Change a Light Bulb: It Really Can Make a Difference

I've been waiting for an opportunity to mention this.
Walgreens is currently selling 4-paks of 13w CFL bulbs at two-for $5 - No kidding!

Apparently it is a promotion by the bulbmakers, Feit Electric.
No, I don't work for either company, I'm just glad to get a reprieve from $6 bulbs.

Seems like a pretty good deal, Carl, though even at full price CFLs are totally worth it.

The efficiency improvement you get from CFLs over incandescent is one that doesn't happen often in technology, so I can see why this report claims it could make such a difference.

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editor note: Indeed. Here's a quote from the Rocky Mountain Institute:

"If all the households in the United States replaced five 100-watt fixtures with 23-watt CFL fixtures, the electricity saved would power more than three cities the size of New York City, day in and day out."

now does that include the drop in consumption that would occur in new your if this were done? because if so thats just cheating! lol..

Its amazing to me that this is such a "breakthrough" even before I was really a "treehugger" I was replacing every bulb I could with CFL's when I lived at my parents house I couldn't wait for a bulb to burn out so I could replace it with a cfl

Yes LED's are just around the corner. I therefore think its tokenism to sanction a switch to an intermediate technology that at best will delay the eventual change over to LED and at worst CFL may become the stifling vested interest that delays LED's. Theres also the embodied energy sunk into a large scale CFL.

Hi, Gerry.

LED's are even closer than around the corner: they are right here right now.

To replace MR16 halogens, see:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/MR16_specs.htm

To replace pot lights in a living room or kitchen, see:
http://www.permlight.com/news/052506.asp

To replace a florescent ceiling fixture (800 LEDs) or desk lighting, see:
http://www.albeotech.com/
(I have one of the Talea fixtures; they are very, very bright.)

To replace a spotlight, see:
http://www.ccrane.com/lights/led-light-bulbs/led-spotlight-bulb.aspx

-Andre'
www.SavingGreenbyGoingGreen.com

I've switched all the high use bulbs in my house to CFLs. I do however, use a motion sensor on my outside light. Given that they're only on for a few minutes a day, it's not exactly cost effective to switch to LED 'halogen' bulbs.

My problem with fluorescent bulbs is that they rarely last as long as the manufacturere claims (mentioned in article and via experience). I've replaced the ballast in my kitchen. It was less than 3 years old.

Still, we'd all be better off if people switched to CFLs. The shortened lifetimes would quickly crop up and the manufacturers would be forced to fix the problem.

This is a great article and the new lights are a great way to save energy.

I just have to point out, which I'm sure the editors know, that the image should be rotated 90 degrees counter clockwise for the shooter's original intended effect.

One thing to remember about CFLs- beyond the fact that they may last less long than what you might expect from the hype- is that many of them contain mercury and other heavy metals in the ballast, and proper care must be taken when disposing of them when they do finally give up the ghost.

We swapped out most of our old-school bulbs for CFs earlier this year. It cut our electric bill by half.

Just got 2 of these free in the mail so I was glad to read this interesting post. Thanks.

Brain Based Business

Has an overall impact study been done, and if so does anyone have a link?
Reducing electricity use is good, but it does come at the cost of switching from an inert and simple to produce glass+metal incandescent bulb to a more complex glass+fluorescent material+plastic+electronics+metal CFL assembly. Just wondering how that tradeoff works out.

I checked out one the sites that Andre listed and I was apalled at the high energy consumption of the Leds listed. I was also shocked that the developers of the product grossly misstated the efficiency of CFL recessed lights. I replaced my 65 watt incandescent bulbs with 14 watt CFLs.

Don't get wrong I do see LEDs as the proper future, but that is some the worst quality that I've seen on the Inernet.

Eric

What about the ecological hazards of disposing of these new bulbs. Don't they contain mercury and/or other toxic pollution? These bulbs can't be disposed of in the same way as normal bulbs, and may have a huge detrimental impact on the enviroment at large.
Don't mean to squelch this conservationist effort, but we need to assess all the options made available.
Thanks for all the references to LEDs in the comments.
They will be a cost-efficient solution soon without the same environmental impact of these CFLs.
-Joe

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editor note: Please see this about mercury in CFLs. Of course, ideally as CFLs become more common, what will be needed is an easy way to dispose of them properly. They could be picked up along with other recyclables, or regulation could make many stores pick them up, or whatever.

Compact fluorescent bulbs are a great energy (and money) saving idea. For people thinking about switching to CFLs, or just looking for more information, check out this article from the Guide to Green Living.

When people say to replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs, do they mean to replace them now and dispose of the incandescent bulbs, or wait for them to burn out, and then do it?
What's worse, the garbage from throwing out working lightbulbs, or the emissions from keeping incandescents in for an extra few months or a year until they burn out?

