Home Depot will be giving away a million compact fluorescent lightbulbs on Earth Day. That's this Sunday, April 22nd, while supplies last. The Fun Times Guide To Living Green has more details.
We have not made the switch. I HATE the cool blue light of fluorescents. However, there's no excuse for my not using them in areas like the garage, the laundry, and the pantry. Maybe I can leave my table lamps incandescent and slowly wean myself from the warm yellow lights elsewhere...
10 comments:
You might want to read this before you make the switch. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55213
CFLs contain mercury. I'd suggest that you do some research on what to do if one breaks ahead of time. My older daughter broke one and before I could make it to her she had picked up the mercury laden pieces with her hands and brought them to me. I freaked a bit, grabbed them from her hands, then realized that I had to detach my breastfeeding infant without sticking mercury fingers in her mouth. So the moral of the story is keep them away from kids, know how to clean up if one breaks, and know how to dispose of them as toxic waste. For some reason these are being marketed as the best environmental thing without any warnings.
The link in the above comment is cut off. It would be interesting to see what the article says.
The mercury aspect is something I hadn't thought about, I will have to look into that, but I love how CFL's last a long time and don't give off heat. I don't use them in lamps very much because many of my lamps have 3-way or dimmer switches and those require special CFL's. But I do like them for overhead fixtures in halls, laundry room etc. and I find that they are not the cool blue of library and gym lights of old.
I also haven't considered the fact that CFL's contain mercury, as long as you follow safety precautions and keep them away from the little ones, you can minimize the risk of them getting to the bulbs. In terms of the quality of light, I have to say that I haven't really noticed a difference in the color quality. I've replaced almost all my bulbs with CFL's and we love them. For some reason, I find that these are not as blue as the traditional fluorescent lightbulbs (I'm thinking of those long ones), and CFL's more closely resemble incandescent light. A motivation to change some of these out in anyone's home is the savings in your electricity bill. We noticed a difference right away! Happy Earth Day!
Go check out the newer bulbs. They came in all sorts of flavors. In fact, the only ones that I'd say have a bluer cast are the special fuller spectrum ones we bought. The others have a yellow cast to them. We bought 3 or 4 different kinds. Here's my post about what we bought last fall http://am.paulukonisstudio.com/archives/415
I've gotten so used to them, that I barely notice some of the issues we had originally.
We made the switch very reluctantly I must say---I didn't like the Flourescent look either.
HOWEVER, it has made a HUGE difference in our bill each month. I already see the savings. We ponied up and spent the $$$ to switch out almost all the lights in the house, and the bill is showing it.
(By the way, I'm not all that keen on "going green" for the earth but instead "going green" for my pocketbook! ha!)
We have used them in some lamps where they work quite well.
For instance, when we had our family room in a basement, we kept a light on all night (for safety). We always kept one of those types of bulbs in that corner lamp. It gave just the right amount of light and I didn't feel guilty about leaving it on all night.
I'm planning on purchasing one for one of our bedroom lamps. I like to keep one lamp on at night in our room since I'm coming and going at all times and I don't like to keep turning the switch on and off (which I've read takes even more energy).
They've worked well for us but I, too, would be careful that they don't break. Of course, broken glass isn't good for anyone...much less mercury in it! :)
Love your blog/site.
LIke a previous poster mentioned, CFLs are coming in soft white lights now. My town does a hazardous waste disposal once a quarter, when you can take old fluorescents and batteries and paint ans such. Perhaps your town does the same thing.
We have the CFL's in a lot of outlets around our house. They have a warm look, though not as warm as incandescents. Two things:
One bulb stopped working, so I called Sylvania and they sent me FOUR new ones! Definitely hold them to any promises they make on the label (most do)
They are intended for a room/space that you are leaving the light on for quite a while. I don't use them in lamps for this reason- when one stops working I want to be able to say I used it properly.
:)
Both the mercury problem (thus throwing the bulb away is a bigger pain than just tossing it in the basket) aND the fact that I have not found them to last any longer than "regular" bulbs (and at their price that really hurts!) has made me disenchanted with this latest fad.
But of course you can't beat free can you?
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