I've told you that we have used fluorescent light bulbs for years.   We started using them because of the difference in life - in other words, I'm too lazy to change a bulb.   But since they're all the rage these days, I decided to look a little further into this new solution to the world's problems.

If you want to replace your standard 100 watt bulb, the CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs you want are 23 watt ones.   Home Depot sells them for $8 plus tax, so rounding it off a bit, I'd call them an 8 buck per unit investment.   You can find them for cheaper in places but it is hardly worth the effort to hunt down price specials for something like this.   Your standard bulb costs 50 cents including tax and is available just about any place at or near that price including the grocery store, convenience store, etc.   So the price ratio is $8.00 vs. $.50.

But the CFL bulbs will last a lot longer than the standard.   My experience is the CFL will last about as long as 3-5 of the regular kind.   Many web sites and information leaflets claim they last as long as 10 regular bulbs but for whatever the reason, we don't find that to be true.   It may be our tendency to leave these lights on since they last longer and cost less to operate.   So after you factor in my personal experience with the CFL, the price differential should be adjusted as follows: CFL $8 / old bulb (5 times $.50) $2.50.   One web site I saw said the CFL will save you about $6.57 per year so the net savings in my real world circumstance is $2.50 plus $6.57 minus $8 for a grand total of about $1.07 per bulb per year.   That's not hay since we have almost 50 bulbs around our space.   I'll take it and we can use our windfall to go out to Applebees.   But it turns out not to be so simple.

We can't use the CFl on dimmers - that causes a fire hazard.   That removes 6 bulbs from the replacement population.   It also turns out that CF bulbs' lumens output is very temperature dependent.   That removes another 5 bulbs from my list.   It also turns out that my cheapy photo control is not suitable for use with CFLs.   You need a special one for that - two more bulbs gone.   Mechanical timers are also a problem.   Either the timer or the bulb is destined to die prematurely.   Two more bulbs gone.   So in the end, it turns out that only about 35 are susceptible to being replaced.   My savings are down to $35 and unless I want to go for one of the special and skip the beer, it looks like we won;t be hitting Applebees after all.

I will certainly continue to use CFLs.   Nothing in my analysis refutes the fact that you ain't gotta change 'em as frequently.   That's why I got them in the first place.   I'd use CFLs even if there was an impending ice age and using fosil fuels was mandated by big brother.   But let's stop telling lies about how easy and convenient they are to use and about how much money and energy we'd be saving if we outlawed the old kind of bulbs.   That is a crock of horse shit.

Labels: environment