Paul Kimbrel's Musing

I’ve been considering replacing our incandescent light bulbs with CFL’s (compact fluorescent light bulbs) for quite a while, now. After looking at the whole CFL vs. Incandescent light bulb debate on the internet, I’ve noticed there’s a lot of neigh-sayers against CFL’s.

Here’s the problems some people have noted about CFL’s:

1) CFL’s aren’t as bright.

Not true.

Yes, there are probably some brands that are not as bright, but in general, I’ve found CFL’s to be brighter. The manufacturers mark the CFL’s with their incandescent equivalent. In most cases, the CFL’s I’ve purchased have been much brighter than I expected (based on their incandescent rating). In fact, some have been too bright. One case, however, (the 20w equivalents) I noticed the bulbs were not as bright.

I’ve been using bulbs made by “Feit Electronics” (from Menard’s) and “n:Vision” (from Home Depot) mostly, as well as a few from “Sylvania” (also from Menard’s). They have all been much brighter than I expected (except for the candelabra bulbs).

Also, take note of what category of bulb you’re looking at.

- Soft White: This is the closest thing to a warm incandescent that I’ve found. I like these and they represent 95% of my bulbs.

- Bright White: The Sylvania bulbs are the only bright white bulbs I bought (since they were on sale). VERY bright. MUCH brighter than the incandescent equivalent. I actually don’t like these much. They remind me of traditional fluorescent bulbs.

- Daylight: These are supposed to mimic sunlight. They’re more expensive. I have one, and it’s nothing to write home about.

2) CFL’s can’t be dimmed.

Actually, there are some that can. However, they’re more expensive.

Look, if this is the only reason you don’t change to CFL’s, then you don’t get the point behind the switch. Really. Have a dimmer? Fine. Put CFL’s everywhere else if you can and keep the incandescent on the dimmer circuit. You can still save money.

3) CFL’s have mercury in them.

If you don’t have a recycling center that will take CFL’s in your town, don’t change. You do not want to throw these things away in the regular trash. I’m not a big environmentalist, but even I don’t want to put this kind of stuff in the landfills. But if you do, you can’t really use that as a reason not to switch. An extra trip to the recycling center is worth the savings on your electric bill.

4) CFL’s don’t come on right away and they take a while to warm up.

Yea, so? Again, it depends on the manufacturer. Mine come on in about 1/4 seconds. Whoopie. I can live with that. If that’s too long for you, you might need to lay off the caffeine.

These are not like those old circular fluorescent bulbs. Those things took, like, 3 seconds to come on. And they flickered something fierce. CFL’s do take a while to come to full brightness when they’ve been off for a while, but you can still see from the initial light.

And frankly, lights don’t get turned off nearly enough around my house to count warm-up time. That’s why I went with CFL’s in the first place. I figure if I can’t get people to turn the lights off, I can at least cut down on their power consumption.

And as an added bonus, the CFL’s in my bathroom don’t shock my system in the middle of the night. Consequently, the 60W equivalent CFL’s in my bathroom are waaaay brighter than the 60W incandescents I had in there.

5) CFL’s don’t last as long as advertised.

The jury’s out on that one for me. I just got started. If they only last a year, I won’t be happy (when they advertise a 5-7 year lifespan). But even if they last 2-3 years, I’m still ahead of the game - assuming that I pay less for power. Shoot, I was changing my incandescents (especially the candelabra bulbs) every month! Granted - not all at the same time, but bulbs were only lasting about 8 months.

6) CFL’s cause seizures.

If this is an issue for you… then don’t buy them. And avoid malls and business offices, too. I’m pretty sure they use fluorescent bulbs, too, and they’re flashing is much worse than any of the CFL’s I’ve seen.

7) CFL’s give me headaches.

When was the last time you used one? The CFL’s you can buy today are not like the ones coming out even a few years ago. And they are certainly not like the old standard fluorescent bulbs with standard light sockets from the last couple of decades. You know… those circular deals. Those even gave me headaches.

8) CFL’s don’t work well in cold weather.

Very true.

That’s why I don’t have any CFL’s outside. CFL’s are great, but not the perfect choice for every light socket. Outside - CFL’s just don’t cut the mustard (unless you live in the South).

9) CFL’s interfere with radio and hi-fi equipment.

If you listen to short wave radios, sure. But I’m guessing you listen to FM radio or watch TV. They don’t mess with signals that high in the spectrum. They might mess with AM radio, but Rush is on in the daytime, so I’m guessing it won’t matter much (no, I don’t listen to Rush).

As an amateur radio operator and a studio engineer, I can say that I’ve not experienced interference on my radio or studio equipment. But I’ve also left my radio station and my recording studio with incandescents.

Again… CFL’s are great, but not the perfect choice for every light socket.

Summary
CFL’s are not going to replace every incandescent light bulb. They’re not perfect. But with electric rates going sky-high, it’s making more financial sense to switch.

My electric bill runs about $200 a month on the budget plan (where they average out the last 12 months) and Illinois’ electric rates are practically doubling, so I had to do something. I just wish I didn’t have to wait another 12 months to see a difference, but I should get a pretty healthy credit balance on my bill if this pans out.

I’m also vehemently opposed to the government actually banning incandescents. I have enough places in my house where I don’t want any CFL’s (studio, radio shack, outdoors), that it doesn’t make practical sense to ban them out right.

But it also doesn’t make sense to write off CFL’s based on their short-comings. They certainly have their place in our homes. If we all changed the light bulbs in the fixtures we overuse, we could not only reduce our electric rates, but reduce the demand we’re placing the electric grid. I’m not exactly “Mr. Green,” but consuming less certainly won’t hurt anyone.