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Coming to the U.S. in 2012: Dim Bulbs
Yesterday, selling 100-watt incandescent light
bulbs became illegal in the E.U. (Other wattages will phase in over
the next few years). In 2012, laws that will have essentially the
same effect kick in in the U.S.
The U.K.'s Telegraph checked out some of the new bulbs, and finds that they are nowhere near as bright as advertised:
Buyers of the main type of energy-saving bulb, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), are told on the packaging that they shine as brightly as an old-fashioned bulb. For example, an 11W CFL is labelled as being the equivalent of a 60W incandescent bulb.
However, the European Commission, which was responsible for the ban, has now conceded that this is "not true" and that such claims by manufacturers are "exaggerated".
The Sunday Telegraph has conducted its own tests on level of illuminance provided by light bulbs from different manufacturers to see whether their claims stand up to scrutiny.
We found that under normal household conditions, using a single lamp to light a room, an 11W low-energy CFL produced only 58 per cent of the illumination of an "equivalent" 60W bulb – even after a 10-minute "warm-up".
More on why compact florescent bulbs are the choice of two out of two commie dictators here.
Via the Twitter feed of Walter Olson.
Barney Rubble|9.2.09 @ 12:16PM|#
Now, now, Katherine- this is for your own good, and, don't worry, the law of unintended consequences has been suspended by the Green Czar- no worries!
Jozef|9.2.09 @ 12:16PM|#
Fast forward 10 years: "In recent news, CLF bulbs have been outlawed across Europe and North America because of their significant contribution to mercury pollution. While each bulb contains minimal amounts of mercury, accumulated at landfills the mercury has reached an amount that was able to pollute all major freshwater sources on both continents. All citizens are required to surrender their CFL bulbs, in exchange for an incandescent bulb for each two CFL bulbs."
|9.2.09 @ 12:18PM|#
It'll be interesting to see how many additional injuries are due
to the dimmer required lighting. I myself don't see well in reduced
light situations, and, although we have these things, I hate them.
And how long they take to light, which is OK for most places, but
not in an emergency.
I guess it's all for the CAUSE.
smartass sob|9.2.09 @ 12:20PM|#
We found that under normal household conditions, using a
single lamp to light a room, an 11W low-energy CFL produced only 58
per cent of the illumination of an "equivalent" 60W bulb - even
after a 10-minute "warm-up".
Not to worry...if Cap and Trade is passed, you won't be able to
afford the juice to light them anyway.
Xeones|9.2.09 @ 12:21PM|#
Also, CFLs don't work on dimmer switches. I tried it once and it buzzed briefly and then fried the whole circuit. Fuck Congress for outlawing incandescents, yo.
Mike in PA|9.2.09 @ 12:22PM|#
I actually like the CFL bulbs. Yeah, they're not quite as bright
as they advertise, but nothing and nobody ever is. But you can't
argue with their efficiency. They last much much longer and use a
lot less power.
Now all that aside... Why the hell the State thinks it can mandate
what products you can put into your own house, I'll never figure
out.
|9.2.09 @ 12:22PM|#
I'm simply going to stock up with enough incandescents (and
halogens) to last me the rest of my life (or for as long as I
intend to live in my current house). I've got storage space in my
basement.
Gosh, I hope that's not illegal.
Mike in PA|9.2.09 @ 12:25PM|#
Here in PA, we don't have to wait for cap and trade. We already
have PA act 129 which most people don't know about yet. It requires
power companies to reduce how much their customers consume. So they
have to do all sorts of tricks involving a smart grid and smart
metering. As a consumer, we'll have to pay a hefty surcharge for
the opportunity to do our laundry at night and save pennies on our
bill. We'll never save as much as the surcharge, but the
Commonwealth doesn't care.
This starts next year.
|9.2.09 @ 12:26PM|#
I've found that to get results similar to a 60W incandescent,
you must use the fluorescent that they claim is equivalent to a
100W incandescent. It is false advertising, but they are still
cheaper to run (and they last a hell of a lot longer).
The mandates are ridiculous. This is a product that is far superior
to the one it is replacing, in terms of power consumption and
service life. As prices come down they would natually end up
displacing most of the incandescent market. Because of the mandates
they won't have to compete on price.
|9.2.09 @ 12:28PM|#
And how long they take to light, which is OK for most places, but
not in an emergency.
this concerns me also, when my sis installed them all over her
house i convinced her to leave a real bulb in certain places for
security reasons...
|9.2.09 @ 12:30PM|#
Also, CFLs don't work on dimmer switches.
