How do they make energy-saving lightbulbs save energy?

Question

How do they make energy-saving lightbulbs save energy?

Answer 1

In a standard incandescent light bulb 90% of the electricity goes to heat up the lightbulb, only 10% goes to giving off light.  

In a CFL - 70% goes to light, 30% goes to heat.  That bulb will extract less electricity to put off the same amount of light.

Answer 2

you just put them in!

Answer 3

Ordinary light bulbs work by passing electricity through a wire and making it very hot.  That makes some light and a lot of heat.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs work by bombarding a gas with high energy electrons.  That makes more light and less heat.

So, for the same amount of light, you need a lot less electricity.

A 13 watt compact fluorescent gives as much light as an old fashioned 60 watt bulb.

Answer 4

A light bulb is mainly heat which you are paying for. Florescent tubes use a different way to produce light with less heat meaning less electricity "lower cost to you" Energy bulbs are mini florescent tubes to put it simply

Answer 5

Easy. Take a table lamp with a regular bulb that's off and is cool. Touch only the glass part of the bulb.  Wrap your hand around the bulb and turn it on.  Wait.

Getting the picture? LOL!  You can let go.  You're paying for that heat when you really wanted light.  Now in the summer you're paying twice because you also have to pay for the air conditioning to get rid of the heat!  So, incadescent bulbs stink.   They also don't last very long.

So it's not that energy saving lightbulbs "save" energy, they just don't ridiculously waste it like incandescents do. They're not hard to beat, lol!  

Bless Thomas Edison, he invented a lot of cool stuff, but light bulbs were not his finest hour.

Answer 6

Energy saving light-bulbs are really fluorescent tubes coiled to save space.

They save energy in two ways.  The energy needed to manufacture them is only slightly more than is needed to make an ordinary light-bulb but they last many times longer, so that saves energy.

Ordinary light-bulbs produce light when electricity is used to heat a filament until it glows white hot, so a lot of energy is wasted as heat.  Energy saving light-bulbs produce light when electricity excites molecules of a gas in the tube so as to produce light but very little heat, so that energy is saved.

I hope you are using energy saving light-bulbs because it is an easy way to save rapidly dwindling fossil fuels and to reduce damaging CO2 emissions which cause global warming.  We need to do many more things as well but this is a good place to start and saves you money as well (the bulbs cost more but last a lot longer and use less electricity so saving you money quite quickly).

Best wishes

Answer 7

They are like a florescent light.  Incandescent globes have a filament that heats up and uses more power to keep the filament light.  The filament gets old from use then breaks. The filament is a metal and like all metals after repeated heating gets brittle then thins and breaks.  The florescent lights have particles inside the globe drawing the light through them  that light up using less electrical power less electrical power means less heat, therefore the bulb stays cooler enhancing its life span. Simple explanation is that heat is the enemy of electronics of any kind.  This is a simple explanation; in reality it’s a bit more complicated.  I hope this helps.

Answer 8

Energy saving light bulbs use less energy than standard bulbs, therefore saving energy.

Answer 9

They use less energy when on, and they last longer. The only problem is, you need to take them to you annual municipality toxic collection day when they burn out.

I have purchased about 30 of them over the last 15 years and only one has ever burned out.

Answer 10

The other posters are correct.  Also, LEDs are coming, which will be even better than fluorescent.  I've already got a flashlight with an LED.

Answer 11

with mercury among other things  there are few if any facility for recycling or safe disposal

Answer 12

Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) use less energy to produce the same amount of lights. All fluorescent lights do this. Regular lights give off light and lot of heat as they use the energy. CFLs use the energy more efficiently and are cool to the touch. That coolness shows that the energy used is being used for light and not wasted as heat.

The life of the lamp has nothing to do with energy use, but is can be part of the economic calculation to justify the extra cost.

Answer 13

The use less energy, and use what energy they do use more efficiently.

Answer 14

Energy saving? incandescent bulbs are 3% efficient, so-called "energy-efficient" bulbs are 6-7% efficient but LEDs are 85% efficient. Philips, the Dutch electronics group, has started an experimental pilot project to instal LED street lights. Surely the future must lie with these?