Compact Fluorescent Lights: Energy Products Articles: Eco20/20

Compact Fluorescent Lights

For most people, trying to change and adapt to our ever changing world is never easy, but for once the switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs or CFL bulbs for short might be a lot easier to transition to then most other things. Most people associate a fluorescent light with the long tube style lights that so graciously populate our office buildings and as it seems constantly flicker, produce a light that is not too pleasing to the eyes and even sometimes make that all too annoying buzzing sounds.

What is important to remember is that the CFL seems to be the grandson to those old fluorescent tubes. CFLs are new, cutting edge pieces of technology that don't suffer from many of the problems that its predecessors did, but most importantly, a CFL could save you a bundle without much sacrifice, which is something I'm sure we all want to hear about.

Compact fluorescent lights work on the same principle that the old tube style lights used to - you have a tube that is filled with a vapor containing mercury and when you pass an electric current through that vapor you get light. The difference with the new CFLs is that they are of course smaller, more efficient, and can be used in a wide range of applications around the home or office.

Probably the most compelling argument that everybody wants to hear is the cost-benefit of whether or not they should switch their lights over to CFLs. Modern CFLs tend to be much more efficient than your homes' normal incandescent light bulb and can last much longer as well. The average CFL bulb can last for between 6,000-15,000 hours as compared to incandescent light bulbs measly 750-1000 hours.

Between the vastly improved lifespan of a CFL and because the average CFL only uses about 14 watts of power as compared to an incandescent light bulbs 40-100 watts of power usage, a CFL can save a person up to $40 per CFL bulb replaced over its life time. Imagine changing all of the lights in your house to CFL and you could be talking about hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars in savings. That's what people want to hear and that's what makes CFLs so much more appealing next time you are our shopping for replacement bulbs.

Of course, like every amazing idea, there are a few downsides. The most prevalent downside that I'm sure every consumer has noticed is that CFL bulbs do cost more than a regular light bulb even as much as 3-10 times as much. This translates into CFLs having very high initial costs, but then again remember that over a CFL's lifetime, the energy savings could save you much more in the long run. Another less known side effect of CFLs is that like all fluorescent bulbs, they contain mercury, which at room temperature is a liquid heavy metal that is very toxic. A CFL bulb only contains between one to three milligrams of mercury, but that is still enough to hurt somebody and when you start talking about thousands if not hundreds of thousands of CFL bulbs being manufactured, it's important to take proper disposal into consideration.

Another complaint that has plagued CFL bulbs for quite some time has been the color that the bulbs emit or the temperature of the color to be more precise. The incandescent light bulb emits a color of around 2300K, which is thought to be a very calm and cool color of light and very easy on the eyes. The average CFL bulb will produce a color of 3500K-5500K which is closer to sunlight and might actually appears bluish in color and not quite as aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, but with recent advancements in CFL technology, this is quickly becoming less and less of a problem.

All in all, CFLs seem to be an obvious choice when it comes to replacing your light bulbs in your home. They have the potential to save a lot of energy which saves you a lot of money in the long run, they last longer, and don't suffer from many of the problems of old fluorescent lights. As it appears, adapting to the changing times might be as simple as changing a light bulb and saving some money.