And you get really freaky results if they're downstream of an X10
remote control module. Even when the module is switched off, the
attached CFL flickers.
I have nothing against CFL's, per se, and use them for all my
closets, hallways, etc. Mandating their use for all lighting is
dumb. I wish I could buy dimmable LED lamps, sigh...
|9.2.09 @ 12:35PM|#
We've been using CFLs in most of the house for about 2 years. In lights that we leave on for extended times, they do real well. In lights that we turn on and off after short periods of time, like the bathrooms, the CFLs don't last as long as the cheapest incandescent bulbs. We have gotten to the point that we leave some lights on all the time because CFLs are much higher in price.
T|9.2.09 @ 12:35PM|#
I wish I could buy dimmable LED lamps, sigh...
Me too. I actually love CFL bulbs, but then I put the 100W or 150W
equivalent CFLs in 60W rated fixtures. I just can't get dimmable
ones for my ceiling fans, which annoys me no end. All the LED bulbs
so far are either too low output or not dimmable.
JB|9.2.09 @ 12:36PM|#
Nearly everyone who works for the government is a giant
liar.
That is why you should never date anyone who works for the
government nor have any interactions with them that are
avoidable.
dave b.|9.2.09 @ 12:37PM|#
I'm simply going to stock up with enough incandescents (and
halogens) to last me the rest of my life (or for as long as I
intend to live in my current house). I've got storage space in my
basement.
Gosh, I hope that's not illegal.
Don't worry, there will always be a black market for them at eBay
or some other online source. One of my dirty secrets is that one of
my cars still takes the 'outlawed' R-12 Freon. I never converted it
over to that crappy R-134 'refrigerant' garbage and don't plan to,
since R-12 is freely available on eBay. I'm not afraid of
incandescents disapprearing anytime soon.
|9.2.09 @ 12:38PM|#
"""Coming to the U.S. in 2012: Dim Bulbs""
It is an election year. But I would argure that they are already
here.
Joe M|9.2.09 @ 12:39PM|#
What Jozef said. That stuff is scary, and real. There have already been incidents of fluorescent bulbs in California bursting and then requiring clean up from a special crew. In homes, even.
Jordan|9.2.09 @ 12:42PM|#
We have gotten to the point that we leave some lights on all the time because CFLs are much higher in price.
Awesome. Just like those damn low-flush toilets that you have to
flush twice if you use more than the alloted one square of toilet
paper. Suck it, Al Gore!
|9.2.09 @ 12:42PM|#
I replaced the one in my kitchen light. It threw my color sense so off I couldn't sear to proper doneness, catch mirepoix before browning, or see mold on cheese.
T|9.2.09 @ 12:46PM|#
It threw my color sense so off I couldn't sear to proper
doneness, catch mirepoix before browning, or see mold on
cheese.
Good point. I had to experiment with the stove bulb before I found
one that worked. The first one had that weird blue cast, which
didn't work at all.
In food news, I will be trying my first sous vide recipe tonight.
I'm kinda geeked.
|9.2.09 @ 12:48PM|#
In lights that we turn on and off after short periods of
time, like the bathrooms, the CFLs don't last as long as the
cheapest incandescent bulbs.
That's been my experience. They aren't nearly as bright, they don't
last as long, and they're full of toxic chemicals.
Good work, greenies!
!|9.2.09 @ 12:51PM|#
I'm simply going to stock up with enough incandescents (and
halogens) to last me the rest of my life (or for as long as I
intend to live in my current house). I've got storage space in my
basement.
I missed the boat on stocking up on ammunition. Not missing it on
this one.
|9.2.09 @ 12:51PM|#
Speaking of dim bulbs...
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/02/traficant-released-from-prison/
|9.2.09 @ 12:55PM|#
Jay, yeah the color temperature of fluoros, particularly older
ones, was pretty dreadful. Also, CFLs are majorly unsuitable for
use as oven lights in conventional or microwave ovens.
Suspect that the 40-60w incan appliance bulb will be a major
loophole in the CFL mandate.
I, Kahn O\'Clast|9.2.09 @ 1:04PM|#
Coming soon: the first generation of little girls who will have
no experience with an Easy-Bake Oven.
Not to worry. I am working on a process that will allow people to
convert their body fat into candles. The nannies will no doubt give
me a huge subsidy!
