Go Green, It Won't Destroy Your Marriage
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 05. 2.07
The Washington Post recently ran a feature on the slow take up of energy saving bulbs in the US. People claim that the flickering, slow warm-up and odd color are putting people off. "What really got me was when my husband put a fluorescent in the lamp next to my bed, violating the last vestige of my personal space," said suffering wife Sara Sifford. The only problem is that all those problems have been solved for quite some time.
If you want to replace your bulbs with energy saving ones, and you're in the UK, then Go Green Lights is a good place to start. Their site is informative, well designed and if you order before 4PM then the bulbs get shipped the same day. You can also view the expected financial and environmental savings of each type of bulb, which makes it easy to make an informed decision ono the cost/benefit of each product. The best part is that their prices are good, so don't listen to those new urban myths about CFL problems, or the Washington Post, and go green your house. :: Go Green Lights
It might not destroy your marriage but it definitely effects your grammar...
It might not destroy your marriage but it definitely effects your grammar...
It's 'affects' not 'effects', Grammar Cop.
i find it rather pathetic that so many people will not use CFLs because of the warm-up time... i mean, we're talking about a few seconds of your life!!!
Anything can destroy a marriage, CFL´s are great and they can be free also!!! I found this last week at Portland, OR:
http://ir.homedepot.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=238230
I love the fact that the lamp on my night table now has a warm-up time.
When I flick it on at night, I don't get that eye-searing blast of full-brightness, instead I get a slow increase over about 15 seconds from a reddish pink to a nice even sun-light tone. Those 15 seconds of time let my eyes adapt rather than making me squint in pain while my irises try and slam shut. The fact that the lamp now uses a quarter the power it did as an incandescent fixture is just a bonus.
Yet another case of people preferring what they're used to, rather than really analysizing whether a new way better meets their needs.
One of the "Myths" that I can attest to being true is that florescent bulbs are no good for those of us with working memory problems, such as ADHD, because of their infernal flickering. While to most people this isn't a problem, but to the over-hyperactive, that flickering causes migraines, irritation, and can disrupt basic thought processes.
I don't know why we can't replace all the CFL bulbs, that contain mercury, with LED bulbs of some sort. I mean, Come on, Science!
Mr. Sifford...
RUN FOR THE HILLS AND DON'T LOOK BACK!
Nobody I know with ADHD (including myself mildly) has problems with florescent bulbs.
Do you also have trouble with dimmers?
Here is ratings of some bulb brands. Note that all CFL bulbs surpased the incandecent bulb. Print or view the PDF.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/4215199.html
There is no problem with flickering. That is all a thing of the past. Old fluorescents with 60 Hz ballasts (50 Hz outside North America) sometimes flicker visibly. New CFLs run at 20 kHz or more. There is no flicker. Period.
Like the last poster said, flickering is definitely not a problem with CFL's. My wife and one child both have ADHD and never have a problem with our regular florescents in our kitchen - and they do flicker sometimes when the voltage is low (we live way out in the country where we get occasional voltage dips). In fact, the CFL's are the only lights in the house that don't flicker when the voltage is low!
I've know people who get sick to their stomach looking at the blue LED lights and even I can detect a flicker to those, so it would make sense that old fluorescents on 60Hz would be a problem.
I changed all the bulbs in my house a year ago with the cheap CFLs from Home Depot. Despite requests from my wife not to, and a large argument over the mirror lights in the bathroom (a direct violation of her domain), we are still happily married.
We too have no flickering, or humming. The "cheap new" CFLs from Home Depot do have a 2 second warm-up time but the difference in light is almost unnoticeable. The light they give off is a soft white-yellow that warms the room. We love them.