Recommendations on Energy Saving light bulbs
- Thread starter Sephire
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Mike Gayner
Diamond Member
- Jan 5, 2007
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I replaced every bulb in our house from ES to standard incandescent. I absolutely hate ES bulbs. They put out hardly and light and take ages to warm up. Despite manufacturer claims they DO wear out quite quickly, and begin to flicker and buzz (even expensive ones). Good luck finding an identical replacement when one does die - you'll wind up with what we had - different coloured bulbs in every fitting.
I believe what kills light bulbs is frequent on off cycles.
If you have lights that you turn on and leave on for many hours, then use energy saving bulbs.
For bulbs that are turned on and then off quickly, regular bulbs make more sense.
You will never make up the extra cost because it would take many, many, many extra kilowatts just to make up difference in purchase price.
If you have lights that you turn on and leave on for many hours, then use energy saving bulbs.
For bulbs that are turned on and then off quickly, regular bulbs make more sense.
You will never make up the extra cost because it would take many, many, many extra kilowatts just to make up difference in purchase price.
Mike Gayner
Diamond Member
- Jan 5, 2007
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ok, the only real cons to cfl bulbs is that they take about 60 seconds to warm up. wow big deal.
not bright enough? get a brighter one. our house is way brighter with cfls that it ever was with incandescents.
different colors? most bulbs list the color temp now. stick with 1 brand if you are that concerned.
life? they last at least as long as regular bulbs, and are more or less the same price at this point. less than $1 at costco for 100 watt equivalent.
not bright enough? get a brighter one. our house is way brighter with cfls that it ever was with incandescents.
different colors? most bulbs list the color temp now. stick with 1 brand if you are that concerned.
life? they last at least as long as regular bulbs, and are more or less the same price at this point. less than $1 at costco for 100 watt equivalent.
Good luck with staying with incandescent bulbs, if you live in the US. Starting next year, we will no longer have 100 watt incandescent. 2013, we lose 75 watt. 2014, we lose 60 watt. Rinse and repeat. They're going away. That's probably the reason we no longer manufacture incandescent bulbs in the US. We're retooling for CFL/LED bulbs.
thescreensavers
Diamond Member
- Aug 3, 2005
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Jeff7
Lifer
- Jan 4, 2001
- 41,596
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My preference is for the Neolite brand; they've generally been reasonably good to me.
Genuine instant-on turnon times (well, maybe several milliseconds, but darn fast), quick warm-up of maybe 10 seconds, and a relatively low death rate.
And "white light" comes in a range of color temperatures. By "white light," if you mean that you like the color temperature of incandescent light, you'd want CFLs that are in the 2700K-3000K color temperature range.
On/off cycles: Based on the life estimates given by manufacturers, and based on my own testing, each turn-on reduces the lifespan of a CFL by 30-60 minutes, so unfortunately, they're not really good in applications where they'll only be on briefly.
And LED lighting isn't quite fully ready for prime time, at least in my opinion. Some new solutions do exist, but they're not compatible with current fixtures. And they're expensive, unless you're buying 10,000 at a time. (Though in any case, new fixtures would be needed for LED tech - its thermal requirements are very different from those of incandescent bulbs. With incandescent, you want to keep the hot filament from igniting anything around it. With LED, you want to get as much heat away from the emitter as quickly and efficiently as is reasonably possible.)
But the benefit of LED is that it doesn't care how often it's turned off and on, assuming it's not tied to a low-end power supply.
Genuine instant-on turnon times (well, maybe several milliseconds, but darn fast), quick warm-up of maybe 10 seconds, and a relatively low death rate.
And "white light" comes in a range of color temperatures. By "white light," if you mean that you like the color temperature of incandescent light, you'd want CFLs that are in the 2700K-3000K color temperature range.
On/off cycles: Based on the life estimates given by manufacturers, and based on my own testing, each turn-on reduces the lifespan of a CFL by 30-60 minutes, so unfortunately, they're not really good in applications where they'll only be on briefly.
And LED lighting isn't quite fully ready for prime time, at least in my opinion. Some new solutions do exist, but they're not compatible with current fixtures. And they're expensive, unless you're buying 10,000 at a time. (Though in any case, new fixtures would be needed for LED tech - its thermal requirements are very different from those of incandescent bulbs. With incandescent, you want to keep the hot filament from igniting anything around it. With LED, you want to get as much heat away from the emitter as quickly and efficiently as is reasonably possible.)
But the benefit of LED is that it doesn't care how often it's turned off and on, assuming it's not tied to a low-end power supply.
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0roo0roo
No Lifer
- Sep 21, 2002
- 64,795
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go to ikea and get more light sources, many homes with just incandescents relied on too few too high wattage/harsh light sources, bad light design regardless. cfl low wattage lets you play with more ambient/spot/task lighting even while saving energy. you should have a mix of the 3 in a room
thescreensavers
Diamond Member
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deadlyapp
Diamond Member
- Apr 25, 2004
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I'll echo what was said above. CFLs are great for long term light output, so put them where they are on most of the time. Do not put them anywhere you may have variable light, such as on a dimmer switch. It is easy to match colors based on color temperature. I have high temp (more blue) in my room but low temp (more orange) in my living room.
Get higher quality ones if possible, otherwise the lifespan will not be very good. I have some cheaper ones that have barely lasted a year in some cases. Also depends on the usage of course.