JoeTaxpayer|9.2.09 @ 1:10PM|#
Xeones - agreed about congress. They do make dimmable CFCs now. I have a room with 4 15W bulbs, claiming to replace the 65W ones I had. I am fine with it, Jane thinks it looks 'yellowish'. The room has my computers and tends to be on the hot side. So it does help it feel cooler.
|9.2.09 @ 1:24PM|#
Suspect that the 40-60w incan appliance bulb will be a major
loophole in the CFL mandate.
Yeah, tell us how that worked for books under CSPIA...
|9.2.09 @ 1:24PM|#
They last longer, except when they don't. I've had several die
prematurely - talking weeks or months, not years. I throw them in
the trash can just like everybody else - that's what we're supposed
to do with them right? The oldest boy has broken at least 3 in the
past month. He uses them in his shop light when working on cars.
Also thrown in the trash. Now when I see he has broken another
bulb, I replace it with an incandescent. Incandescent are more
environmentally friendly if you anticipate breaking a bulb after
only a week or two. Of course, that isn't why I do it. I'm the one
who buys light bulbs in the house. Soulless adult children don't
buy anything they don't have to. "Hey pops, I saw we are out of
trash bags, so I picked some up after getting stoned with my
friends" isn't ever going to happen. I'm not complaining
though...
Really, I'm not.
God damn kids.
|9.2.09 @ 1:25PM|#
The CFL thing is just utterly ludicrous: a great example of
hair-shirt environmentalism.
The amount of energy savings that can be realized via cutting down
on residential lighting (the only place where incandescents are
particularly commonly used) is miniscule. And, as others have
pointed out, CFLs do have real advantages over incandescents in a
lot of circumstances, and will naturally tend to acquire a big
marketshare. I figure that if you just chill out and pass no laws,
about 2/3rds of all residential bulbs will be replaced with CFLs
(in parts of the house where you don't care a ton about light
quality or a "warm up" period). Or more, if CFLs actually do
continue to improve (and they have improved).
I looked up some numbers a few years ago and came to the conclusion
that residential lighting, in its entirety, generously amounts to
about 1% of the country's electricity use (not energy, but
electricity). So the law seems like it might save us, oh, about
0.25% of our electricity, at the cost of noticeable annoyances in
people's quality of life and decreased pressure for the companies
that make the bulbs to continue to improve them.
Yay.
But yes, it is generally possible to use a "brighter" CFL in a
socket for a "dimmer" incandescent (100W "equivalent" CFL replacing
a 60W incandescent), and still realize substantial energy savings
and maybe even get somewhat brighter light. Which is nice, and
people should experiment with the right mix of bulbs for their
tastes in their homes.
Invisible Finger|9.2.09 @ 1:30PM|#
The life of the bulbs is greatly exaggerated, too.
Nice to see the government is a bigger sucker than the average
individual.
Invisible Finger|9.2.09 @ 1:32PM|#
They last much much longer and use a lot less
power.
Less power usage, yes.
Last much longer, no.
Syd Henderson|9.2.09 @ 1:32PM|#
I've been using them for years and only had a couple burn out it that time (there are seven total). They're not recommended for reading lamps or in places where you have a bare bulb because the color's a bit different and they can twist your brain into eldritch dimensions. Incandescents are better for closets and other places where they won't be turned on for long periods of time. They're a godsend if you use them properly.
Syd Henderson|9.2.09 @ 1:34PM|#
Now if they could just work out that disposal thing. (Although there isn't that much disposal to do.)
Cabeza de Vaca|9.2.09 @ 1:35PM|#
"They aren't nearly as bright, they don't last as long, and
they're full of toxic chemicals."
That has been my experience too. I read a article a while back that
claimed light bulb manufactures had been trying to push these bulbs
for years without success. So they changed their strategy &
started claiming they were better for the enviroment. Not sure how
accurate that article was, but it wouldn't suprise me. I plan on
stock piling incandescent bulbs.
|9.2.09 @ 1:36PM|#
Is it all incandescents that are banned or is there an
efficiency level. Phillips seems to think they can still sell new
fangled incandescents, which would be good (though I don't buy the
slant of the article that "this means government works!"):
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/business/energy-environment/06bulbs.html
!|9.2.09 @ 1:43PM|#
I thought mercury was bad.
No, it is just really hot on one side and really cold on the other.
Mercury's orbit was not explained until Einstein did a fancy math
problem to 'splain it.
!|9.2.09 @ 1:44PM|#
"They aren't nearly as bright, they don't last as long, and
they're full of toxic chemicals."
Just like women under 40 or over 60.
