House Lighting Tip #1
January 4th, 2006 . by James
Save Money with your light bulbs. How can you do this? By using Compact Flourescent Lights. These light bulbs differ from the normal Incandescent Bulbs, which glow by heating a tiny coil of Tungsten wire, in that they glow using Mercury Vapor.
These light bulbs (which look like the picture on the left) are a very energy efficient way to light certain areas of your house. I say certain areas because these bulbs are only really cost effective when used in lights that stay on for 3-4 hours or more at a time. Here are some interesting facts about these bulbs:
- Glow when the electric ballast alters the electric current in the tube, activating the Mercury Vapor
- Can use around 80% less electricity than standard Incandescent bulbs, which use most of their power by creating heat, and not light
- Can last more than 10 times longer than the standard bulbs (around 10,000 hours)
- Cost more than the standard bulb at the till, but costs less in replacement and electricity use costs – This should change as production of these bulbs increases
- Emit a LOT less heat than the standard bulbs
Here is a calculation done using this calculator on the Government of South Australia’s website:
- A 13 watt CFL bulb will give off the same amount of light as a 60W Incandescent light bulb
BUT
- It will use 78% less electricity
- It will last up to 8 times longer
- For a $20 CFL bulb, you could save $13.11 every year on your electricity bill
- It will lower Greenhouse gas Emissions by 76kg of C, which is light travelling 280km less than normal.
Safet Note:
- Even though the amount of mercury in CFL bulbs is quite low (around 4 or 5 mg), you still need to be careful when disposing of these bulbs. Especially now that these bulbs are gaining in popularity, and therefore in number.
Terrific Tips:
- I use Phillips CFL bulbs with built in day-night sensors. I can then leave one on permanently by the front door, and the light comes on automatically at night. If the light is on for 10 hours, it’s equivalent to having a normal light on for 2 hours, which you probably do anyway.
- Browse around and see what types of CFL lights are out there. New ones are being brought out very quickly due to their popularity. You never know, you might find something you like.
- If you read a lot in bed, change your lamp bulb to use the CFL bulbs instead. This way, you could save on electricity, BUT, you won’t feel as much heat being generated from your lamp. This is especially good if you live in a very warm climate…
UPDATE:
Just updating this post to link into Seth Godin’s “How many bloggers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” post. (ALMOST exactly 1 year after writing this post)
I use them, they really are great and do save a lot! But I’ve yet to find one that can replace the spotlight-type bulb in our track-lighting. =/
[...] How many marketers does it take to get you to screw in a light bulb? from 12gurus (the blog), I Do So Love Compact Fluorescent LightBulbs! from adam jusko’s bessed blog, ten things i didn’t about compact fluorescent lightbulbs until last week from MisEntropy, ten things i didn’t know about compact fluorescent lightbulbs until last week from MisEntropy, …With the bulbs you have from Clicked, Think Green Thrifty from True Story | Thoughts by Doug True, Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs from Happiness, Wellness and Healing, Seeing the Light from erniesblog, Its A Hard Habit To Break from The Happy Burro, House Lighting Tip #1 from Make a good house a GREAT home, How many Realtors to screw in lightbulb? from StarMaker Jason, A Good Idea from john t. unger studio, Let there be light! from mike brewer, You Light Up My Life (And My House) from Your Life. Organized. Motivational Speaker , Wal-Mart Is Pushing Energy Effiecient Bulbs from NeoNetMarketing, Light bulbs from DJ Orion – the diary, An energy efficient hack – literally from palegreen.co.uk, The Turn of the Bulb from The Real Estate Zebra, Why I use compact fluorescent light bulbs from Search Engine Marketing Blog from Elixir Systems, The problem with those compact fluorescent bulbs from Simon Payn’s Effective Customer Newsletters, The Curly, Cute CF Light BulbCompact Fluorescent Blubs – The two big fundamentalflaws from Taco’s Toppings, Doodley Bulbs AreSquiggly! from The Learning Curve, Screw the Future – BumperSticker from The Learning Curve, Confessions from the darkside from ÜberEye, Wal-Mart Environmentalism from Acton Institute PowerBlog, Money saving tip: fluorescent light bulbs from Adventure Money, Energize Your Business from Customer Service Experience, Fab 5 on Friday from Balanced Life Center, Glow, baby, glow: The revolution will be illuminated . . . from BloodhoundBlog, How to light up 2007 from communicatrix, A Case For Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs from Content Blog, The Blog Push for Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs from Conversion Rater – web analytics, online advertising, and website publishing., Seeing the light – New Years ResolutionsSave $66 with a Light Bulb? from jcCommerce, Why Is It So Hard to Sell CF Lightbulbs? from LandingTheDeal, Gimmie a C! Gimmie an F! from Medium & the Message, Why don’t people use Compact Florescent lightbulbs? from Here’s The Thing, Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs And The Lazy Gal from No Limits Ladies., How many bloggers does it take to shift traditional lightbulbs dominance? from Pedro’s Spot, Who doesn’t want $66? from JK’s Journal, How many bald guys does it take to screw in a light bulb? from Sly Bald Guys Forum, Save $66 per light bulb in your house from Sly Bald Guys Forum, Just one, Seth from Sparkplug 9 >> bizhack, Compact Florescent Lightbulb Packaging from The Deets, The CF Lightbulb that Could. from The Mostly Honest Truth, Do you make the same mistakes as Wal-mart and Seth Godin? from thinks, Ilu blogerów potrzeba żeby wkręcić żarówkę? from Zielone Migdały from Build A Solo Practice, LLC, from Free From Blog. [...]
I’ve been using them for the last year and have no complaints at all! Great write up.
Thanks for the compliment…!
[...] I’ve mentioned in my other article on CFL light bulbs, you can save energy by replacing your current light bulbs with the low energy bulbs. I especially [...]