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editor note: I think the best way is to replace them now (to immediately start saving energy) and keep the incandescent bulbs around for when other incandescent bulbs burn out.

Of course that only works if you are not replacing ALL your bulbs with CFLs. But if there are bulbs around your house that can't be replaced with CFLs, you can keep your old incandescents as replacements.

I've replaced a lot of lights with CFL, but not all. My gripes are that they are slow to get bright and so many of them have light that is too cold. Does anyone know a good source for independent review of CFLs? I would like to see a comparison by time it takes to light, time to full brightness, and color temperature.

Our experience in Las Cruces, NM is that incandescent bulbs burn out frequently. Maybe there's something about our power line conditioning. I found myself replacing a bulb almost twice monthly. This was eliminated with CFL lights. They seem to cope with our conditions well, and I cannot remember when I last replaced a lightbulb.

Before deciding that CFL lamps are going to make you an energy saving of X% take the following into account:
1. The main 'waste' energy from any light source is heat. If you are heating your house (6 months of the year?) That heat may be contributing to keeping your heating bill down.
2. CFL lamps have poorly dircted beams. i.e. More light ends up where you don't want or need it. Well directed halogen spots keep the light where you actually need it.
3. How much energy is used in the manufacturing and disposal of a CFL?
4. Low voltage halogens (usually 12v) are more efficient than their mains equivalent. A 12v 30W lamp is as bright as a 50W mains halogen.
5. Philips now produce a low energy 12v halogen lamp range which saves a further 40% electricity. So a 20W lamp is as bright as a conventional 50W mains halogen.
6. Dimmable. CFLs are not dimmable. Our 12v 30W halogens are frequently dimmed to 50% brightness or less, saving energy and extending their lives.
7. Optical quality of CFLs is appauling. Look up their spectral characteristics : several sharp intensity spikes (~red,green,blue). Poor colour rendition and flicker contribute to 'sick building' syndrome.
Conclusion: Certainly use them in utility and outdoor areas, but think twice before commiting to CFLs for your main work/living areas.

I posted a comment a week or two ago. Why hasn't it been posted yet?

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editor note: No idea. Maybe it got caught in our automated spam filter for some reason. It might be better to repost it. Sorry about the inconvenience.

Our townhome development currently uses gas to light our outdoor lampposts. We are considering changing from gas to electrical lighting. Are CFLs the best way to go, or is there a better alternative. We would prefer something that is both economical and "warm" appearing. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

The carbon dioxide emissions saved by such a switch would, it concludes, dwarf cuts so far achieved by adopting wind and solar power.

I take exception to this comparison. We should BOTH use energy-efficient lighting AND wind and solar--that's the way to really begin to move off the dime on transforming the fossil-fuel economy. Setting renewables and efficiency up against each other just muddies the water.

(And yes, we have CFLs in all of the sockets in our house that are used for more than a few minutes a day. Our experience with them has been excellent.)

Regards,
Thomas O. Gray
American Wind Energy Association
www.awea.org
www.ifnotwind.org

CFLs are still the best replacement choice when you consider color rendering and brightness. LED light bulbs are comming on strong and will probably be practicle in a few years. If you want to try some now www.donsgreenstore.com has several different types under $15. But they are only really good as a desk lamp or night light replacement. LED bulbs are still pretty dim bulbs.

LED are coming but it might take a long time
White LED produce light using a concept similar to CFL. Basically, the LED produce an Ultra-violet frequency that is converted to a white color spectrum by a phosphorus chemical compound (like CFL).

It is unlikely that the color rendering of LED will be much better than CFL for some time to come. To my knowledge, at this time, the quality of the light is worst (blueish). Some have try to put several LED color in an array to have a wider spectral response: The light look better to the naked eye. However, the color rendering index is still very weak for everything I have seen (Still, new product might exist).

High output LED have a rather short life span: 1000 to 9000 Hours only. Up to a point, the life of the LED could be extended if the bulb is design to dissipate "Heat" efficiently. LED are electronic devices and get "kill" fast when allowed to overheat. This is the same problem that kill many CFL electronic ballast install in light fixture that allow them to overheat.

Efficiency: So far, the efficiency in Lumen per Watts of white LED are closer to the efficiency of a standard halogen/incandescent bulb than the one of CFL. So, not terribly efficient.

There is application where LED are very efficient
Today, the best application for LED are mono-frequency application such as the "red stop traffic light", Exit sign. car/truck tail lamp and others similar application. In this application, the LED offer an efficiency that nothing can approach. Since the light is produce in a single and pure "RED" color, there is no filtering process. 1 Watts of RED light = 1 Watts of RED Light you see. Furthermore, this 1 Watts of light could be precisely focused where you want it.

