Light Bulb Alternatives for NH (home, transfer, to buy)

[BF66389]

In an effort to save $$$ my wife and I switched most of our bulbs over to CFL technology after moving in. Since we took the time to pick high quality CFL bulbs this has been great for saving us electric $$$ and the environment in MOST cases.

Now I know mercury is in CFLs, but with research you can buy bulbs with lower levels (most are now anyway) and disposing of them properly is not that big a deal...

But there are 3 "issues" with CFLs we can't really get over:
1) The dimmable bulbs are "so-so" in dimmers.
2) They actually require the generation of about 2x their rated input power; not sure why/how it works but apparently while you only realize the need (and pay for) for say, 20W per bulb- due to the load on the system the power company has to generate ~40W; still a big savings over a normal bulb though. But not AS big of a reduction on the grid/environment as you think.
3) Even instant on/fast warm-up bulbs take AWHILE to warm up in the NH Winter outdoors...meaning if I want to take my dog out or play in the snow at night in February...I'm switching my lights on 10 minutes earlier.

Well apparently there is an alternative out now from Phillips called Halogena. It's not meant to replace the CFL bulbs for maximum energy efficiency in indoor/warm and non-dimming applications; CFLs are still much more efficient. But by re-designing the incandescent lightbulb slightly (they put extra glass inside to reflect heat back to the filament/increase its efficiency) they have made normal incandescent bulbs more efficient- examble being that their bulb that uses 40w...replaces a 60w normal technology incandescent. They are also instant-on, fully-dimable, and with no mercury. Life expectency is about 2x that of a normal bulb due to the design. Essentially it functions just like a normal light bulb, but due to a more efficient design that re-uses some of the heat from the filament to emit more light...uses 30-50% less energy.

In short, if you've run into limitations of CFL bulbs in your NH home...you may want to give the new Phillips Halogena bulbs a shot. I'm sure some alternatives with similar tech may be coming out as well.

[lisa g]

Thanks for the recommendation. I will *never* use fluorescent bulbs here - and have a literal stockpile of Sylvania daylight/full spectrum bulbs in a variety of wattages. I will try out the Phillips Halogena. Another decent incandescent option will be a welcomed addition to my collection. Hoping never to be out of my beloved incandescents during my lifetime.

[BF66389]

Originally Posted by lisa g

Thanks for the recommendation. I will *never* use fluorescent bulbs here - and have a literal stockpile of Sylvania daylight/full spectrum bulbs in a variety of wattages. I will try out the Phillips Halogena. Another decent incandescent option will be a welcomed addition to my collection. Hoping never to be out of my beloved incandescents during my lifetime.

I don't think you have to worry about it; this new technology is incredibly promising as are some other technologies coming on the market that address CFL's shortcomings.

I like fluorescent tubes for our garage/laundry room, etc and the CFL bulbs for some of our hallway fixtures (covered in cloudy glass) but haven't really been a fan of them outdoors, in places with dimmers, or in places where the bulb is visible.
We also spent time to research the proper bulbs to buy for the right light spectrum, low mercury, and no flicker- which many people don't and end up with hideous blue lighting that flickers enough to be bothersome; there are HUGE differences in the bulbs/quality.

Either way- I'm pretty psyched; I'm a big fan of matching lighting to the area/tasks...and this will fill a BIG nitch until something better comes out.

[GraniteStater]

I have to respectfully disagree. I am waiting for the LED lighting technology to get better and the prices to decline. LEDs are about 97% more energy efficient than incandescent light bulbs. Old style incandscents are dinosaurs.
Oh, CFLs contain very little mercury at all compared to the overhead flourscent fixtures that contain tubes.
The transfer station in my area accepts CFLs as household hazardous waste- so they can be recycled. Unfortunately, many are lazy and don't recycle them- so it can be a problem.

"They actually require the generation of about 2x their rated input power; not sure why/how it works but apparently while you only realize the need (and pay for) for say, 20W per bulb- due to the load on the system the power company has to generate ~40W; still a big savings over a normal bulb though. But not AS big of a reduction on the grid/environment as you think."

I have never heard of this. If you could provide me a link that would be great. The largest contributor in terms of mercury emissions are still coal fired power plants.

[BF66389]

I too am excited about LEDs! Did you know you can find lower mercury tubes now as well? We don't have many of them but there are some alternatives to be found.

What I like is this new technology gives me a lower-power alternative for my outdoor lights, dimmers, and very visible bulbs... So now I can reduce the power consumption of ALL of my light fixtures- rather than just some of them.

As for power factor:

Here's info on the "power factor": Power factor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And here's an article about it: Utilities suffer from CFLs’ poor power factor - PowerSource - Blog on EDN - 1470000147

[yinduffy]

We looked around our home and saw that the only lights that would be left on long enough at a time to justify switching to CFLs was the overhead in the kitchen. All other lights are only used briefly.

[NewNHguy]

Just an FYI folks;

I have been a firefighter for 20+ years, and chief of department for the last 6:

We go to more calls with the "smell of something burning in the home", caused by these CFL bulbs more and more. Check your bulbs. If you see where the bulb's glass tubes enter the base, look for signs of seperation and discoloring/burning. We had seven calls like this just last week.

I'm wondering, if the bulb is getting hot enough to crack or seperate the glass tube from the base, is it getting hot enough to release mercury vapor into your home?

I'll look into the new Halogenas, but have removed every CFL bulb from my home.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by NewNHguy

Just an FYI folks;

I have been a firefighter for 20+ years, and chief of department for the last 6:

We go to more calls with the "smell of something burning in the home", caused by these CFL bulbs more and more. Check your bulbs. If you see where the bulb's glass tubes enter the base, look for signs of seperation and discoloring/burning. We had seven calls like this just last week.

I'm wondering, if the bulb is getting hot enough to crack or seperate the glass tube from the base, is it getting hot enough to release mercury vapor into your home?

I'll look into the new Halogenas, but have removed every CFL bulb from my home.

LEDs will be the way to go in the future IMO.

[NewNHguy]

We use LED, Gen three on all of our apparatus. Amperage draw is minimul, light output is incredible. Indoor use I am sure is just aroubnd the corner, considering the average life of a gen3 LED is 100,000 hours+

The biggest issue to deal with to use them indoors would be the transformer that would have to convert the A/C, to D/C, to power the
modules.

[BF66389]

NewNHguy- have you taken note of the types of bulbs affected? I've noticed HUGE quality differences between CFL bulbs. Those almost-no-name value packs seem to be made of much lower grade plastics with no reinforcement structure for the bulb whereas some higher end Phillips units seem to be much more sturdy.