What do you think about these energy saving light bulbs?

Question

I have yet to find one with a decent light output and am switching back to the old style while they are still available. I have also heard that should you accidentally break one they have a very high level of mercury and which could be dangerous.

Answer 1

I love them and have used them for years in most of the rooms of my house.  Recently, I also put them in my bathroom vanity. It took a day or two to get used to the new kind of light in there, but it was SO worth it. I used to swelter in there as I tried to get ready in the morning. Now it is cool and comfortable.  Where I live, it is hot almost all year round, so the less heat emitted in the house, the better on our cooling bill.

I have heard a complaint from a friend that she cannot read with the CFL her husband put in.  It may have been too low a wattage, or her eyes may just need different light.  It is better to change some bulbs to CFLs than none, so if you change the one that is bothering you back to incandescent, maybe you could keep others in areas where you don't need incandescent light.

As for the mercury concern, it is true that they have mercury in them, but the level is not really high (thre is a  6 mg cap but the bulbs' contents may be lower).  Still, should you break one, open your windows and step away to let the vapor out.  When you clean it up, do not touch the breakage (use gloves or a broom) and put the contents into a glass jar.  That should be taken to the hazardous materials area of your landfill (along with all your other hazardous household waste). There it will likely be recycled (ours is).  In fact, when CFLs or other fluorescent bulbs burn out, they are supposed to be recycled this way and not thrown in the trash.

This makes it sound like a big deal, but in my experience, it hasn't been.  The bulbs last for a really long time, and when they burn out, I just put them in a shoe box in the garage until I take my next trip to the hazardous waste center (we don't have stores that recycle CFLs here--but other places do-- call around).  I've never broken one, in our ten years or so of use. One person said he uses a paper bag over the bulb when changing it in case it drops, to contain the mess.

An alternative to CFLs is LED bulbs, but they are currently quite expensive.  I imagine in time, they will come down in price.

Answer 2

Nothing is perfect, but energy saving light bulbs are better for the invironment, and are brighter! They are a lot safer so there is no actual way it would break that easily. But dont switch to normal ones!

Answer 3

I have already had a broken one.  This was before the warning and so I am displeased about that.  The other issue is that there has been a report that says they can adversely affect people with excema.  I have excema on my face, which used to be confined to my forehead.  I know have dry read skin all over my face.  I have two of these bulbs in my lounge and obviously spend several hourse with them on in the winter.  I shall be going back to ordinary bulbs to see if my face improves.

Answer 4

I have never liked them and alway found them to be too dull, as for safety, well I think I will just stick to ordinary bulbs until hopefully the manufacturers come up with a brighter one which is safe if it gets broken. Ps you know if you break one of these at the moment you are not supposed to hoover any of it up but use a dustpan and brush and air the area for half an hour!

Answer 5

All of mine put out the same or better light then my old lightbulbs.  The only ones I'm not 100% happy with are the Wal-Mart branded ones because they make a slightly audible buzzing noise when they are on.  Only one bulb has broken, I just collected the glass, put it in a safe place and plan to take it to a recycling facility once I accumulate more of it.  

The bulbs don't have a *very high* level of mercury, that's misinformation.  They do have some mercury, and the reason that's an issue is that the sheer numbers of lightbulbs that might end up in landfills might add up to a harmful mercury level in water tables.  If it wasn't made of glass and plastic you could probably eat one with no real damage.

Answer 6

I try not to think to much about them as it wastes energy

Answer 7

Well, I think they're great. Yes, you do have to adjust to the light output, but thats fairly easy. I have felt that they definitely last a lot longer. The only problem, as you have pointed out is that they are hard to dispose of safely because of the mercury content

Answer 8

you need to beware which ones you buy.

They come in cool white/ white and warm white.

Each looks very different, but I like fluorescent lighting.

The mercury content of one of those long tubes is a blob about the size of a ballpoint pen tip. (1-1.5 mm across). Find something else to get paranoid about.

Answer 9

Great idea.  They save electricity.  About half our bulbs are low energy.  Like all fluorescent bulbs, they have a tiny amount of mercury in them so they need to be treated with respect.  I am not keen on the slow build-up to full brightness so we make sure we have a least one incandescent bulb where we need instant light.  Also, they are no good with dimmers which we have in several rooms.  I am thinking of replacing some halogen down-lighters with LED bulbs which are even more efficient than fluorescents.

Answer 10

lol most of them put out more light then the old ones and i can do with a little less light to help save the world...but i guess you cant.

Answer 11

I like them

Answer 12

When we moved into our house we had 3 lightbulbs all in the hall and landings, they suddenly went about a month ago we searched our local town to get them but found out we had to order them specially as they was a special fitting,  we had to order online and pay 35 pounds for 3. My hubby also broke one in the car i done my nut as i had heard they contained mercury but he disposed of it and ventlated the car. You can get cheaper ones for your normal fittings.

Answer 13

I think they are great because you save money, great for the environment and it is easy to recycle. The only flaw I see its that they are a little expensive.

Answer 14

You have to give energy saving lights a few minutes to get to full brightness, which is a real irritation if you just want to pop into a room for a few seconds to get something. I got fed up with this in my kitchen and went back to a "normal" bulb. There's more to worry about if you break a thermometer mercurywise than if you break an esl bulb.

Answer 15

We have been using them for about 7 years now. We like the Cool White. They are very bright and I like to read by them. We have not had any break, as of yet. (Knock on wood). We noticed a reduction in our electric bill. And Love that they produce much less heat. Every one that you do change, is better than none at all, for our country. They are well worth the initial cost!

Answer 16

They are good for being long lasting but as others have said it is annoying that they take a while to increase in brightness. Also, I have one that says it is equivalent to a 60W normal bulb but it is definitely not as bright as that, even having given it time to warm up.

I only use them in certain rooms of the house.

Answer 17

I use them in my home, for our ceiling fanlights, since they are so bright and are always on. I don't think it had a serious effect on our electric bill and they were a bit expensive. but not one of them has blown, and we have had them for awhile