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Here in California, we have to have a certain amount of CFL bulbs in proportion to incandescent. We have 6 can (recess) lights in the kitchen which work for task lighting, but the color of the CF bulbs is pretty white & stark. Is there a brand that manufacturers a warmer CF bulb -- know of one you've been happy with? Maybe something with instant on (no warm up), too?
Even "soft white" or "warm" CFL bulbs have poor color rendering index, suffer from flicker, don't dim well and in general are less than ideal
The LED bulbs that are available now generally are superior. They come to full brightness instantly, have excellent color rendering index, are available in a wide range of color temperatures, dim well and mostly flicker free. The Toshiba and Phillips brands work well for me. The lumens per watt are as good or better than CFL. The downside is cost -- plan on spending about $30-$40 per par30 recessed fixture. The light density for the screw-in bulbs is a little lower than for incandescent recessed bulbs too. If you were in a remodel situation I could recommend the integrated fixtures from WAC, they run about $220 apiece. For every four incandescent fixtures I would go with five of the WAC units. It gets expensive upfront, though with bulb life of 50000 hrs, nearly no radiated heat and lower energy consumption the payback is reasonable...
Here in California, we have to have a certain amount of CFL bulbs in proportion to incandescent.
LOL ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I moved away from Southern California 5 years ago, and I'm glad I did. I thought it was a nanny state then, but wow..
Check out the LED bulbs. I hate CFLs and won't use them in my house, but I've been trying out a few of the LED bulbs and generally like them as an alternative, even though they're ridiculously expensive, in my opinion.
I still use incandescents for the most part, though.
Even "soft white" or "warm" CFL bulbs have poor color rendering index, suffer from flicker, don't dim well and in general are less than ideal
The LED bulbs that are available now generally are superior. They come to full brightness instantly, have excellent color rendering index, are available in a wide range of color temperatures, dim well and mostly flicker free. The Toshiba and Phillips brands work well for me. The lumens per watt are as good or better than CFL. The downside is cost -- plan on spending about $30-$40 per par30 recessed fixture. The light density for the screw-in bulbs is a little lower than for incandescent recessed bulbs too. If you were in a remodel situation I could recommend the integrated fixtures from WAC, they run about $220 apiece. For every four incandescent fixtures I would go with five of the WAC units. It gets expensive upfront, though with bulb life of 50000 hrs, nearly no radiated heat and lower energy consumption the payback is reasonable...
Yep, yep, yep... LED's are great. But don't cheap out on them. The cheap ones are not going to last as long. Also, make sure to read very carefully information about LED ventilation or heat sync requirements. The life of an LED bulb is greatly reduced if not properly cooled. Most people think that because they are not a "hot" bulb, like incandescent, that they are not subject to heat issues. But they are hundreds of times more affected by small amounts of heat.
Another suggestion I'm going to make is that you use the same bulbs in all your lighting at the same level in the room...e.g. put the same bulbs in all your ceiling cans so that you get a consistent color temp in the room. If you have in cabinet or under cab lighting ... or edge lighting... then the bulbs in those other spaces can be a different color temperature, but should also be consistent among themselves.
Or if you aren't picky about color temp consistency--ignore all of this advice. Understanding color temperature is sort of like being a foodie or an audiophile. Some people can really tell the difference and others could care less.
The local Home Depot has a display with the different shades and their examples. It worked for me-well not the 1st time, I still went a bit too bright just because I was in the store. Got home and realized I needed the next level. Their ranking goes like, day light, bright light etc.
Here in California, we have to have a certain amount of CFL bulbs in proportion to incandescent. We have 6 can (recess) lights in the kitchen which work for task lighting, but the color of the CF bulbs is pretty white & stark. Is there a brand that manufacturers a warmer CF bulb -- know of one you've been happy with? Maybe something with instant on (no warm up), too?
Are there lightbulb police who come in your house and check?
Yes, California is stringent with this. Look up Title 24. No, they won't come into an established home. But ours was new construction, so an inspector comes in to make sure things are up to code. I'm told that for those building their own home, they will put in some throw away fixtures to meet code, then ripp them out and put in what they want after inspection. Nutty huh?
Anyhow, we have 6 can lights on the kitchen ceiling. They are CFL push in type bulbs (not screw in). If the fixtures were CFL screw in type, I could just switch out the bulbs to screw in incandescent. If I wanted to change the bulbs for LED (so that I can dim them), I guess I would have to replace all 6 can fixtures with an LED fixture, correct? Or are there push in type LED bulbs that would work with these fixtures?
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Are there lightbulb police who come in your house and check?
