Calculate how much you'll save by switching to CFL bulbs

[Demon-Xanth]

I tried using some CFLs in my bedroom once. The flicker with my monitors caused my eyes to hurt very quickly.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
$29. I work nights, so the sun is my light when I'm awake.

that makes no sense

He works at night. He's only home during the daylight hours. So he doesn't use a lot of lights during the day.

Understand now?

 

[Exterous]

I use them in most of the fixtures in the house. Like stated before, the warm up time is around 3-5 seconds. I have not had to replace one yet after 4 years since I got the first one. I pay around $2 a bulb for them.
I don't know how much this is a contributing factor but after living in the different apartments my electricity bill is usually in the $25 dollar range per month while most of my friends is up around $60-70

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: psteng19
First time hearing about CFL bulbs.

Can those who have experience with these comment on them?
Other than the warm up time, how are they?
Do they really last that much longer than the conventional bulb?
What about in environments where the light is turned on and off constantly?

Things to think about:

1) The cheaper they are, often the longer time they take to turn on. There are two effects here. (A) You flip on the switch and no light comes on for a brief period of time. This effect is quite disturbing to some people. (B) After a second or so when the light comes on, it is still slighly dimmed for the first few minutes. This latter effect is not that disturbing, but can bother someone. Often though, if you get a quality CFL, both effects are minimized.

2) The standard ones are a different color than normal bulbs. This may or may not bother you. I perfer the special outdoor light colored CFL bulbs. This type looks far better to me than any other light bulb I've seen. Heck, I put them in my closet so I can instantly tell the difference between dark navy blue and black and I could never do that before (great for picking out socks). But you do pay a bit more for the nicer colored CFLs.

3) The CFLs only save energy if they are NOT flipped on/off. They save energy when they are on for a long period of time (20+ minutes). So I use them in areas when I keep the lights on 24 hours a day and in areas when I usually camp out for hours at a time (computer room, TV room). Areas like bathrooms where you might use the light for 1 minute will not save you energy so it is wasteful to buy CFLs for these areas.

4) I've been using them for ~5 years and I've never had a CFL go out yet. I have about 7 of them.

 

[jimbob200521]

In for 3 bulbs...

 

[aphex]

while I am all for saving both money and the environment, I am one of the few who gets headaches from CFL/Fluorescent lights (anything that flickers along the same lines)...

GE Reveal FTW

 

[RedRooster]

About $90 million a year. And you'll get a single bonus point for trying to install them even.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
I've seen some that provide a warm light, more like an incadescent bulb. Where do you find those?

Even those, I'd probably just want to use them outside, not in living areas.

my GEs provide the same spectrum as regular soft-white lightbulbs. they're bright enough when they start, but it is noticeably more dim than after they warm up. i use them for lamps in my bed room and the overhead lights in the ceiling fan. after the 1 minute of warm up time, if you walked into my room you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

 

[desy]

Had mine for two years now
less than $2 for 60 W equivalents and I find singly they don't give the colour temp I like but when I have them doubled up in a fixture they are better. the 50W equivalent flood style, had one die and they don't hold up in closed fixture cause heat is what kills these CFL's most of my fixtures are open.
I didn't put them in the drop down pendant lights over the island in the kitchen cause I think the twisty bulbs look dumb in that type of fixture. So far happy with them and when my kids leave every light on I feel less stress that they are wasting about 75 W instead of 300W!

 

[Scarpozzi]

Some of them are pretty good. My experience though has been with the cheap ones primarily. They tend to take a while to warm up and flicker while they're warming up. I prefer the old school lights because they tend to be softer as well.

Maybe in a few years when the price of the CFLs drop some more, it will be worth changing.

Just thought I'd add that most of my lamps have only 40watt bulbs in them. This gives me the ability to turn on 2 lamps and not burn extra cash. Plus, 40 watt bulbs are sometimes cheaper.

 

[George P Burdell]

Originally posted by: psteng19
First time hearing about CFL bulbs.

Can those who have experience with these comment on them?
Other than the warm up time, how are they?
Do they really last that much longer than the conventional bulb?
What about in environments where the light is turned on and off constantly?

The ones I have give off about 70% of their light when switched on, then take about two minutes to warm up to 100%. The ones I have weren't the cheapest ones, so the light quality is very good. They easily last 5-7 years. If you have concerns about the light being too dim, buy one CFL bulb (say a 75W equivalent) and try it out. If it's not bright enough, get the 100W equivalent bulbs. If you replace an ordinary 75W bulb with a 100W equivalent (15-24W actual) CFL bulb, you get more light and you still save energy.

 

[Oceanas]

Originally posted by: dullard
3) The CFLs only save energy if they are NOT flipped on/off. They save energy when they are on for a long period of time (20+ minutes).

