How many SoWal'rs have converted to CFLs?

What's a CFL?

Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs..those curly things. The light is great and they've lasted for over 5 years. I light the entire outside of my house at night consuming only 117 watts of power and having over 500 watts worth of light. I have many inside, as well. I am ridding myself of incandescent bulbs by attrition. You can't use dimmers on CFLs, though. I'm waiting for LED bulbs to come down in price to place them in my dimmer circuits.

My bulbs are CFL when and where appropriate.

Shoot me for not being environmentally friendly, but I do not use them in my house in New York because that blue/white light bothers my eyes. I hate them. I do use them at the beach in certain areas that are not lit all the time, like hallways. Are they in yellow yet??

For me they are fine for shaded lamps and exterior lighting. Two of my ceiling fans are fluorescent and they work fine. It sucks if you actually see the bulb. I would never put them above my bathroom mirror. I have no problem with the look of the light, but they don't work with dimmers. Most fluorescents are not at all decorative., but they save money in the long run. I recommend them if you don't have the discipline to shut off your puckin' lights. I like my house dark, so lighting is not an issue, but for the rest of you, buy CFLs.

Shoot me for not being environmentally friendly, but I do not use them in my house in New York because that blue/white light bothers my eyes. I hate them. I do use them at the beach in certain areas that are not lit all the time, like hallways. Are they in yellow yet??

Same here.

Where I work we have made sustainability part of our mission, so the administration is trying to get renovations and new buildings LEED certified. In one newly-renovated building the lighting is very dim, and when there is no movement, the lights go off. So people have to wave their arms around every once in a while to turn the lights back on. It is very depressing to me -- it would make me sleepy to work in that building.

Brightness and light quality of CFLs have improved a lot in the past few years. Warm up time hasn't changed much.

While they are harder to justify in a home, they are incredibly easy to justify in a business.

I have about 60 PAR 20 Can lights in my office corridors that were initially loaded with new 65w Halogen bulbs when we moved in. We run these for approximately 12 hrs/day, 5 days/week. At .10 kw/hr they cost me about $20/year each to operate.

Replacement halogens cost $4-5 each and have a life of 5800 hours. Sure enough just under 2 years after we moved in, they started failing. So I could reasonably divide the cost over 2 years (Total cost of about $22.50/year each.

At the time, we found a deal on 11w CFLS that fit the same cans and have a life of 10,000 hours. They were $9 each. 11w bulbs cost me about $3.43/year to operate. This makes a total annual cost of about $5.93/year total cost to operate. I saved enough money in year 1 to fund the entire swap out of the bulbs. We swapped these out 3 years ago and so far only 1 bulb has failed.

Oddly enough, I enjoy the slow startup of the bulbs. I am often the first person in to work around 6AM and I'll grab some caffeein and then flip on all of the corridor lights and relax a minute while I watch the 'sunrise' in the office.

I did a survey of all the bulbs in my house w/guestamits of how long each bulb is used during the year. A rough estimate put total savings in switching to CFLs at around $300-$400 over my lifetime. I'm not sure it's worth it for me considering the tradeoffs.

Note, the U.S. government implemented laws in 2007 that phase out 40W-150W incandescent between 2012-2014. In 2020 the sale of all wattages are phased out.

Enjoy those incandescent while they last!

Fired Up Paint Your Own Pottery in Seaside FL could be Chelco Electric's poster child for cfl lighting use and the resulting energy cost savings.

When we bought the studio in 2006 there were over 2 dozen halogen bulbs lighting the art studio tables. The heat they generated was causing the air conditioner to run more, and the energy costs were through the roof. Between that and several kilns running daily, a $900 electric bill showed up one July.

We replaced every halogen bulb with a mix of cfl daylight and soft white bulbs as well as cfl floodlights. The Chelco electric bill dropped $200 a month. Bam!

For those who mentioned dimmer switches, costs are coming down on a new generation of dimmable cfl bulbs. And the new LED bulbs are indeed worth a look, though they're more expensive to date.

Whether you're a retail store or homeowner, the cost savings, heat reduction and longevity of compact flourescent bulbs makes the switch worth looking into.

For anyone who doubts the cost savings or light quality of cfl bulbs, stop by Fired Up Paint Your own Pottery in Seaside and take a look!

we did years ago...incandescents throw major btu's

We have all antique lighting and I am packing in a lifetime supply of incandescent lighting. I have never been able to tolerate fluorescent lighting. We do have all of our lighting on dimmers so use less that way.

