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i find the problem with cfl is the way the light disperses in the room. it usually sucks. most fixtures and reflectors are designed to focus and spread a point source of light like a regular light bulb.
the cfl isnt a point source and because of it the light usually disperses poorly around the room looking dimmer and duller as well as hard to read under sometimes..
ps ,,im a distributor of those lamps but non the less thats my opinion.......
CLFs contain mercury. Sure, as someone stated in this thread, stores will take them back. But I'm going to guess that 95% (or more) of people will toss them in the trash. (Unless there's a deposit!!)
Fluorescents flicker. No, this is not a 'green' issue. But for some, this causes headaches and worse.
While fluorescens last longer than incandecents, over their lifetime, they dim.
They're not cheap to purchase.
Are the bulbs REALLY so much more efficient?!
Of course, the inefficinecy is related to the production of infra-red light---heat---but are they REALLY so much better?? And what about LEDs? Aren't they even more efficient??
Recycling them is a pain. We do it because we own a janitorial company and we can put the costs into our business.
We find a very common wattage at our local Grocery Outlet 4 for a buck..... that's pretty cheap.
As to efficiency -- all I can say is when we did out kitchen remodel, we were forced to put in some fluorescent only fixtures and we decided if they were so great, we'd change out all our incandescents in one fell swoop.
Our electric bill dropped like a stone. Aside from TV, computer and washer, our electic is lighting.
We found is some instances, incandescent was better for the reach of the light -- bright at the source but sit and read from it a few feet away and you'll be suffereing eyestrain.
And LEDs will be the way to go, when they get there. Those lights aren't there yet. They are cooler and last much longer than fluorescents. But they don't throw much light at all yet....
Another fan of them because the bulbs seem to be far more durable than incadesents. We live just down the way from an AF bombing and test range, and were pretty much replacing porch and garage lights monthly, and other incads far more frequently than we should be. We suspect that the reason was that the filaments kept getting vibrated loose from the rest of the bulb.
Since mostly switching over, it's amazing how many fewer lightbulbs we go through in a month or year.
Just when you have gotten used to the idea of CFL bulbs they will be made obsolete by LED lamps and luminaires (technical term for lighting fixtures). I saw one which has special diffusers so you don't see a lot of dots and it claims 33% reduction in power use as well as 4 times the lamp life. Not as big an improvement as going from incandescent to CFL, but significant. The difference in initial cost is still large so they won't be adopted right away.
Not all incandescent bulbs will become illegal. There are several exceptions. The standard A-type will no longer be manufactured, but special halogen replacements will. They will be more expensive by about $2 but save $3 in electric costs over the lifetime of the bulb. Not as efficient as CFL but a good substitute for those who don't want to give up incandescent.No ban on incandescent light bulbs | StarTribune.com
No, you're not going to save any money using these things. They cost more money to buy, and they burn out quicker than incandescent. I've used them...I know. Seems they forgot to tell us that if you want to turn your lights on and off, the bulbs won't last.
Between that and the cost to all of us for proper disposal...and the danger of having these bulbs all over the house...and the health hazard of mercury everywhere...poorer lighting affecting our vision, causing headaches, etc.....this is costing us plenty.
Our government should be banned...not lightbulbs.
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