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79 Comments
- Joshislong, on 07/08/2009, -3/+21A regular incandescent bulb is about 10% efficient at turning electricity into light. A 30% improvement on that would make these new bulbs roughly 13% efficient. Isn't it about time to stick a fork in incandescent technology?
- BossKey, on 07/08/2009, -2/+18There are many kinds of compact fluorescent bulbs out there. I have bought some that were nearly indistinguishable from incandenscent, with instant-on and a nice color from the coating. I have also bought CF bulbs that took forever to turn on or looked ugly. There is a wide range of quality out there, and unfortunately the poor ones are making them all look bad. My point is that good CF does exist...
...as a stopgap until LED or advanced incandescent become cost-effective. - MWeather, on 07/08/2009, -4/+20So it's 30% more efficient than a bulb that wastes 90% of the energy?
- darkwater37, on 07/07/2009, -3/+18I put in compact florescent light bulbs almost everywhere in my house. The energy efficiency is great but sometimes they buzz, slow to turn on. The regular incandescent bulbs are hot, inefficient and thereby expensive to run, but the bulbs are cheap and the light is yellowish. The LED's last a long time but are expensive and give off a harsh light. There isn't anything without some kind of drawback. It would be great if someone could produce a bulb that didn't have some kind of problem.
- MWeather, on 07/08/2009, -0/+13They're actually pretty efficient in the winter, if your house has good circulation. Only 10% of the heat energy is wasted as light.
- Paranor01, on 07/08/2009, -2/+13It's called natural light bulbs, and their bloody expensive.
- rlbond86, on 07/08/2009, -5/+14Wait, I'm confused. These incandescent lightbulbs are innovative and new, but they were created because of government intervention. One would think in a "free market," they would already have been invented. After all, government intervention in the free market is always bad, right?
Right? - Scrappy1850, on 07/08/2009, -5/+14*they're
- dustinbolton, on 07/08/2009, -3/+12More mercury is released creating the extra energy needed to power incandescent then the mercury in the CFL's.
- EddiePotato, on 07/08/2009, -0/+8Exactly! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to drive my 8 and 11 year olds to their jobs down at the factory. Hope I have enough cash for the toll road between here and there...
- Gemfinder, on 07/08/2009, -0/+7You probably got some cheapazoid CFs. The good ones don't buzz, but I have a friend who complains they flicker and give her a headache. I have incands in one room of my apartment and she won't go anywhere else.
The natural light bulbs are good, I stepped over to CF from incand via those, but yes, they are outrageously spendy.
I'm in the process of replacing my CFs with LED lightbulbs; they last longer than CFs, don't flicker, the light's nicer, they don't contain mercury (!!!) and don't need to be disposed of by the Hazmat team.
Forget incandescents, go to LED lighting. - dustinbolton, on 07/08/2009, -2/+9This is still horribly inefficient.
- eqrunner, on 07/08/2009, -5/+12No, on the sole purpose of dimmable lighting. Florescent, and LED lights are not made to be dimmable. With out spending a high price for ones equipped with a special ballast to take to varying voltages. Incandescence will still remain as long as there is a need for dimmable lighting both used in commercial and residential applications. Also commonly referred to as 'mood lighting'
- MonkeyOverlord, on 07/08/2009, -8/+14Not only is the light better and more natural from incandescents than CFLs, but CFLs were always based on a dumbass idea: getting hundreds of millions of people to recycle dangerous materials instead of just throwing them in the trash. Trust environmentalists to be the one to think that it's a good trade off to end up with more mercury in the water supply in exchange for less electricity consumption.
- EddiePotato, on 07/08/2009, -1/+7Bloody expensive is quite the drawback.
- dustinbolton, on 07/08/2009, -1/+7Why is he being dugg down? These bulbs are still terribly inefficient. He makes a good point.
- AndrewMoyer, on 07/08/2009, -0/+6You're probably being dugg down because most people don't know that mercury is released into the air by burning coal.
