Yes, I use CFLs in any room where the lights are on for longer durations of time. I believe 20min continuous is the rule, something to do with it taking a lot of power to start the fluorescent tube glowing. Ms Dawn would know more though. She's probably the resident expert on all things fluorescent.
Originally posted by: dug777
I don't like the light they give
Recessed halogen spotlights all the way
Try a different color temperature.
They range at least from 3000k to 6500k. I like the daylight CFLs, which are 5500k - 6500k. You also need to get fluorescents with a high color rendering index. The closer to 100, the better. I have regular 4' fluorescent tubes back home, Philips brand, with a color temp of 6500k and a CRI of 85. Best fluorescent light I've ever seen.
Originally posted by: desy
I've changed over most of the commom used lights to them .
Now I don't feel so bad when my kids leave the lights on all over the place. Used to be 300W they were wasting now its 75W.
I don't think they work well in the cold? So my garage is still regular and I have some drop down pendant lights in the kitchen that would look goofy with the twisty bulb in there so I just lowered those from 100's to 75's.
But at least try to get them into the habit of turning stuff off. Even if it uses less power, it still does waste energy.
If they're in the habit of turning things off, they won't have to deal with people like me when they're sharing an apartment in college. People like me, who don't like wasting electricity on lights which remain on when no one's going to be in the apartment for most of the day.
Originally posted by: dullard
Also, remember that energy produced by normal bulbs heats your house in the winter so you don't need to run your furnace as much.
Electric heat is one of the most expensive ways of producing heat. It's exceptionally efficient, but electricity just doesn't produce very many BTU's for the money.
Run CFLs, and you can save the money (and energy) that'd go into those inefficient normal bulbs, and put it towards fuel which provides heat for less money than electricity.
I still wish they came on instantly.
They do, at least the newer ones. It might be advertised somewhere on the packaging. I've gotten Commercial Light brand CFLs from Home Depot, and they're instant-on, as well as the new brand that they have now.
Plus, when I show people how wonderful they are, they often judge based upon the dimmer warm-up minute and hate the bulbs.
True, even the instant-on CFLs require a warm-up period. I view it as a nice way to avoid getting your retinas cooked by a super-bright light. Instead your irises get a chance to constrict as the CFL warms up.
That said, True high intensity LEDs are the light bulb of the future. They will be far superior to CFL bulbs.
I hear that white LEDs are actually about as efficient as halogen bulbs. LEDs are viewed as efficient I believe because they are more controllable, and because of the control circuitry which often accompanies them, they can suck more power out of a battery, and thus get more usable life per battery. Colored LEDs however are far more efficient than a filtered white light, because they only produce the wavelength which is needed.
The big benefit I see to LEDs is their longevity. 100,000 hours, and they'll be at 1/2 of their original output. And I don't think that they suffer the same problem of stressful power-ons that fluorescents suffer from.
Originally posted by: sdifox
I have CFL all around. Dollarama has Sunbeam CFL for 1 dollar each, I think they are either 9 or 11watt ones, bright enough for me.
:Q
Your eyes must make you look like a lemur! Damn.....I like my CFLs to be 23W.
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