Zeb|9.2.09 @ 1:44PM|#
I have found that the CFLs do last a lot longer than
incandescents, but apparently others have had different
experiences. Everyone should remind themselves daily that your own
experience is not necessarily typical. But I only use them in
places where they are not turned on and off a lot and where I don't
need to read a lot.
Regarding the mercury content, some of that will be offset by less
coal being burnt to produce electricity to run lights, but I am not
convinced that this will make up for the extra mercury from the
bulbs, especially considering that it will tend to be concentrated
in landfills.
|9.2.09 @ 1:45PM|#
Pro Libertate | September 2, 2009, 1:27pm | #
I thought mercury was bad.
only in CFF (compact fluorescent fish).
|9.2.09 @ 1:45PM|#
There's too much damned artificial lighting. Turn a switch, and the whole room is lit up, even areas that don't need light. What I propose is that we ban general room and outdoor lighting altogether, turning instead to head-mounted LEDs.
!|9.2.09 @ 1:47PM|#
What I propose is that we ban general room and outdoor
lighting altogether, turning instead to head-mounted
LEDs.
Now I can't get Devo's Working in a Coal Mine out of my
head. Thanks.
|9.2.09 @ 1:59PM|#
The "warm up period" issue seems to vary by manufacturer. GE
CFLs seem to reach full brightness almost immediately, in my
experience, while Philips CFLs take an annoying couple of minutes
to do as they're told.
I have a couple of fixtures that used to burn through incandescents
in a matter of months, and switching to CFLs improved things
tremendously. On the other hand, I have an outdoor fixture that was
brutal on even "outdoor" CFLs, and using specialized heavy-duty
incandescents makes more sense there. Guess I'd better stockpile
too. Gold, guns, and bulbs...
|9.2.09 @ 2:14PM|#
Love the CFLs. I haven't had to change a light bulb in about four years and my electric bill has gone down quite a bit. As for the quality of the light, you just need to find a CFL with a lower color temperature if you're looking for lighting comparable to an incandescent bulb. That being said, it's none of the government's goddamn business what kind of bulbs we use. Leave it to the market to decide. As energy prices rise and CFL and LED lights improve in design and price, people are going to naturally gravitate towards them.
T|9.2.09 @ 2:37PM|#
"There is a light that never goes out" would make a great
marketing campaign.
Yeah, because depressed 80s club kids who grew up are such a huge
market segment.
Says the guy with the Smiths on his iPod.
|9.2.09 @ 2:41PM|#
I don't see Personal Lighting® involving helmets or hats as much as being eyeglasses or forehead based.
|9.2.09 @ 2:50PM|#
Says the guy with the Smiths on his iPod.
Me too, dude. In fact, I have almost completely recreated on my
iPod the tape case I used to keep in my car. It wasn't easy finding
Lords of the New Church and Tones on Tail off of piratebay.
T|9.2.09 @ 3:09PM|#
Me too, dude. In fact, I have almost completely recreated on
my iPod the tape case I used to keep in my car. It wasn't easy
finding Lords of the New Church and Tones on Tail off of
piratebay.
I'd say something snide, but I just bought tickets to see KMFDM in
October. I don't think I have any room. And Nitzer Ebb is coming in
December.
|9.2.09 @ 3:11PM|#
haven't sascha & en esch quit kmfdm? i thought it was just an outlet for skold now...
|9.2.09 @ 3:31PM|#
I use whale-oil lamps.
Knuckle-dragger. Onced a year I get the fat lipo-suctioned from the
wifes thighs and butt and with a tiny bit of refining, it works
great in my 76' Rabbit diesel. Makes nice smelling candles for the
bedroom as well.
New World Dan|9.2.09 @ 3:31PM|#
LEDs will eventually take over, but for now, they're insanely expensive. The $2000 it would take to retrofit my house buys a lot of new bulbs and electricity. Especially for the small percentage of my utility bill that goes to lighting. Right now, a retrofit is around $90, but they've been slowly coming down in price. At about half that price, I'd start to look at it seriously.
T|9.2.09 @ 3:41PM|#
haven't sascha & en esch quit kmfdm? i thought it was
just an outlet for skold now...
Nope. Sascha is still there, running the show. Most of the current
line up is ex-Pig members. And
Lucia Cifarelli. Yum.
|9.2.09 @ 3:59PM|#
Lucia Cifarell
"She is heat incarnate. When I met her, she looked like that girl
Saffron from the band Republica. She had those red streaky things
in her hair."