Consequently, the reasons explaining that a 15 Watts array of red LED could replace a 150 Watts red traffic light an that save a lot of money are the following:

• The 150 Watts traffic light generate much more light than a 14 watts array of LED but a lot of this light is lost in the filtering process required to have the light appear red. This is particularly inefficient for red light. An increase in efficiency of 10X is therefore possible and difficult to beat with any of today technology. So, a 150 watts traffic light with a 50% duty cycle needs 657 Kw/h per years + 1$ bulb. The equivalent array of red LED required only 62 Kw/H per year. A saving of 35$ to 70$ per years in electricity alone (depending on the rate, usually between .06 and .12$ Kw/h). Since you may have from 4 to more than 16 such light at a single intersection, the saving in electricity might be substantial. Even at 0.06$ the Kw/h, at 16 red light, the saving will add up to 572$ per year, for this intersection. The saving in electricity are 9,520 Kw/H years. A red arrow LED array is even more efficient, consuming only 9 watts.
  
• In this application, the power density is small, so is the heat generated by square mm of array. Consequently, the life expectancy of the array of LED is close to 80,000 Hours (10 years) but is generally believe to be around 5 years in this application. Considering that replacing a single traffic light, in some city, can cost from 50$ to 150$ per incident, an array of red LED (at 48$) can repay itself from 5 to 17 times in 5 years by avoided maintenance alone.
  
• Exist sign have much of the same economic. If like most large company, you pay an electrician to replace the 40 watts bulb... Moving to a LED sign repay by itself in, usually, a year or two.
  

• For green light, the saving is less but still wort considering. The incandescent bulb only consume 122 W/h and the LED some 23 W/h. The green LED array cost more at 100$ each. It useful life is also shorter at 4.5 years.
  
• Same thing for the amber light. Consume 25 watts instead of 122 watts, cost close to 100$ each. It normal duty cycle is close to 3% in must application. Consequently, it take several years to recoup the cost of the LED array.
  

In my research, I've read that coal burning releases mercury directly into the air, and that the amount of mercury inside a cfl, PLUS the mercury released to power it are still less than the mercury released to power a standard incandescent bulb. My only concern with cfls, besides the less than perfect color spectrum distribution, is the uv released. I have been searching all morning, and even the manufacturer of the bulbs I bought (GE) couldn't tell me specifically how much uv slips through the phosphor coating. Certainly it isn't unsafe, but my concern is with the yellowing of things which is so typical of long-term exposure to fluorescent lighting. If anyone has any experience in this area, I'd love to hear from you!

Just want to interject a few comments about LEDs and CFLs

It is unlikely that the color rendering of LED will be much better than CFL for some time to come. To my knowledge, at this time, the quality of the light is worst (blueish). Some have try to put several LED color in an array to have a wider spectral response: The light look better to the naked eye. However, the color rendering index is still very weak for everything I have seen (Still, new product might exist).
The reason for the blue appearance on most white LEDs is that they use blue diodes plus a single yellowish phosphor. They could improve the color rendering dramatically by shifting to two or three phosphors similar to the better quality CFLs.

White LEDs for home lighting will be best suited for focused applications, as an alternative to halogen track lighting. The most efficient white LEDs (Cree X-RE) out now are only marginally better than CFLs in lumens (visible light output) per watt, and they are double the efficiency of the next closest competitor, so LEDs are not as efficient as many people think. Their advantage is that unlike fluorescent they can be focused with a small lens, so you may be able to get by with less total light by using spot lighting.

LEDs also have an advantage for use on dimmers since they actually get more efficient at lower output. Incandescent bulbs get much much less efficient when dimmed, so savings here could be big for people who tend to leave their dimmers on low settings most of the time.

A disadvantage of LEDs is that they are much more sensitive to heat, so LEDs bright enough for area lighting will require heat sinking, which will drive up the cost, and limit where they can be used.

CFLs designed to be run in hot environments can partially overcome the problem by using components designed to run hotter, but the consequence is that they take about two minutes to "heat up" before they are bright enough to use.

Hi. I consider myself a tree hugger, but have had much difficulty with cfls. I'm ready to try again, but was hoping someone could address these issues for me:

-In the past, we have had cfls burn up and smoke, and had I not noticed it, may have burned. Any thoughts?
-Previous cfls just don't seem to last very long for us
-I understand cfls have mercury in them, so may not be disposed of in the garbage, true?
-I'd like to try again, and would like advice about which brands are the "best" (long lasting, best light, etc.).

Thanks a lot!

Hi, im sad to say i work at an international airport, but i have been trying to reduce my own carbon footprint for the last year now and i wanted to do more at work I decided i will take a small monthly fee from all the people i work with at the airport and plow this into a reforestation project to act as a carbon sink, it wouldnt cancel out the emissions from our airport im aware but i suppose every little helps. My colleagues appear all set for the idea and i am willing to put as much work into this project as needed. Could anyone supply me with some contacts or info on where i can find reforestation projects and by them directly hence avoiding the middle man. Thank you

Marley - a response to your questions:

-In the past, we have had cfls burn up and smoke, and had I not noticed it, may have burned. Any thoughts?