- gmac17, on 07/08/2009, -0/+5You can't dim most CF bulbs. It will ruin the bulb and possibly the dimmer.
Just wait until people start switching over 8 bulbs at a time in their recessed lighting for $50+, and then watching the bulbs go out in a week or two. Then they have to buy a new set at $50, put them up and take out their dimmer and replace it with the ancient on off switch.
dimming saves energy and extends the life of a bulb. Most people want to the ability to dim their lights...now most won't be able to. - SystemicThought, on 07/08/2009, -0/+5Incandescent bulbs are important. Though CFL's are great, they are horrible for track lighting or dimmer lighting. Also, when factoring in the energy cost of the bulb, CFL's take a significantly greater amount of energy to make. Though they have a longer lifespan than an incandescent bulb for longer duration use, constantly turning them on and off takes a toll on them quickly. CFLs are not good for places where the lights are not used for extended durations, such as in closets, laundry rooms, crawl spaces, toilet rooms not used for shaving or cosmetic application, garage door openers, or refrigerators, as well as any place the bulbs are likely to break, such as portable work lamps. While LEDs may work well in some of these situations, they may not work well in others. The incandescent bulb still holds an important place in the household.
- 7m7uf, on 07/08/2009, -2/+7Do they Dim?!
- audioslavery, on 07/08/2009, -0/+5Incandescent will always reign in my home, the CF are just too harsh inside the house, the lighting is terrible. Especially if you want a low light setting they are the best.
- MWeather, on 07/08/2009, -4/+9In 2006 coal power plant emitted as much mercury as is contained in 9 billion CFL bulbs. Studies indicate that the electricity savings will result in a net drop in mercury emissions.
- Y0tsuya, on 07/08/2009, -0/+4Some CFLs don't play nice with motion sensors. I've had some that lasted a good long time, but a recent batch I bought from Costco keep failing after a few weeks. when you cycle on/off repeatedly it's a crapshoot how long they last.
- inactive, on 07/08/2009, -3/+7"Do the ends justify the means?" In short: no.
- WELLDOITLIVE, on 07/08/2009, -1/+550% of the time
- AndrewMoyer, on 07/08/2009, -0/+4Every light bulb in my house that is obscured by a diffuser of some sort is a CFL, and I haven't replaced a single one in over 3 years. I also tend to leave the lights on a lot. That seems like a lot longer than I was getting out of incandescent bulbs.
Just sharing my experience, as you also did. - edstate, on 07/08/2009, -0/+3Personally, I prefer a MIX of incandescent and CFLs. Their spectrums are good for different things.
- srs2000, on 07/08/2009, -0/+3Funny...
When I open the blinds when I need to have lights on all I see is darkness and a moon. Perhaps you live in some special place. - Schwa142, on 07/09/2009, -1/+4buried for inaccurate... LED's are almost all dimable with standard dimmer switches.
- Jhiaxuz, on 07/08/2009, -1/+4Sir Joseph Wilson Swan invented the first light bulb almost a year before Edison.
- Joshislong, on 07/08/2009, -0/+2zing!
- protodon, on 07/08/2009, -1/+3I have CFLs everywhere in my house and I think the best part about them is how long they last because I needed a ladder to put a few of them in and that was 4 years ago.
- Schwa142, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2I take it you've never read about how to properly clean up a broken cf... This is how to do it according to the EPA http://www.epa.gov/hg/spills/#fluorescent
Most states you have to take your cf bulbs to a special disposal site, by law.
we thought DDT was safe too. - Atario, on 07/08/2009, -0/+2Digging in further, they mean it consumes 30% fewer watts for about the same light. This would mean the new bulbs would use 70% of what the old ones did, but convert the same amount of energy to light. 10/70 = 14% efficient.
- EddiePotato, on 07/08/2009, -2/+4Sum.
- Y0tsuya, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2No I'm using indoor commercial motion sensor, Leviton ODS15 to be specific, so not really a temperature issue. It's also one of the fancier ones with zero-crossing so no inductance problem. Some bulbs work fine and I haven't had to change those for months on end. Some fail after a few weeks. The MTBF is most likely ballast design-specific and varies from model to model.
