CFL light bulbs

Last year we were browsing one of our local stores and something caught my eye. A whole display of Compact Florescent Light Bulbs. Apparently Southern California Edison (our Electricity Company) was running a promotion, discounting the cost of the CFL package set to encourage consumers to replace their standard light bulbs with the new energy saving CFL’s. These twin packs were a dollar per pack, plus tax! Knowing that the regular price of these was easily twice that price we decided to stock up and bought a few boxes, not to replace the standard bulbs now but when they expire they’ll be replaced with the new CFL’s.

CFL’s use less power and have a longer rated life than standard bulbs. As you can see from the packaging the bulbs we bought have a minimum lifespan of 5 years or between 6,000 and 15,000 hours. Whereas incandescent lamps usually have a lifespan of approximately 750 hours or 1,000 hours. A considerable difference! A CFL’s life however is considerably shortened if constantly turned on and off, so it’s advised that it be turned on for a minimum of 15 minutes at a time to avoid shortening the lifespan.

As you can see from the packaging the CFL uses less Watts than the standard bulb, 23W for the CFL and 100 for the incandescent. It’s estimated that total replacement of standard bulbs to  the use of CFL’s could save as much as 7% of total US household usage. A 2008 article found that replacing each 75 W incandescent lamp with an energy saving CFL resulted in yearly savings of $22 in energy usage

Like all fluorescent lamps, CFLs do contain mercury, which naturally complicates their disposal once the bulbs expire, but there are many outlets such as IKEA that take back expired CFL’s for recycling.  Also you may find some stores local to you that also accept CFL’s for recycling, check out your electronics stores. Many stores that sell the bulbs also accept expired ones for recycling.

Replacing your existing bulbs with CFL’s is one of the easiest ways to lower your carbon footprint by using less energy, less bulbs overall and it saves you money in the long run! What are you waiting for?

dalgal | My Bio & Articles