CFL Bulbs or not?

Question

Ok, what's the deal... It's earth day and I'm trying to be a bit greener this year. I'm trying to find some infor on CFL bulbs. Anyone have any infor that I might find usefull?

Are they worth the money? Will they fit into my regular lamps? WHERE do I recycle them? How dangerous is the mercury that is inside of them? What has been YOUR experience with them? Anything else I should know??

Thanks!!!!

Answer 1

YES, BUT...

They save tons of money and energy.

But, the quality of light is not so great, if you get the warm white or cool white ones.  The cool white ones give a cold, institutional light, and the warm white ones give off a sickly, pinkish-orange light; neither kind give good color-rendition, and hence, the visual acuity they enable is low.  The "daylight" or "sunlight" ones give a fuller-spectrum light that resembles the color of the noonday sun.  They cost a little bit more, but give you a better light and better visual acuity for tasks such as reading, cooking, grooming, and finding your way through a room.  It's a little cooler than incandescent light, but you can get used to it easily.  I prefer it because of the better colors.

The best quality light comes from truly full-spectrum fluorescents.  I haven't seen these in CFLs yet, but this light is so good that it's reputed to help people with Seasonal Affective Disorder (the tendency to get depressed more in winter than in summer).  

As for the slower warm-up, I've never noticed that it has any real effect.  I don't find myself diving right into a task as soon as I enter a room, and even if I do, the light warms up quickly enough to avoid anything close to tiring out my eyes.  The actual brightness difference is not really all that noticeable, anyway, and not even what you'd call "dim".

The only downside related to the daylight CFLs is that at night they can tend to signal your body that it's the middle of the day, and some people who have trouble sleeping might want to keep some non-daylight lights for use while winding down toward bedtime.

One upside of daylight CFLs and especially full-spectrum fluorescents is the way that they make indoor colors more vivid.  If you replace half of the lamps in a room with daylight CFLs, and leave half incandescent or warm white, and compare the lighting they give off, you'll be somewhat amazed at the colors you never noticed before.

All fluorescents should be recycled, because of the mercury, and they are considered hazardous waste (though households are sometimes exempt from the hazardous waste regulations pertaining to CFLs).  Do a web search for recycling fluroescents in your municipality.  Also, Wal-Mart is pushing CFLs big time, and they have some sort of recycling program, but it may vary by location.

Answer 2

Yes they are energy conserving and will save money.  They could be dangerous but not if your are careful.  I was cut by one and had no ill effects.  They will fit most sockets but because of their extended bases stick out more.  Look for bulbs which are smaller than the old bulbs when space is limited by the glass housings.  They are coming out in colors for those who decorate.  Only problem I had was sparking because the CFLs did not fit in the sockets well but that was with one fan light.    No problems with the other standard sockets in my house.  The only lights I do not have cfls are in fan lights with very small sockets and glass fixtures due to aesthetics.   They use 1/4 th the power a conventional bulb uses and takes even less power to initially light up.

Answer 3

Yes i think so. When shopping look close. sometimes a larger pack like 4 instead of 2 is cheaper. I have had no trouble with them fitting in my lamps. I do not know where to recycle them. I need to find out also. do not know about mercury I need to find out.  I really like them. they are cooler and brighter.

That's all.

Answer 4

from what i've read, it is a trade off.  while the lights are supposed to last a long time (not true by my kitchen fixtures) the disposal is a concern.  once people figure out a way to make money from recycling them, it will get better.  the technology will always be ahead of the consumption factor so we can concentrate on reduce, reuse and recycle what we can while encouraging manufacturers to create more eco-friendly products

Answer 5

I have them and love them. They do cost more that regular incandescent bulbs, but they last longer (in general) and they use a lot less electricity (my main reason for getting them). The mercury is minimal, but any amount is poisonous. Your local authorities may have a plan for disposal or you might be able to take them back to where you bought them for them to dispose.

Answer 6

They last a very long time .... so well worth the money i haven't changed a light bulb in over a year.

They will fit into all normal light sockets (they are not recomended to be upside down and will not work with a lamp where the shade goes over the bulb).

Every town is different as far as recycling goes... just look up recyclers in your yellow pages and find out if any of them recycle them.

