Posted on 05/05/2007 11:18:00 AM PDT by John Jorsett
We've been looking in to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) to reduce energy consumption for lighting. Here's what we've learned so far.
Manufacturers say that a 13-18 watt CFL produces light equivalent to a 60w incandescent bulb, an 18-22w CFL is the equivalent of a 75w bulb, and a 23-28w CFL is the equivalent of a 100w bulb. This is based on the "lumens" rating on the side of the box.
In real life, CFL equivalent replacements do not seem quite as bright as incandescents, so you might end up replacing a 60w equivalent with a 75w equivalent and so forth. (The "swirled" designs seem to give off brighter light than the CFLs with a traditional "bulb" design.) But overall, CFLs reduce energy use for lighting by 60%-70%.
Color temperature makes a big difference. The lower the color temperature, the more the light resembles the "warmth" of incandescent bulbs we are all used to (that may sound backwards, but that's how it works). Not all CFLs list the color temperature. The GE "Soft White" has a pleasing, almost incandescent look, while the similarly named Sylvania "Soft White" has a cooler, harsher "fluorescent" look (although some might prefer it for truer color rendering or easier reading).
We found some Sylvania "Warm White" 13w (60w replacement) CFLs at Lowes that have very pleasing light, and their small size allows them to fit most fixtures. The color temperature is listed as 2700K (as compared to their "Daylight" CFL which is listed at 6500K and seems much "harsher".) The 13w "Warm White" CFLs came in a contractor's box of 12 for $27, which is a pretty good deal. They are rated at 800 lumens with a lifetime of 10,000 hours, as compared to a standard GE "Soft White" 60w incandescent, which is rated at 840 lumens with a life of 1000 hours.
Because of their long life and lower energy consumption, CFLs can result in significant savings over the lifetime of the bulb relative to its cost. Manufacturers are quick to point this out, with claims on the packaging of $36+ in energy savings over the life of a 14w (60w equivalent) up to $61 for a 23w (100w equivalent). Your mileage will probably vary.
Most CFLs do not work with dimmers. Manufacturers say it will shorten the bulb life and it voids the warranty. There are special bulbs that work with dimmers, but they are not widely available. If the package does not say the bulb is compatible with dimmers, it probably isn't. (Look at the fine print on the base of the bulb.) We are still looking for a local source for "dimmable" CFLs, as most of our fixtures have dimmers. CFLs are also not intended for use with most photocells and timers.
One thing that is not talked about much is that CFLs emit more ultraviolet (UV) light than an incandescent bulb, which produces virtually none. Light in a CFL starts out as UV from excited gases, and is made visible by phosphors coating the inside of the tube/bulb. Incandescent light is mostly infrared emitted by heating the filament to super high temperatures (leading some to call them "heat bulbs" instead of "light bulbs"). Most of the UV from a CFL is filtered out in the conversion, but there is still some.
Manufacturers say, however, that there is no health risk and that eight hours of exposure to CFL UV is about the same as one minute in full sunlight. But, photographs, artwork, some fabrics, and some photoreactive chemicals used in furniture finishes are susceptible to degradation from any increased levels of UV over time. So this is something to consider.
The Mercury Problem
Finally, CFL critics are quick to point out that CFL bulbs contain mercury, a highly toxic pollutant. This is true. The typical CFL bulb contains approx. 5mg of mercury. (Manufacturers are working to reduce this. Phillips is said to have developed a bulb that only has 1.5mg of mercury.) If the bulb is broken, special care must be taken to properly clean up and dispose of the remnants to prevent health risks. Further, CFLs must be recycled or properly disposed of to prevent the mercury from entering the environment. Here are the federal government guidelines for CFL disposal and cleanup.
What the critics forget to mention, however, is that coal-fired power plants are a major source of mercury pollution. Further, most of this mercury is emitted into the air, and is thus not contained or containable. Mercury in a CFL is already contained unless it is broken, and if properly recycled is fully containable.
We did some rough calculations to determine the mercury pollution impact of CFL v. incandescent bulbs. We used TVA's Kingston plant as an example. It generated 10,161,530 gross megawatts in 2005, and released 643 pounds of mercury into the environment. If our math is correct, this works out to about 0.000028702 milligrams of mercury pollution per watt of electricity generated.
Based on this, a 100w incandescent bulb operated for 8 hours per day 365 days per year causes 8.4mg of mercury pollution. An equivalent 23w CFL bulb will cause 1.9mg of mercury pollution. Assuming a five year life of the bulb, and assuming the bulb is crushed and dumped in a landfill releasing its 5mg of mercury into the environment, the CFL will cause 14mg of mercury pollution over its lifetime as compared to 42mg of mercury pollution for an equivalent number of incandescent bulbs, a reduction of 28mg or 66%.
