Your Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb Problems Solved
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Overcoming the Dark Side of Compact Fluorescents
Overcoming the Dark Side of Compact Fluorescents
Illustration by Zohar Lazar
Of all the ways to cut your electric bills, twisting in a CFL might just be the easiest. You don't have to build a backyard wind farm or set the thermostat so low you've got to sleep in down pajamas. Just replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs, which sap 75 percent less energy, and you could slash hundreds off your annual electricity expenses. And over the long haul you'll save on bulbs, too, because they last up to 10 times longer than incandescents.
It's that simple. And yet many of you aren't using CFLs. We know this because you told us so in a recent poll on our messageboards. Among your gripes were slow start-up times, the greenish light CFLs cast, and their mercury content. But they don't deserve such a bad rap anymore, says sustainable lighting designer Mark Loeffler of New Haven, Connecticut. "The bulbs you buy today are far better than what was on the market just a few years ago," says Loeffler. No, they're still not ideal for every light fixture and application, but most of the big problems have been solved. Take, for example, the following concerns from your fellow readers.
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How to Light Up a Room
How to Light Up a Room
A. The short answer is, you may need to buy a brighter bulb. Here's why: Those suggested CFL equivalences, which say that a 27-watt CFL equals a 100-watt incandescent, for example, are based on the overall light output of the bulbs. But because CFL light appears more diffuse, the same output isn't always enough. You may need to up
the ante by replacing a 100-watt incandescent with a 150-watt equivalent CFL, for instance. That brighter light is only 42 watts in incandescent-speak and therefore safe for a fixture with one of those 60watt-maximum warning labels. And it's still cheaper to use.
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Not Always the Best Option
Not Always the Best Option
A. An exterior security light is a bad spot for a CFL. Inside the house, the start-up time for today's CFL is just a fraction of a second. But if the gas inside the bulb is cold, as it can be outdoors or in an unfinished basement or attic, it can take a few minutes for it to warm up and the bulb to brighten. Also, CFLs provide big energy savings only if used in lights that are left on for extended periods. The frequent on-and-off switching of a motion detector shortens the bulb's life.
And despite some erroneous reports, you've got plenty of time to buy incandescents. The 2007 energy bill requires a 30 percent efficiency improvement by 2012. Today's incandescents can't do that, but GE says it's developing ones that will. It's also possible that something entirely different will become the next standard. One contender is light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, the technology behind flat-screen TVs. In any case, the efficiency deadline is years away, so there's no need to go buying up all those old incandescent floods at the home center. Besides, something even better's bound to come along in the next few years.