Mercury is a dangerous chemical, but the ammount is so small it is nothing to worry about and the only way you could even come in contact with it is if you broke the bulb.

My experience with them has been great, it does take a few seconds to warm all the way up to full brightness but the light even at turning it on is plenty to get around by. If you are interested in changing all the bulbs in your house I suggest going to sams club (or another club store) and get the bulbs there. I got a box of 8 for what you would normaly pay for 2 or 3 bulbs!

Answer 7

I and my family have replaced all of the conventional lightbulbs in our house with CFLs, not because they are 'greener' but because they really don't cost as much in the long run.  They save quite a bit of electricity, and we've had some of ours for over a year without having to replace them.  In my experience, they fit in any socket that a regular lightbulb will.  I'm sure, though, that if you have some very oddly shaped decorative lighting, or if you have a lamp with a shade that goes over the bulb, then you might have some trouble.

The biggest concern for many environmentalists is the mercury in CFLs.  Still, the mercury levels inside of CFL bulbs really aren't all that high.  If you break them, you want to be pretty careful sweeping up the glass because of the mercury, but other than that, it's not all that big of a deal.  If you recycle them (or even if you don't), they actually produce less mercury than the higher electricity generation for a standard lightbulb.

Answer 8

There's good info and wrong info here - I have 5 CFL's in shaded lamps that work fine.  The mercury also happens in regular bulbs - even smaller amounts, but even China has pledged to remove the mercury by about 2 years from now.  ALSO, make sure to look for 2 things:   color temperature (there should be a chart somewhere where you buy them for color), and how often/long they are used.  The best uses for them are where you need light for a long time each day - at my house, it's the outside lamp that's on a sensor for 12 hours a day.  Turning them on and off quickly leads to faster ballast breakage.  Also, (nitpicking), look for the brand that uses the least watts - GE's 40 watt replacement uses 10, my off brands use 9.

As far as recycling, it's an issue:  Ikea does it, and many large cities have recycling stations, but it's something that's not readily available to the majority of us.  Keep them in storage until you make a trip or they open one near you.

The warm up time to full brightness is correct.

Having said all of that, I've purchased and use over 50, in all areas besides the dining room floods and one bathroom my wife uses for her makeup.  (The colors don't translate quite as well).

Answer 9

Sorry, I don't like them!  I have gone back to using regular bulbs because  1)mercury isn't nice, breakage is a eco-pain, and disposal is difficult  2) CFL bulbs take a long time to "warm up" enough to give decent light  3)CFL illumination is very poor compared to incandescent bulbs, and  4) CFL bulbs gradually go dim after awhile, losing illumination before you realize WHY you're stumbling about in poor light!  Thanks, but NO THANKS!

Answer 10

I decided to make the switch in January of '07. Instead of changing just one bulb, I switched them all. I have no regrets! I have not changed a bulb since. And what was really exciting was noticing that my utility bill went down $18.00 the next month.

Answer 11

Below is a part of an earth day article by live science that shows how much of a change you can make by using CFL bulbs.

Change light bulbs

Highly efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) last for years, use a quarter of the energy of regular bulbs and actually produce more light.

Look for the government's ENERGY STAR label, which means the bulb has been tested for quality and efficiency. While each ENERGY STAR qualified bulb will cost more initially-anywhere from $3 to $9 a piece-remember that there are two price tags: what you pay at the register and what you pay in energy costs to over the bulb's lifetime. So you may pay more up front, but you will actually save hundreds of dollars in your household budget over the long term because of their long life.

While CFLs were harder to find a few years ago, they're now widely available and much more affordable. You'll find them at major home improvement and hardware stores-even grocery and some convenience stores.

Here's the impact. If every household in the U.S. replaced a burned-out bulb with an energy-efficient, ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent bulb, the cumulative effect is enormous. It would prevent more than 13 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere-which is like taking more than a million cars off the road for an entire year.

There are other, simple things with household lighting you can do to conserve: turn off unneeded lights, dim lights when you can and bring natural sunlight into your home when it is feasible.

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We did switch to CFL bulbs in an attempt to improve our greeness but then recently i was told that the bulbs must be sent to a specific kind of recycling center because they contained trace amounts of mercury.  I have not been able to confirm that as of yet.  So if anyone else has an answer to that i would be interested in knowing.