Post by bunkie on Apr 5, 2012 10:42:35 GMT -5
CFL Fluorescent Light Bulbs: More Hype Than Value
lewrockwell.com/orig13/wheaton2.1.1.html
I used to like fluorescent lights and then I changed my mind.
As the years passed, I found more and more folks like me, and more and more reasons to be uncomfortable with fluorescent lights. When some people see that I don't use them, they try to tell me about how great they are. When I try to explain why I prefer incandescent, I nearly always get a dismissive wave – signaling that I am clearly a fool and whatever tripe I am about to utter is clearly not worth their time. This article represents a glimpse into that tripe.
If you leave all of the lightbulbs in your house on 24/7, then replacing all of the incandescent light bulbs in your house with CFL light bulbs will save you money. For people that typically leave lights off when not in use, it turns out that incandescent light is cheaper than fluorescent light – the exact opposite of what we have been told all these years.
With a little knowledge, you can stop wasting money on CFLs. Both in the short term and the long term. The long term stuff includes tax issues and the toxicity tie-in which leads to superfund cleanups and medical bills.
In a nutshell:
CFLs do not last as long as is claimed
Many CFLs provide 42% less light than claimed
CFLs put out 20% to 30% less light as they get older
With these three things alone, I will make a rock solid case of how incandescent lights are cheaper than CFL. But there's more:
CFLs are subsidized to make them appear cheaper
the toxicity of a CFL is downplayed
there are better ways to save electricity than fiddling with bulb type
There are incandescent bulbs that are claimed to last longer than fluorescents
There are new incandescents coming out that give off more light per watt
CFL bulb longevity
Supposedly, a fluorescent light bulb will last ten times longer than an incandescent. It says so right on the box. When my CFL bulbs seemed to burn out faster than my incandescent bulbs, I thought I was doing something wrong or I had bad batch of bulbs. Most of the people I visited with about CFLs reported that they were experiencing something similar. So I started to do more research.....
that's what was happening with our bulbs...
lewrockwell.com/orig13/wheaton2.1.1.html
I used to like fluorescent lights and then I changed my mind.
As the years passed, I found more and more folks like me, and more and more reasons to be uncomfortable with fluorescent lights. When some people see that I don't use them, they try to tell me about how great they are. When I try to explain why I prefer incandescent, I nearly always get a dismissive wave – signaling that I am clearly a fool and whatever tripe I am about to utter is clearly not worth their time. This article represents a glimpse into that tripe.
If you leave all of the lightbulbs in your house on 24/7, then replacing all of the incandescent light bulbs in your house with CFL light bulbs will save you money. For people that typically leave lights off when not in use, it turns out that incandescent light is cheaper than fluorescent light – the exact opposite of what we have been told all these years.
With a little knowledge, you can stop wasting money on CFLs. Both in the short term and the long term. The long term stuff includes tax issues and the toxicity tie-in which leads to superfund cleanups and medical bills.
In a nutshell:
CFLs do not last as long as is claimed
Many CFLs provide 42% less light than claimed
CFLs put out 20% to 30% less light as they get older
With these three things alone, I will make a rock solid case of how incandescent lights are cheaper than CFL. But there's more:
CFLs are subsidized to make them appear cheaper
the toxicity of a CFL is downplayed
there are better ways to save electricity than fiddling with bulb type
There are incandescent bulbs that are claimed to last longer than fluorescents
There are new incandescents coming out that give off more light per watt
CFL bulb longevity
Supposedly, a fluorescent light bulb will last ten times longer than an incandescent. It says so right on the box. When my CFL bulbs seemed to burn out faster than my incandescent bulbs, I thought I was doing something wrong or I had bad batch of bulbs. Most of the people I visited with about CFLs reported that they were experiencing something similar. So I started to do more research.....
that's what was happening with our bulbs...
they claimed on the box...... Honestly, I think the CFLs last about the same or a little less than the incandescent bulbs. And they sure cost more!