66% sounds like a lot. But according to DOE estimates, residential power usage is about 35% of the total, and lighting in the average home accounts for about 9.4% of the energy used. Considering that about 64% of TVA power is generated from coal v. hydro and nuclear, the net reduction of mercury emissions if every TVA customer switched to CFL bulbs would only be 4.6 pounds at the Kingston plant, a 0.7% reduction. System-wide, this would be a reduction of nearly 39 pounds annually.
39 pounds doesn't sound like much mercury (even though it's thousands of lethal doses) but it's something. And multiply that for every power system in the U.S. and it adds up.
Plus, we should take pollution controls wherever we can get them. If you figure a 0.7% reduction in coal-fired household energy use and related emissions across the board, system-wide TVA emissions of NOx (nitrogen oxides that cause ozone and smog) could be reduced by 1337 tons, SO2 (sulfur dioxide that causes acid rain and harms plants and stream ecology) by 3220 tons, and CO2 (a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming) by 735,000 tons (2005 figures). Increased commercial usage of CFL would result in even more reductions.
So CFLs won't save the planet, but they might put off its demise for a month or two.
Back to the CFL mercury problem, a couple of things need to happen right away:
• Consumers need to be educated on proper disposal and cleanup. The packages we purchased do not mention this prominently or at all. One directs you to a website. There should be prominent warnings about health risks and instructions for proper disposal and cleanup on all CFL packaging.
• Local public works officials need to incorporate CFL collection, recycling and/or disposal into their waste management programs.
• Big-box retailers who sell more than 100 CFLs per year (or some other arbitrary figure) should be required to provide on-site recycling centers.
We had a coal furnace when I was a girl - my parents lived into their 90s, and all five of us children are healty well into our 50s and 60s. Apparently, if you don't know your home coal furnace is producing tons of mercury, it doesn't hurt you.
Plagerist. ;)
not at all...
i did not claim to be the author :)
I don’t like these. They cost more, use a lot more energy to make, and the mercury problem is real.
As another poster said, if you sell you home, and then have a Mercury test, you are in to some rather hefty bills.
Not bad for some applications, but not something you should put in your home.
You bought ONE bulb that died, therefore THEY don't last longer? (I've had incandescents do the same thing.) Of course they last longer! I've got about a dozen in my house and some have been going for 5 years.
For other folks:
The brand I have looks just like regular bulbs in color.
If you think one size is too dim, buy a larger wattage. That's not hard to figure out.
THAT’s what I’m waiting for. LEDs. Those are the true lighting revolution.
We put two of them in our living room lamps. After a year or two the shade fabric began to crumble. UV light will decompose synthetic fibers. Can’t remember what the wife paid to replace them.
Nightmare is right! Good article, thanks. My husband replaced almost all of the bulbs in our house with CFLs. We were out when our son came in and didn’t know about the new bulbs. He started switching on lamps and thought there was a brown-out going on.
No thanks.
I tried a few about 5 years ago. 2 big drawbacks . . .
*They were too dim. Mother’s eyesight is not the best. We need 200w lights for her to see clearly.
* The screw-in base with the transformer in it cought on fire on one of them.
My experience was the same. Bot a package and put three in sconces at various places to see how they worked. Two went out within a year. The sconces are not used as much as other lighting, so we actually got far less mileage than with our regular bulbs. We are trying a new batch for the same reason I tried the first ones. Sconces can be more difficult to get to and it would be nice to not have to change bulbs more than every several years or more.
.
“But you are starting to see LED lights more and more.”
OMG an LED contains gallium and arsenic and lanthanum! Run! < /s
Any fluorescent, like the popular four foot “shop light” has mercury. The circline i my kitchen does, and many streetlights do.
Nothing new about Hg in lamps.
Also you should be trying 130volt incandecent bulbs - they will last approx. 3 times longer than 120volt bulbs.
A one data point sample. You should be a researcher.
Marking
Here there are fluorescent 60-watt equivalents in three lamps that come on via timer. I started with one lamp, and it’s lasted a long time, so I just bought a couple more GE ones. These seem even brighter than the 60-watts that had been in the lamps. My only gripe is that on some lamps, no matter how compact, the top of the fluorescent bulb shows over the shade.
I have them all over (and outside) my house and at my business. The one 18 feet up on my front porch has burned for about three years (and we frequently leave it on all night). Some are better than others. New ones I’ve bought at Sam’s burn bright, turn on immediately and burn a looooong time. I’ve been using them for years and years. Just not having to change them every month like incandescents is good enough for me. The energy savings is like a bonus.
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