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yet another Microsoft blogger

# Thursday, November 15, 2007

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CFLs

image There is no doubt about it, Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFLs) are waay cheaper to run than Incandescent bulbs. With Electricity for me averaging close to 20 cents a kilowatt hour (welcome to California), this can mean a lot of dough ($8.64 to run 60w for a month).

However, CFLs just Suck. Here is why:

  • Warm up time is annoying.
    • when you turn one on, it can take a while to get to full brightness. If you mix incandescent and cfl on the same circuit it's noticeable.
  • Color is wonky
    • you can find the right color bulbs, but trial and error with these bulbs is no fun (see next point)
  • CFLs contain mercury.
    • That sushi grade Ahi Tuna I had for lunch today? I'm sure some of the mercury in there came from some one who threw their CFL in the trash. In my county they are considered hazardous waste and I have to literally go find some recycling center somewhere to drop them off. haven't figured that out yet. Definitely an inconvenience, and the country trash company should supply curb side recycling like they do for batteries and cell phones.
  • CFLs are not dimmable
    • My house has lots of dimmable lights.. and I like being able to dim the light. True they make dimmable CFLs but they are hard to find and don't work very well. They don't really dim, but they have different voltages. They are like a 3 stage bulb.

CFLs have done wonders for industrial/office energy use, but right now, I only let them under my cabinets, in our garage, outdoors and in our bathrooms. I'm holding out for LED lights.

In California there is this thing called Title 24. When you remodel a kitchen or bath there are special rules about CFLs. The new law says that 50% of your kitchen wattage needs to be CFLs... good luck with that. It means if you want a single 60 watt bulb you need like 3 equivalent CFLs somewhere else in the kitchen. You can't just use under cabinet lights and get away with it any longer.

Anyway, no one does this, once folks pass inspection the CFLs are replaced with incandescent or halogen HALO's or something.

Green
Posted Friday, November 16, 2007    Permalink    Comments [9]  View blog reactions

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More on CFLs
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Friday, November 16, 2007 1:56:26 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Actually, that Ahi Tuna you had probably contains more mercury than a standard CFL. And I love the warm up time. Especially when I need to turn on lights in the middle of the night after having just woken up. The warm up time means I am less likely to be blinded and bump into something at shin level.

And if the CFLs aren't bright enough, I'd use a higher equiv wattage than I would on a normal incandescent bulb. The latter produces too much heat and that's why I used low wattage bulbs in my place, but since CFLs always remain cool to the touch, I can go a bit higher on the equiv wattage (75v60, for example)
Rosyna
Friday, November 16, 2007 7:17:55 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Here is an opposing point of view: Saving Money on Lighting the New House
Tom
Friday, November 16, 2007 9:06:17 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Thanks Tom, that's why I posted this in the first place :-). My first link goes to Scott.
Omar Shahine
Friday, November 16, 2007 11:40:15 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
a) I find the GE bulbs to be the softest color - closest to incandescent. And I did *all* the trial and error.
b) You can find dimmable CFLs. They exist. Look for them (unfortunately the one that I tried had the "bad" "officy" kind of whiteness)
c) Mercury vs 5-1 efficiency is no contest. Coal powers most of us in the US and the toxins released to power our lights outweigh the mercury by many tons per person.
Corey
Friday, November 16, 2007 4:17:03 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
You want Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lights.

(1) They are dimmable
(2) They have less mercury than standard CFLs
(3) They last four times as long as a standard CFL so the mercury exposure goes even lower.

It will take more time to make up the difference in initial price, and right now there is only one wattage available, but I'm sure they will have more options in the future, and I'm sure you have many sockets that would use the single wattage now available.

The real future, I think, lies in LED lights but they're even more expensive and their efficiency goes down as you crank the power through them. This has been a problem with bike lights for a while, although it looks like they are beginning to crack the problem. See things like the Dinotte 600L or the way-expensive Lupine Betty: http://most-expensive.net/bike-light.

LEDs, especially those that are bright enough for use as lighting in a house or building, run much hotter than CFLs or CCFLs, but I'm not sure how much that heat would factor into additional air conditioning and so forth.
Tommy Williams
Saturday, November 17, 2007 2:30:53 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
LED's are the go - at least in the next 5(ish) years when their cost and acceptance will come down enough to replace CFDs. Recommended reading:

http://www.asx.com.au/asx/statistics/showAnnouncementPDF.do?idsID=00781611

code: BLG. !!disclaimer: was thinking about buying their shares and was researching, not doing any stock spamming. scouts honour.

cheers, Bill.
Bill
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 1:34:59 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
I'm with you omar. I only have them in places where the quality of light matters less. Outdoor bulbs, closets, attics, unfinished basement and bathroom exhaust fans. The quality of light is just not there. In fact I have just upgraded most of my other bulbs in to GE Reveal bulbs. The hue is amazing.
quazi
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 2:50:37 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
@quazi, Why GE Reveal bulbs over say Halogen?
Omar Shahine
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 8:34:03 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
depends on the fixture. I have not seen any regular style bulbs, for say a lamp or ceiling fan, in halgen. So far I have just played around with a few types of bulbs. I actually have used a reveal halogen in a recessed bathroom light. Totally changed the look of the bathroom and even did wonders for the person looking in the mirror.
quazi
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