T|9.2.09 @ 4:41PM|#
We need night vision contact lenses.
I'll take infrared or uv spectrum contacts as an acceptable
alternative.
|9.2.09 @ 4:55PM|#
You can have my light bulbs when you pry them from my cold, dead
hands.
I predict an explosion of sales of 60W bulbs on the illicit market
(can't call it the black market because that is racist). Next we'll
be seeing over priced light bulbs made in various 3rd world nations
being sold by shady guys on ghetto street corners. Law enforcement
agents will be busting down doors on light bulb compliance
checks.
Maybe we should go back to burning whale oil and kerosene in
lamps.
|9.2.09 @ 5:35PM|#
T | September 2, 2009, 3:41pm | #
haven't sascha & en esch quit kmfdm? i thought it was just an
outlet for skold now...
Nope. Sascha is still there, running the show. Most of the current
line up is ex-Pig members. And Lucia Cifarelli.
Yum.
that doesn't sound so bad. and lucia? very nice...
as far as nitzer ebb goes, that could be hit or miss. i've never
seen them live, but the idea reminds me of a 242 show i saw years
ago where it would have been better to have just stayed home and
played the albums i wanted to hear...
Rob Claus|9.2.09 @ 5:38PM|#
I love CFLs. I have a 60W outlet in my garage, and with an old incandescent bulb, it was pitifully dark in there. I replaced it with a 23W CFL ("100W equivalent") and it's much brighter. Just replace all your old 60's with the new 100's, and you get more light. Kind of like when you buy a Prius and then drive more because you get better mileage.
anarch|9.2.09 @ 6:26PM|#
The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.
|9.2.09 @ 8:19PM|#
awesome quote anarch, one of my faves...
OT
another good one, (albeit fictional and blatant propaganda).
"There's an east wind coming, Watson."
"I think not, Holmes. It is very warm."
"Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age.
There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew
on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many
of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the
less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine
when the storm has cleared."
Andrew_M_Garland|9.2.09 @ 9:08PM|#
In April 2008, I put together a review of CFL's and some of
their difficulties that are not talked about, or printed on the
box.
The CFL Advertising Account
The good and bad about compact fluorescent lights. Why the ads are
both true and false.
How to save and waste money on CFL's
One of the points:
========
Mike: OK, no problem. Buy 10 CFL's and save $750. Get rich!
Techno: Yeah, if you don't turn them off.
========
My research says that the average CFL will turn on 2000 times
before its electronics fail. The recommendation to leave them on
for 15 minutes is a crazy interpretation of that fact. Leaving them
on doesn't heal them. But, hey, at least if you leave them on for
15 minutes each time, you will get 500 hours use out of them before
they fail.
If you do that, when you don't need to have them on, you are just
wasting electricity along with watching them fail.
Michael Ejercito|9.2.09 @ 10:19PM|#
What is wrong with simply allowing people to choose whatever means of illumination they feel like?
|9.2.09 @ 11:16PM|#
What is wrong with simply allowing people to choose whatever means
of illumination they feel like?
now there's a bright idea...
|9.3.09 @ 12:54AM|#
# Michael Ejercito | September 2, 2009, 10:19pm | #
# What is wrong with simply allowing people to
# choose whatever means of illumination they
# feel like?
But that's not the scientific, Soviet way, comrade.
Sometimes it seems to me as if all the rats abandoned the USSR and
came over here to replicate what they had lost right under our very
noses. If they didn't they might just as well have. Spooky. I
thought we WON the Cold War...?
Hacha Cha|9.3.09 @ 3:50AM|#
a lot of CFLs claim to be equivalent to certain incandescents but they are usually dimmer. however, the higher wattage ones are more than adequate and I think they are good because 1. they last much longer than incandescents, 2. are cheaply priced when considering the service lifetime, 3. save electrical costs, and 4. they are good for growing plants indoors. I don't give a shit about the environment. the future though is LED lighting, in home, industrial, outdoor, and plant lighting.
Brian Dancer|9.3.09 @ 3:20PM|#
This article refers to a comparison of an 11 watt CFL to a 60
watt incandescent light bulb. As a 9 year veteran of a lighting
company, I can tell you that no one I know of in the industry
claims 11 watts will replace 60. A 15 watt CFL will do the job, and
if you are willing to accept a slightly dimmer light, a 13 watt
might suffice.
It's just a small flaw in the logic of the article. Other than
that, I understand the other points here completely! =)
peter dublin|9.4.09 @ 8:24PM|#
Guess what?