What an odd statement. An incandescent bulb will always use a much greater amount of energy than an equivalent brightness CFL. It doesn't matter how long it is left on. You could, perhaps, argue that it does not save an appreciable amount of energy during any single on/off cycle, but it does save energy. It will also save energy when you add up the total amount of power consumed when each type of bulb was on. If you want to talk about cost (instead of energy) savings, frequent cycling of a CFL bulb may reduce overall lifetime, perhaps negating cost of energy savings when accounting for cost of replacement bulbs. Still, energy vs. incandescent is being saved.

 

[Electric Amish]

The older CFL's were kinda crappy and did seem to take awhile to fully light up. The newer models that I have tried are really nice.

A great application for the CFL is in your garage door opener. I used to replace my incandescents there very often because of the vibration. I have had a CFL in there now for 2+ years.

 

[DrPizza]

There's a problem with the calculator - it assumes that the heat generated by incandescent bulbs is wasted energy. Right now, it's wintertime in western NY. The 45 or so watts of heat produced by a 60 watt light bulb are no less efficient than having a 45 watt space heater. (well, of course, you'd compare 30 or so bulbs with a 1500 watt space heater.) i.e. if I used electric heat, the extra money spent on CFL bulbs would simply be wasted money. Everything else breaks even.

edit: except, I heat with coal, which is probably the cheapest possible way to heat a house right now. $205 per ton of coal, roughly 14,000 btu's per pound. That's roughtly 140,000 btu's per dollar.

The average price for natural gas (about 1000 btu's per cubic foot) is $1.50 per therm. 1 therm is 100,000 btu's, so a dollar buys about 70,000 btu's. Half that of coal.

 

[TXHokie]

I have pretty much had to replaced all the CFL bulbs I swapped out 3 yrs ago. Some didn't even last a year. For the high price I paid for them compared to regular bulbs, I am disappointed at their life span considering that they are advertised as longer lasting that regular bulb. Seems what I saved in electricity got eaten up by replacement cost. I am only continuing using them because it's good to save electricity but don't feel it saved me much money.

 

[thescreensavers]

Annual savings ($): 743.72
yup


about 1/8 of the lights here are the regular ones b/c they are in fans,or chandlers we are to lazy to get up to to change.


but 7/8 has been changed

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: TXHokie
I have pretty much had to replaced all the CFL bulbs I swapped out 3 yrs ago. Some didn't even last a year. For the high price I paid for them compared to regular bulbs, I am disappointed at their life span considering that they are advertised as longer lasting that regular bulb. Seems what I saved in electricity got eaten up by replacement cost. I am only continuing using them because it's good to save electricity but don't feel it saved me much money.

You have to keep them on 20-30 minutes each time. There goes your energy savings for areas when you'd normally keep a 60W bulb on for a minute or less.

 

[waggy]

Here are the estimated savings* if you replace 12 75 watt regular incandescent bulbs with 22 watt CFL bulbs:


Annual savings ($): 104.58

Annual greenhouse gas reductions (lbs of CO2): 1,660



already replaces nearly every light with them. You can get a good deal on them at Sams club.

 

[mrrman]

changed my whole house to these CF lights...they are great...I use the dimmable ones in the ceiling fans, decorative ones in my bathrooms and the regualar CF lights in all my other fixtures.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: TXHokie
I have pretty much had to replaced all the CFL bulbs I swapped out 3 yrs ago. Some didn't even last a year. For the high price I paid for them compared to regular bulbs, I am disappointed at their life span considering that they are advertised as longer lasting that regular bulb. Seems what I saved in electricity got eaten up by replacement cost. I am only continuing using them because it's good to save electricity but don't feel it saved me much money.

A lot of the bulbs have a 7 year warrenty. Have you checked with the manufacture about having them replaced?

 

[chrisms]

I save a lot by only using candlelight. Makes it tough to find my way to the outhouse sometimes but saves me a lot of shillings when I mush the dogs out to the trading post.

 

[91TTZ]

The light they produce is annoying. It flickers like a monitor with a bad refresh rate.

 

[TheRyuu]

CFL are those spiral lights right? florescent (sp?) lights?

I just about replaced every bulb in my house by now with those things.
Over the course of the year I just bought like 3 of those big packs in Sams Club. Been using them every since.

I have no idea how much energy i saved, but it's been about 2 years and not a single one burnt out yet
The three way ones are expensive though.

I find if you buy them in the big packs them come in in Sams Club or some other place like that, they're not "that" much more expensive. But they are still more expensive then your standard light bulb.

I don't mind the warmup time, but my mom hates it. I just point her in the direction of the bill and she changes her mind, sometimes.

 

[George P Burdell]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
The light they produce is annoying. It flickers like a monitor with a bad refresh rate.

You've got your hands on either a defective piece or a low-quality bulb. Try out a GE or Philips bulb. One bulb by itself might be pricey, but in bulk, even the good ones are cheap.

 

[Amused]