Brighten Your New Year…Go Green With Lighting and CFL Light Bulbs
No matter how well designed your home is poor lighting can have a negative impact on the ambience and even paint scheme. Misplaced lighting, as well as a poor choice of bulbs, can cause squinting and color schemes, and even things like food, to appear to fade into unwanted shades. One lighting source in use, and in controversy, today is the newer compact fluorescent lights called CFLs, or other wise known as “green” lighting. ‘Low-energy’ light bulbs are smaller version of the fluorescent tubes that are used in commercial settings.
In theory, CFLs use up to 75 per cent less electricity than the ‘light equivalent’ incandescent bulb, although many experts believe that even used in the correct manner, the direct energy saving may be more like 25-30 per cent than 75 per cent. Also CFLs may last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. Whether you decide to switch out a few bulbs or the entire household, indoors and out, here are a few points to consider about the new green bulbs.
LIGHT LEVELS – A CFL bulb that uses 13-18 watts supposedly produces the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb, but this is in controversy. In practice, to replace a 60-watt incandescent you need a 20-watt CFL to achieve about the same lighting level.
LIGHT QUALITY – the illumination quality from a CFL is truly a judgment call. The light is different than that of an incandescent. CFLs may appear gloomy, yellowed or dull to some people while to others it is described as soft, warm and even.
HEAT SOURCE – When considering removing all incandescent bulbs remember that incandescents actually contribute a very noticeable amount to the ambient warmth of your home. A surprisingly high 85-90 per cent of an incandescent bulb’s energy is converted into heat. Consider how many bulbs you have in your home and you can quickly deduce that a very high amount of heating is produced in the evenings when everyone is home. This additional heat can affect the air conditioning costs negatively and the heating costs positively.
ACCURATE LIFE SPAN – Since a number of factors can drastically reduce the life of your CFL bulb, thus reducing any cost advantage, it is advantageous to educate yourself on the nature of the bulb. Some things that reduce its life expectancy are:
- Turning the bulb on and off too frequently
- Using the bulb upside down because the light rises and overheats it.
- Using it in a recessed or enclosed position because of the overheating issue.
- The cold (they also take a few minutes to warm up so may not be optimal if you need quick access to a garage, chilly basement or stairwell.
- Using an incompatible incandescent dimmer system, electronic timer, motion detector or light detector
- Using them anywhere that vibration affects them
TOXICITY VS. GOING GREEN – Ironically, some of the controversy over these “greener” alternatives is caused by the fact that they contain environmentally dangerous toxins. Some people even believe they cause headaches. Because of the toxic elements they must be disposed of properly and with some inconvenience. CFL bulbs contain 5mg of mercury or approximately a pin head‘s worth of mercury. Old thermometers contained 500 mg. The instructions for clean up if you should break a CFL bulb seems ominous when you read you must open the windows and leave the room for 15 minutes, don rubber gloves and not vacuum a hard surface because it will spread the fumes. It also advises that you pick the pieces up with duct tape then wipe everything with wet towels, followed by a double-bagging ceremony. You must then drive them to a specialist recycling center.
UV RAYS – CFLs emit a small amount of ultraviolet light that should be considered when using around people with medical conditions that make them highly sensitive to UV light.
Tags: CFLs, compact fluorescent lights, energy saving, Going Green, green light bulbs, green lighting, incandescent bulbs, Lighting, Low-energy fluorescent