The man responsible for the ban,
EU Energy Commisioner Piebalgs,
is now responding to protests,
defending his ban on his blog
by saying it "increases choice"….
Well, that makes everything alright then! ;-)
http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/piebalgs/lighting-the-way-to-the-future/
About the strange and unpublicized EU and industrial politics that
led to the ban:
http://www.ceolas.net/#li1ax
peter dublin|9.4.09 @ 8:36PM|#
Why these Communism type dictats of what people can or can't
use?
Europeans, like Americans, choose to buy ordinary light bulbs
around 8-9 times out of 10
(light industry data 2007-8)
Banning what people WANT gives the supposed "great savings for the
people":
No point in banning an impopular product!
Let's have a little think about this..
If new LED lights -or improved CFLs- are good,
people will buy them - no need to ban ordinary light bulbs (little
point).
If they are not good, people will not buy them - no need to ban
ordinary light bulbs (no point).
A related comparison:
The arrival of the transistor
(not unsimilar to a diode, eg a LED, light emitting diode)
didn't mean that more energy using glowing radio tubes were
banned...
they were bought less anyway.
Supposed savings don't hold up for many reasons:
http://www.ceolas.net/#li13x onwards
Conversely,
if energy use does fall with light bulb and other proposed
efficiency bans and electricity companies make less money,
they'll simply RAISE the electricity BILLS to compensate:
(especially since power companies often have their own grids with
little supply competition)
Energy regulators can hardly deny any such cost covering
exercise...
So much for the "great savings for Americans" that Obama talks
about.
Emissions?
Does a light bulb give out any gases?
Power stations might not either:
Why should emission-free households be denied the use of lighting
they obviously want to use?
Low emission households already dominate some regions, and will
increase everywhere, since emissions will be reduced anyway
through the planned use of coal/gas processing technology and/or
energy substitution.
A direct effective way to deal with emissions (for the actual
pollutants they contain too, whatever about CO2):
http://ceolas.net/#cc10x
The Taxation alternative
A ban on light bulbs is extraordinary, in being on a product SAFE
to use.
We are not talking about banning lead paint here.
We are talking about lowering CONSUMPTION
Even for those who remain pro-ban, taxation to reduce consumption
would make much more sense, since governments can use the
income
to reduce emissions (home insulation schemes, renewable projects
etc) more than any remaining product use causes such
problems.
A few dollars tax that reduces the current sales (USA 2 billion
ordinary incandescent bulb sales per annum)
really raises future billions, and would retain consumer
choice.
It could also be revenue neutral, lowering any sales tax on
efficient products.
http://ceolas.net/LightBulbTax.html
Of course:
Taxation is itself unjustified:
It is simply preferable to bans - also for ban proponents, in
overall emission lowering terms.
|9.9.09 @ 11:31AM|#
this is flawed for many reasons
1. As pointed out - CFL "Equivalent" light bulbs are not equivalent
- they never yield the same lumens as a regular bulbs - which means
they are not as bright - yeah, you can reduce your energy costs 25%
by replacing a 60w bulb with a 45w bulb too. duh.
2. Find a true 60W equivalent CFL, with a candelabra base, that
fits in my ceiling fan that requires a tapered bulb - does not
exist. Does that mean I have to buy $1000 worth of new ceiling
fans? I'll bet manufacturing and shipping 5 ceiling fans, then the
process of shopping and buying them will use more energy than I
will save in the lifespan of the bulbs in those fans. Then how long
will it take me to recoup the $1000 fan cost in energy savings - 85
years?
3. dimmers - I have dimmers everywhere. Most CFL do not work on
dimmers, and ones that do are even more expensive.
4. Cold weather - yeah, CFL works great at 10 degrees F.
5. recessed fixtures, closed fixtures - can't use CFLs - they burn
out quickly - within a month - I cannot afford that, especially
when a regular bulb lasts years in the same fixtures
6. Lights that go on and off alot - closets, bathrooms, nightstand
- actually pretty much anywhere except my livingroom (oh wait, that
is a ceiling fan with candelabra base tapered bulbs), my kitchen
(oh wait, recessed fixtures), and my dining room (oh wait, tapered
bulb candelabra base AND a dimmer), or my outside house lights (oh
wait, outdoors in Minnesota during the winter and -25 degrees).
Hrm. I don't really have anyplace I can put CFLs without huge
additional cost...
|9.9.09 @ 1:14PM|#
This is another example of socialism and "big brother" trying to take care of me. Americans are tiring of this.
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