True fluorescent lights are harsh. We have CFL's all over our house here and notice no difference in color. They have come a long way...

CFL's come in different colors and brightness depending on your needs. Brighter blue or outdoor lighting for an office or reading location. Standard bulbs elsewhere. They also have wattages ranging from about 11W to about 23W as I recall.

I made the switch about 4 years ago and haven't had to replace one bulb yet. I've got them in both homes in completely different environments and couldn't be happier. The initial investment was steep in comparison, but when I look back and know I haven't had to swap out one bulb yet versus how many old bulbs I would have, I feel much better for investing early.

Dimmers do NOT decrease the amount of electricity used. Dimmers have resistors which impede the flow of electricity to the bulb but that energy is still used and released in the form of heat at the dimmer switch.

edit: Just did some research AFTER I posted It appears there are newer dimmers on the market which are based on a "triac" principle and allows bulbs to cycle at less than 60Hz and do indeed use less electricity.

I guess if you are unsure if you have an older or newer dimmer is to simple feel if your dimmer switch gets warm when in use.

Not being one who likes a bright place, there are quite a few 25w and 40w bulbs at my place. Need to look the next time I'm at HD or Lowe's, because for a good while there weren't CFLs with similar light output - all were brighter.

Fired Up's experience is dramatic. I knew that incandescents made heat, and halogens even more. We once had a table lamp with an incandescent located directly under the HVAC thermostat. Took a while to figure out why we were freezing in the house, but only at night.

Are they the ones with mercury in them?

CFL's do have mercury in them...about as much as the period at the end of this sentence (I stole that!). No, you don't have to call for a HAZMAT crew if you break one, but you shouldn't toss them in the garbage either.

Here are some good instructions from GE on how to throw them away...

GE Consumer & Industrial Lighting: Ask Us: FAQs - Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

Fired Up Paint Your Own Pottery in Seaside FL could be Chelco Electric's poster child for cfl lighting use and the resulting energy cost savings.

When we bought the studio in 2006 there were over 2 dozen halogen bulbs lighting the art studio tables. The heat they generated was causing the air conditioner to run more, and the energy costs were through the roof. Between that and several kilns running daily, a $900 electric bill showed up one July.

We replaced every halogen bulb with a mix of cfl daylight and soft white bulbs as well as cfl floodlights. The Chelco electric bill dropped $200 a month. Bam!

For those who mentioned dimmer switches, costs are coming down on a new generation of dimmable cfl bulbs. And the new LED bulbs are indeed worth a look, though they're more expensive to date.

Whether you're a retail store or homeowner, the cost savings, heat reduction and longevity of compact flourescent bulbs makes the switch worth looking into.

For anyone who doubts the cost savings or light quality of cfl bulbs, stop by Fired Up Paint Your own Pottery in Seaside and take a look!

You guys rock for so many reasons--just added one more! beautiful space and enough light to make beautiful art--Grandma just needs a few lessons--the grandkids are showing me up!

CFL's do have mercury in them...about as much as the period at the end of this sentence (I stole that!). No, you don't have to call for a HAZMAT crew if you break one, but you shouldn't toss them in the garbage either.

Here are some good instructions from GE on how to throw them away...

GE Consumer & Industrial Lighting: Ask Us: FAQs - Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

Thanks I had wondered how to dispose of them properly especially the part about opening the windows to air the room out. Would have never thought about doing that.

I started replacing my burnt out bulbs with CFLs about a year ago. Only difference I can tell is that there is a slight warmup time. They all go in fixtures w/ shades, so maybe that is why I don't really notice any difference.

Also they put out dirty electricity

YouTube - Dirty Electricity - Part 1 - Rays of Rash

LED is the way to go. They not only save money, but will likely outlast you, your home, and the current coastline. You do have to get used to the difference in light as it is actually white. Similar to the "blue" headlights you've seen on the road.

That light hurts my eyes. Oncoming headlights with LEDs are bad for me-just like having your headlights on bright.

That light hurts my eyes. Oncoming headlights with LEDs are bad for me-just like having your headlights on bright.

Standard ones aren't that bad, it's the people that go out and get the souped up ones to compensate for less easily improved things.