Get higher quality ones if possible, otherwise the lifespan will not be very good. I have some cheaper ones that have barely lasted a year in some cases. Also depends on the usage of course.
I picked up some bulk packs of Sylvana CFLs (60w and 100w equivalents) a while back at Costco. They have incandescent color temps (not quite as good as the GE reveal stuff) and take about 60-90 seconds to get to full brightness.
So far, they've lasted me over 6 years without a single one burning out with a set of 30 (60w+100w equivalent counts combined). I was going through GE Reveals at a rate of 1 every 2 months at my first apartment. I started to switch over right about then.
That being said, I also picked up some CFLs at WalMart once since I ran out of the 100w equivalents when I moved into my current house (lots more fixtures, and I couldn't find the same model of Sylvana again). While the color temp matched, both of those burned out in less than a year. I don't think they were a big name brand though. Just like incandescents, there's good CFLs and bad CFLs.
In the laundry room I use standard incandesents since I rarely go in there, and then I'm only in there for a brief period of time.
So far, they've lasted me over 6 years without a single one burning out with a set of 30 (60w+100w equivalent counts combined). I was going through GE Reveals at a rate of 1 every 2 months at my first apartment. I started to switch over right about then.
That being said, I also picked up some CFLs at WalMart once since I ran out of the 100w equivalents when I moved into my current house (lots more fixtures, and I couldn't find the same model of Sylvana again). While the color temp matched, both of those burned out in less than a year. I don't think they were a big name brand though. Just like incandescents, there's good CFLs and bad CFLs.
In the laundry room I use standard incandesents since I rarely go in there, and then I'm only in there for a brief period of time.
I think the CFLs are sensitive to power quality. I don't recall the brand but I have had about a dozen of them for 2 years and haven't lost one. My parents use the same brand and seem to burn through them like crazy.
Nintendesert
Diamond Member
- Mar 28, 2010
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I'm just going to keep buying incandescent bulbs from South Carolina. Fuck these CFLs and other shit light producing devices!
I actually would not recommend replacing EVERY bulb with CFL's. You just want to replace the ones that spend a lot of time on and are not switched on and off frequently. There's little point to replacing one's that are rarely used. Also one's that are switched one and off frequently (like bathrooms) will wear CFL's out MUCH quicker. Trust me I've seen a lot of evidence supporting this.
As for brand, I like Home Depot's store brand (which they seem to change the name of almost yearly). They tend to be on the cheaper side and last longer than many other's I've tried. I've had poor luck with Lights of America bulbs. Also Home Depot also seems to carry one or two CCFL bulbs. They tend to be in the very low 3-5W range but they provide a good bit of light and they last MUCH longer than regular CFL's. I like to use them in hallways and bathrooms and leave them on 24/7. My first one finally died after 4.5 years or almost 40,000 hours (double it's 20,000 hour rating).
BTW, I've had horrible luck with LED's and wouldn't even mess with them anymore. At least not till the technology improves dramatically. If you compare the lumen output and power usage of most LED bulbs to CFL's they are usually worse and they never even last as long as an incandescent for me.
As for brand, I like Home Depot's store brand (which they seem to change the name of almost yearly). They tend to be on the cheaper side and last longer than many other's I've tried. I've had poor luck with Lights of America bulbs. Also Home Depot also seems to carry one or two CCFL bulbs. They tend to be in the very low 3-5W range but they provide a good bit of light and they last MUCH longer than regular CFL's. I like to use them in hallways and bathrooms and leave them on 24/7. My first one finally died after 4.5 years or almost 40,000 hours (double it's 20,000 hour rating).
BTW, I've had horrible luck with LED's and wouldn't even mess with them anymore. At least not till the technology improves dramatically. If you compare the lumen output and power usage of most LED bulbs to CFL's they are usually worse and they never even last as long as an incandescent for me.
Brainonska511
Lifer
- Dec 10, 2005
- 26,026
- 9,497
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Tell us how you really feel
CFLs are perfectly fine if you match the light output to the application.
Nintendesert
Diamond Member
- Mar 28, 2010
- 7,761
- 5
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Tell us how you really feel
CFLs are perfectly fine if you match the light output to the application.
Do I have to color coordinate my light bulb choices to my outfits too fairy-boy?
0roo0roo
No Lifer
- Sep 21, 2002
- 64,795
- 84
- 91
well i'm sure there are perfectly good led, but the quality ones with good color temp are just ridiculously expensive, to the point where I don't think they would ever pay for themselves. only really cheap ones are blueish and harsh.
destrekor
Lifer
- Nov 18, 2005
- 28,799
- 359
- 126
Sylvania still makes incandescents in Pennsylvania, iirc.
Also, will this impact the pet industry? I have lizards, incandescents equal light and heat - I need those 100w bulbs.
zerocool84
Lifer
- Nov 11, 2004
- 36,041
- 472
- 126
I suddenly have an image of one of those fast food burger warmers from the 80's glowing red over an iguana. "What's that smell? Smells kinda like beef jerky, but with a hint of exotic."
Anyway, they're still making incandescents and will be for some time -- they just have to meet new standards as far as I know. Push comes to shove in the event they totally outlaw incandescents, they'll probably push separate radiant heater specifically designed for heating reptiles and other cold blooded animals.
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