We have had a few fail but never burn up or smoke. I believe most moderately priced, named brands have circuitry which makes them failsafe.

-Previous cfls just don't seem to last very long for us

With the exception of some older no-name CFLs, we've had some in fixtures that are going on four years now. We lost one in an outside fixture and one in the basement. But otherwise, the lifespan has been universally better than incandescent bulbs. CFLs lives are shortened greatly by burning them for short cycles.

-I understand cfls have mercury in them, so may not be disposed of in the garbage, true?

Disposing in the garbage isn't the best idea, no.

-I'd like to try again, and would like advice about which brands are the "best" (long lasting, best light, etc.).

My own personal preferences are Phillips brand Marathon bulbs and n:Vision soft-white from Home Depot. The n:Visions come with a nine year warranty. Both bulbs have impressive color.

Just purchased a 3 way Fluorescent bulb - Major problem.....how do you use a lampshade on your regular lamp. The bracket to hold the shade doesn't fit the bulb. These F bulbs are taller than the incandescent ones.

if you would like any information, such as why mercury gets cut with CFL use, or how much each bulb cuts in co2 production, etc, just give a email and I can answer it. I run a light consultation and exchange business in San Francisco area and have experience and knowledge in led replacements, cfls, and ALL my bulbs do last 10000 hours and are warrented for much if not all the time. Plenty of more information for those who inquire.

Patrick O'Connor

Yes indeed, let's put mercury in our homes and let's build the Prius that is 3 times more environmentally unfriendly to build than a Hummer. All in the name of reducing CO2, which is produced by warming and not a cause of it.

Hell will freeze over before I accept a solution that involes putting mercury in my home or poisioning the environment to build a car that MAY increase fuel efficiency by 20%. So much for the environmental movement.

Build a safe bulb and a clean car and I will be first in line.

We have been using these compact fluorescents light bulb for a couple years.
You can find a good assortment at: www.interlight.biz

Hi Guys,

Yes Mercury is bad. LED light bulbs are getting better and better and are starting to show up in stores online. They DO NOT comtain mercury and last on average 4 times longer than compact fluorescent bulbs.

They're greener, cleaner and use less energy than both incandescents and CFL's. Check out this site - they have decent prices and a great warranty:
Mercury Free - LED Replacement Bulbs For Home and Retail Store

As time going, LED bulbs and other LED lighting are covering more and more places, make the world more brighter and colorful, also save energy, save cost, long life time, no creepage.

I love LED lighting, and glad to work in such a factory with 10 years' experience, let's enjoy this together: www.szmkkj.com, and wish we can be good and trusty friends! this is my msn: annhui91@hotmail.com . and this is my skype: annhui0609 .

I am a lighting designer with 17 years experience in the lighting industry, and currently serving on the IESNA Sustainable Lighting Committee.

I can't help feeling treehugger's coverage of the facts on CFLs only furthers a very myopic perspective of sustainable lighting.

Ultimately if CFL promotes hormone-dependent cancers, cardiovascular disease and uses tons of energy in manufacturing and recycling can we really say we are doing something better for the environment or simply short term gains with short term results?

Also there is increasing exaggeration of the CO2 recovery based on energy-efficiency by using only coal-fired power plants as the measured source of electricity. As alternate sources of electricity are being put "on the grid" such as solar installations that produce more than the building's usage, the mercury impact of power generation is offset more and more each month. The calculations are not following to keep up with this trend. There have not been any new coal-fired power plants constructed, but there are more alternative sources being built nearly everyday.

this is great and true stuff

Hello all, I only use INCANDESCENT light bulbs ....made in USA ...as I do not want any mercury in my house or my art work bleached out by CFL's. Also, I have my own SOLAR PANELS powering these incandescents in my house.....greener than most I must say...THANK YOU, GREG

Greetings - My husband replaced our standard bulbs with Feit Electric Flourescent Bulbs, no problems until last week. One lamp bulb burned out and it smelled AWEFUL. When we looked at the bulb, the base of it looked "burned" and also smelled like burned electrical. Has anyone else seen or heard of this problem?

Thanks, Beeb :)

i totaly agree, i think that it is a problem and that we should do something about it, i hate the fact that notthing is being done. were doing a project at school and i think something should be done, other wise in the future there will not be any rivers or plants or wild life left. more and more animals die every day and something needs to be done!!.

How many people realize these contain mercury vapors and must be disposed of properly?

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SWITCH TO C.F.L.

Quote: "How many people realize these contain mercury vapors and must be disposed of properly?"
I didn't, woops!
Luckily I've never had to throw one away, all two are still going strong.
Annonyingly the incandescents are too, and they've been stockpiled (there's about 30 to go, doh!)