- Silentnite85, on 07/08/2009, -0/+2That analogy was about as good as a banana deciding to become a Popsicle when the moon wanes.
- Khast, on 07/08/2009, -1/+3Once they can perfect the light emitted from LED and Florescent...then I might consider using them more.
So ***** what if I save more energy using LED and CF bulbs... I want decent light that DOESN'T GIVE ME A ***** HEADACHE!
Fix that problem people...and maybe I'll consider using them for my whole house. - edstate, on 07/08/2009, -3/+5This isn't about "colour rendition index", this is about GREEN. And it's about the CULT of green.
Never mind that the better CFLs get, and the cheaper they get, and the more people learn about them, people will buy them automatically.
But no. We are being FORCED to use CFLs. And manufacturers are being "eased" away from making incandescent and Halogen bulbs for household use.
I agree w/ you. Halogens are AWESOME for certain applications. But that doesn't matter. Only the mob mentality, and Big Brother matter. - KevenM, on 07/08/2009, -1/+3Has nobody ever heard of Halogen?
Assuming you're comparing good quality bulbs, they last longer than Incandescent (not as long as CFL granted)
Better colour rendition index (better than incandescent, WAY better than CFL) - this makes a difference if your wife is putting on makeup, or if you're trying to pick out similar colous
There is no headache or seizure inducing flicker (unlike CFLs)
You do not need to call in a HazMat team when one breaks (unlike CFL)
They're dimmable
No mercury content (unlike CFLs)
This is especially important in any retail setting, particularly where colour is involved. There's nothing worse than trying to sell your merchandise when the lighting makes everything look faded and tired. - edstate, on 07/08/2009, -0/+22012 my friend. 2012.
- Noein, on 07/08/2009, -0/+2The technology to product CFL that contain no mercury and produce natural light as good as incandescents both already exist. They are just expensive and not very mainstream right now.
- SystemicThought, on 07/08/2009, -0/+1I have a reading lamp that runs off of a small cfl, but it's a special reading lamp bulb, and it's only as big as a ping pong ball, but it works great. My best reading lamp is just an LED booklight that clamps onto the book.
I also had a friend develop severe ocular-neurological problems from working in a factory with those really crappy giant old school fluorescent tubes, but the new CFLs seem to work fine and are more efficient. It really depends on the quality of the bulb, but there are still places they shouldn't be used due to the wear turning them on and off takes. - nurbsenvi, on 07/08/2009, -0/+1I just prefer the incandescent light over CF light...
CF light seems really artificial where else Halogen and incandescent light seem more welcoming and more inviting
but that's just me. - Schwa142, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1the people talking smack about LED's are thinking of the standard crap out there, which are based on older technology. there are a lot of good LED options now. Although the upfront cost is still quite high, they easily pay for themselves over time.
the current, good LED's give off less heat, put off a great, non-flickering light, are dimmable, are incredibly efficient, and last a very long time. - srs2000, on 07/08/2009, -0/+1My full spectrum 5400k CFLs are great. There are none of the drawbacks of typical lightbulbs/CFLs.. well.. except price.
It's like natural daylight - Schwa142, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1then you're looking at the wrong brands... the good brand LED's have a 2-5 year warranty.
here's just one example: http://www.hccled.com/faq - Katana, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1I just painted my CFL's with some magnolia paint i had lying around, now they have a nice yellow glow and the paint won't come off because the bulbs don't get hot enough.
- ZooMigo, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1Another factor no one has brought up. CFL suck hard when they are cold. During the winter here in colorado I keep my rear porch light on. I tried out a CFL on the porch 2 years ago, and aside from it only lasting about 4 months, it put out a sickly pink light.
I dont care if incandescent are more expensive to run, they are far and away superior to CFL in every respect. I would like to try out white LED but they are just not economically available yet. -
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