts from FastCompany that may change the way you think of these bulbs.
1. If every one of 110 million American households bought just one ice-cream-cone bulb, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people.
2. Compact fluorescents emit the same light as classic incandescents but use 75% or 80% less electricity.
3. A $3 swirl pays for itself in lower electric bills in about five months.
4. Compact fluorescents, even in heavy use, last 5, 7, 10 years. Years. Install one on your 30th birthday; it may be around to help illuminate your 40th.
5. The single greatest source of greenhouse gases in the United States is power plants–half our electricity comes from coal plants. One bulb swapped out: enough electricity saved to turn off two entire power plants–or skip building the next two.
6. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads.
7. Last year, U.S. consumers spent about $1 billion to buy about 2 billion lightbulbs–5.5 million every day. Just 5%, 100 million, were compact fluorescents.
8. In the next 12 months, starting with a major push this month, Wal-Mart wants to sell every one of its regular customers–100 million in all–one swirl bulb.
9. Early CFLs cost $25 per bulb (and still paid for themselves in electricity savings). The light they produced was bluish or pinkish, or varied; the phosphor coating had to be refined. The ballast–built into the bulb rather than in a separate fixture, as with traditional fluorescent tubes–hummed and didn’t cycle the electricity quickly enough; it had to be made electronic and miniaturized. Costs came down, as did size. The same wizardry that gives us Hallmark birthday cards that play “Love and Happiness” makes possible CFLs at $2.60 instead of $25.
10. A 60-watt classic bulb and a 15-watt swirl are identically bright–the swirl just uses 45 fewer watts. Source: FastCompany
We Say: What else? Whatever you call them – a swirl, ice cream bulb, or CFL, just buy one. It’s the easiest conservation you can do without much effort or cost. And best of all, its re-visiting a technology that has improved.
Before you go…try this one:
–How Big is Your Ecological Footprint?
(I’m a land-raping monster who consumes 4 planets a year.)
CFLs blow chunks!!!!
They give out crappy light, don’t turn on right away, and if you break one “you are supposed to leave the room for 30 minutes”… yeah right, like I really got time to do that for a fuckin’ light bulb!!!!
When one looks at the total lifecycle cost of a CFL they actually cause far more usage of electricity than they save. At the factory level the energy required to produce one CFL is equivalent to producing 7 incandescents (just for starters(no pun intended) look at all of the plastic, a petroleum based derivative, and the various electronics in the ballast) Like the lowflow showerheads and water saving toilets that actually increase the amount of water required to “get the job done” so the “energy saving” effects of CFLs are illusory. One must also consider that in the typical american household lighting accounts for only 2 – 5% of annual electrical usage. So while the end users are enjoying relatively miniscule savings in terms of kilowatt hours and dollars the factories are consuming significantly more energy to make the bulbs, so much more energy that the dollar “savings” are wiped out and the impact on the environment is greatly increased. A total lifecycle energy cost analysis of the CFL renders the energy and environmental claims being made about CFLs totally absurd, akin to using gasoline to put out a forest fire.
THAT IS SOOOOO TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOOD(AWESOME) FACTS
Those aren’t facts.
#1: Power a city of 1.5M people for how long? A week?
#2: They lose over 30% of emitting capacity over lifetime!
#4: My experience, they last about 4 years and then burn out by filling room with acrid smoke. Then you throw these Mercury filled things into a landfill.
#5: Most other sites say greatest greenhouse gas in U.S. comes from raising livestock for non-vegans. Some say it’s cars. I haven’t seen any that say its power plants, but yeah, whatever: go nuclear.
#6: You’re conflated two different measures here so that’s illogical.
#7: What’s you’re point? That dollar amount would be way higher if they bought fluorescents!
#8: I’m sure they’d love to sell us one of everything they offer, why not a thousand?
#9: This same wizardry will be clogging landfills. Also CFLs cause migraines and skin-condition flairs in many people, a not-so-small and growing portion actually.
#10: Same as #2-they aren’t as bright for very long. Pay more to get less. The migraines are a bonus.
With all that said, I STILL like them and buy them…but let’s just be honest and not spread propaganda for ANY movement (or Walmart).
Lifespan of a fluorescent bulb depends largely on how many times it’s ignited, as each ignition damages the cathode. Most bulb ratings are derived by a test cycle of three hours on, twenty minutes off. GE says its ratings are based on six ignitions a day, and adds that a CF bulb’s lifespan will be *significantly* shortened if not left on for at least 20 minutes. They claim that some of the damage caused by the ignition process is partially repaired during the first 20 minutes of use. When CFLs are turned on for only short periods of time, the damage quickly accumulates, the bulb begins to dim, and fails prematurely.
Note: Cold cathode fluorescents, such as those used in scanners and LCD backlights (e.g. TVs and computers), do not have this problem.
I started using CFLs around 2004 in most (but not all) fixtures, and gradually went back to incandescents by around 2007.
I’ve found the CFL lifetime claims are vastly exagerated. I wrote the date on the base of all the bulbs I installed, as initially, I was excited, and curious to see how long they’d last. I used various brands, GE/Philips/Sylvania/Globe – some lasted a little longer than others, but none lasted over 18months, and most failed in the 9 – 12 month timeframe. my incandescents last around two years, sometimes longer in the less used areas.
Trying to claim under the warranty, takes time, and gasoline, and incurrs shipping costs. hardly the $$ savings advertised on the package.
The light quality is terrible, a ghoulish blue/gray kind of light. now I dont mind it for workshop/hall/closet/garage etc, but not for our dining, living, or bedrooms, where a more subdies pleasant ambient light is desired, and dimmer switches are installed (themselves an energy saving device)
incandescents are being withdrawn from sale in 2012 here in Ontario – I’ve stockpiled approx 400 of them over the last two years when I’ve seen them on sale, already I’ve noticed some stores aren’t stocking them anymore. Hopefully Halogens will continue to be available, but, hopefully, I should be covered for my remaining years.
oops, that should be subdued, not subdies!