Calif. Discovers Fluorescent Lightbulbs Burning Out Faster Than Predicted

dailytech.com ^

[Sub-Driver]

Calif. Discovers Fluorescent Lightbulbs Burning Out Faster Than Predicted

State government concludes that it will not realize the savings it expected

It was all flowers and roses when the state of California launched its $548M USD program to help promote consumer use of compact fluorescent lamps. Manufacturers and utilities were onboard because they received bonus pay to enact rebate programs. Citizens were happy as they received cheap CFL bulbs, which promised to save them money on power expenses. And the politicians were happy, as they looked sufficiently "green" to satisfy the eco-minded voters.

Now that utopian vision of futuristic lighting has dissolved into rancor and disappointment. A multi-million dollar program by the state designed to evaluate the actual results has concluded that energy savings were not as good as expected and that utilities were being over-rewarded for their performance.

At the heart of the problems is the fact that utility provider Pacific Gas & Electricity Corp (PG&E) has forced to cut estimates of CFL life average lifetimes from 9.3 years in 2006 to 6.3 years. The shorter-than-expected lifetime was due largely to people turning CFL lights on and off, and the fact that CFL bulbs were often put in disadvantageous locations like bathrooms or recessed lighting.

[loungitude]

Typical power factor for CFL = 0.52.
So if it ‘uses’ 26 watts, you pay for 26 watts, but the utility needs to supply about twice that.

[Dem Guard]

What do you do with 100+W bulbs? Are you running a nursing home? :-)

[Dem Guard]

"That makes sense, if the citizens would simply never turn their CFL bulbs on, they would last forever."

The ones I got free from our power company are going to last forever. They are still in their boxes.....

[Dem Guard]

Well they should just leave them on 24/7. That should help their power bills out. ;-)

[Zhang Fei]

I believe I’ve seen you post on these threads often enough to be appointed as the local CFL apologist. So - do you leave yours on all the time? Or do you have some sort of power conditioner on your house to keep the voltage and frequency constant?

Not necessary. Assuming power costs $0.10 per kWH, the power savings alone, based on a 26W CFL bulb replacing a 100W incandescent and 2h per day of operation, covers the cost of one CFL bulb per year.

A lot of these CFL bulbs have a multi-year warranty. If you keep your receipt and packaging, you should be able to get a new bulb the next time you visit your local Lowes or Home Depot. (Heck, you could collect them like pennies, and wait until you get to half a dozen dead CFL's before doing the exchange). Given the length of the warranty - my HD ones have a 9 year warranty - you shouldn't have to buy any new bulbs for a while. However, even without the warranty, power savings alone justify CFL usage. Assuming that you can stand the light from CFL's, that is.

[Straight Vermonter]

Pacific Gas & Electricity Corp (PG&E) has forced to cut estimates of CFL life average lifetimes from 9.3 years in 2006 to 6.3 years.

I've lived in my current house for 7 years. All of my CFLs have been changed 3 or 4 times except some basement lights.

[magooey]

The shorter-than-expected lifetime was due largely to people turning CFL lights on and off, and the fact that CFL bulbs were often put in disadvantageous locations like bathrooms or recessed lighting.

Did these nincompoops every try taking a shower in the dark?

[mowowie]

A few years ago i decided to do up my whole house in those new LED X-mas lights.
I saw a tree done up all in blue LED’s in NH and thought it looked really nice.
Well, what a big mistake that was.
The whole house lit up in this sickly blue and green colors.
looked nasty.
Plus the LED’s would blink at what i imagine 60 times a second.
Completely nauseating.
Now i have a 50 pound bag of useless LED X-mas lights.

That has me wondering if these new LED indoor lights are any better.
Do they blink real fast like my X-mas lights did.
will i get a headache whenever i turn my head too fast?
Have they figured out how to make the LED’s a softer, more comfortable omni-directional light?

[fwdude]

Expect to hear of mercury poisoning in the near future.

And then expect the libtards to blame Bush.

[SC_Pete]

UNEXPECTED!!!

[FlyVet]

They're not what they're cracked up to be, in my experience.

Outdoor security light, on/off once per day, they're fine. 3-4 years life. Applications where they have to be on all the time, good.

On/off many times per day, bad. Don't last. Just lost one in my garage. Been there for several years, but doesn't have 100 hours on it. Dead. Same thing with ones I've tried in kitchen or bedroom. The starters die if they're switched on/off too much.

Plus, they're poisonous and take up twice the space in landfills. Another brilliant lib idea.

Maybe the LED bulbs will be better when they come down in price.

[Right Wing Assault]

I’ve got a bunch in our new place that are all over 3 years. That’s already 10 times the incandescents. We still have our old house and the oldest (in the kitchen and DR) are about 7 years and counting. That’s way ahead of breaking even.

[Blue Highway]

That is what is known as PWM or pulse width modulation. The light is turning on and off many times per second. There are LEDs that are run with constant current that do not pulsate. It is the driver of the LED that will determine this.

There are also neutral white LEDs that produce a near incandescent light which is more pleasing to the eye and colors appear more natural than with colder white LED lights. Hopefully when costs come down LED interior lighting will become a norm.

[Colorado Doug]

On the bright side, if the liberal, greenie, treehuggers have their way, Californians will soon not have enough electricity to run any light-bulbs. The bulbs should last much longer then.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

“Who pays when the lawsuites start over all the mercury in these bulbs?”

Mercury is quite toxic when absorbed into body tissues (NOT so much as a metal) but the effects, though pernicious, are generally subtle and take a fair while to develop. Years.

[Excellence]

We never had one last for more than a few weeks, so we switched to LED. They’re wonderful.

[sanjoaquinvalley]

So far I’ve broken 2.Have not left the room, have swept the floor, like with anything else.First one I broke I was looking up at it and it shattered all over my face and went in my nose and mouth.That was 2002 lol when they first came out.Can’t see it has done me any harm.Other than the strange green glow when I’m in the dark.Don’t care for the things though.Too dim and take to long to brighten when cold.

[Disambiguator]

Hunt you a supplier that sells bubls to hospitals, etc. and buy your extended life incandescents from them. More expensive but still available

Mash Here

[Bernard Marx]

Whatever floats your boat. I hate the damned things.

[NYFreeper]

The CFL’s have come a long way over the years. Yes, they might have been crap when they first came out, but the price and quality of light have improved significantly. (This is true with a lot of new products.) One thing I like about them is that I have several light fixtures in house rated at 60 watts. I can put a 100 watt CFL equivalent (26 watts) in these fixtures and get more light out of them.

That being said, I hate the fact that the gubermint tells you what type of light bulbs to buy.