The Power of the Compact Fluorescent
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.28.07
If one ever needed a demonstration of the power of the compact fluorescent, this is it. Artists/ designers Castor Canadensis (who we have loved previously here, here and here) did this installation at the Gladstone Hotel's Come up to My Room alternative design event this past weekend. They filled wire boxes with dead incandescent bulbs and put one live CFL in the middle of each. They hung them over the entrance, in the trees, inside the hotel. They fed two kilometers of carefully braided cable back to a single outlet in the ceiling of an old hotel. Christina Zeidler completely renovated the joint so thats probably a 20 amp circuit, tops.
Try and get this much light, and this much art, out of one circuit with any other bulb.
Let me beat them all to the punch:
But they flicker.
But they look different from incandescent.
But they make noise and make my head hurt.
But they take time to warm up.
But you can't turn them on&off fast or they die.
But you can't dim them.
But you can't put them on a motion sensor (my personal favorite as I have many on outdoor motion sensors, years of trouble free operation)
But they have mercury in them.
Did I leave anything out?
If not, I hereby prohibit anyone from posting any of these myths as they are just that: MYTHS, if you use high quality CFLs. So be careful, read my list, and don't utter any of these again. Capice? :)
They do flicker, that's is how they work. That is a fact, some people are bothered by it some are not. Just because you may not be, Willy, does not mean everyone is not bothered as well.
Oy vey, Jilted, I expected better from you.
OK, technically they do flicker. But, anyone who is truly bother by them would also be bothered by any CRT monitor or TV. Plasma and LCD also have a "refresh rate" which translates to flicker when watching moving images.
So, for the 3 people in the world who actually have a sensitivity, I'll spot them a few incandescents or LED's. Anyone else is just a kook looking for attention, or someone who has not bothered to check out HIGH QUALITY CFLs.
@ Willy Bio - Could you please tell me and others where to buy these high quality CFLs, preferably online. I use some CFLs but they are not as perfect as you say and I know others who are much more sensitive to CFL's qualities than I am. Thank you.
I agree with Willy bio for the most part. I use CFL's throughout my house but i would like to point out one thing. it is no myth that CFL's contain mercury. now that is no reason not to use them as the mercury can be reused if recycled properly. So just make sure to be responsible when disposing of them.
The bulbs are AWESOME. I have them at my house and they look the same as regular wasteful bulbs... if not even brighter and better. Friends I've convinced to convert their bulbs at work and home have emailed me saying how happy they are with them and that they wish they'd made the change long ago. If you need help convincing people, check out how I do it in my short film An Inconvenient Ruth, to be posted at http://truths.treehugger.com by the end of today. :)
www.goodmart.com has TCP brand in a huge assortment, good prices too.
Of course they have mercury in them. But the amount of mercury kept out of the environment by the electricity saved is several orders of magnitude higher even if you smashed the CFLs into the ground. Coal fired plants are the single worst mercury polluter.
So to sum up, if all bulbs went CFL and they were disposed of IMPROPERLY, there would be a huge net loss in mercury contamination of the environment.
OH, man, you guys are going to love the guide to choosing CFLs on the Environmental Defense site:
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/page.cfm?tagid=632&campaign=mts
It helps you select exactly the qualities you want out of a bulb, and then tells you where you can buy them. It also has reviews by real, live lightbulb users to tell you what they think of the light.
I love my CFLs! Oh, and they don't flicker perceptively, if you buy decent ones... They operate with electronic balasts, so their refresh rate is something in the thousands of times per second. Plus, if you consider that our electricity is 60hz, EVERYTHING has a refresh rate, even old incandecents. By, quality, you just need to buy a decent brand name bulb, like Philips or Sylvania... I've had excellent results with them.... Oh, and for the mercury, take them to Ikea, they recycle CFL bulbs properly.... Which reminds me, my neighbourhood requires me to have lamp lit beside my driveway ( though totally unnecessary because of the city's street lamp across the street ) ... or they'll fine me... I found a 4W CFL at Ikea that is more than bright enough for my outside lights, and uses 95% less electricity that the old incandecent it replaced! I say, BAN THE BULB!
I love my CFLs, but the packaging could sure use a little help. I was appalled to see something so smart encased in that landfilling hard plastic crap. The the old incandescent packaging was a much deeper shade of green - hope GE & Phillips are already working on this...
I just saw that Verilux has their new compact flourescents... http://verilux.com they've had very high quality bulbs for many years, and are full spectrum.
Willy makes the comment that there are only 3 people that are affeceted by the flicker and they must also be bothered by their monitors. I feel special as I must be one of those 3. No, there are many more of us. But the entire light rapidly flickering as in CFLs is distinctly different than the ROLLING refresh on monitors and TV screens where a linear area refresh in a rolling pattern down the screens. Big difference. I would not wish on my enemy the headaches, nausea and vomiting that fluorescent lighting flickering cause me.
I am all for CFLs that refresh higher. But I am still waiting. Yet not willing to sacrafice my health to test more bulbs.