NPR had an interesting segment on CFLs and onebillionbulbs.com. Check out the podcast of the show here.
onebillionbulbs.com is a great site that is tracking individual and group efforts to switch from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs. The following if from www.onebillionbulbs.com:
The goal of OneBillionBulbs.com is to be a catalyst for positive, meaningful environmental change by:
- educating people about the environmental and economic benefits of replacing standard incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient compact flourescent (CFL) light bulbs
- encouraging a large number of people to replace standard incandescent light bulbs with CFL light bulbs
- * persuading people that CFL light bulbs make environmental and economic sense
- * collecting, calculating and presenting pollution-reduction and energy-savings data in a fun, interesting way in order to encourage action and attract media attention
- * providing promotional tools which encourage viral and word-of-mouth growth
- * introducing a limited amount of advertising which (a) educates our site visitors about online purchase options for CFLs and other environmentally-friendly products and (b) supports the ongoing development, maintenance, hosting and promotion of OneBillionBulbs.com.
So, please check out that website and if you are a proponent of CFL's such as myself enter the number of bulbs you've switched to CFLs. The website is tracking results by state and is also keeping track of the totals energy savings in terms of CO2 emissions as well as the savings by using the more efficient CFLs. Oh, and lastly, go buy some CFLs!
2 comments:
At our house we replaced 8 light bulbs with compact flourescents 6 months ago. These were expensive, but we thought they'd last a long time. NOPE! Two are dead already, and the recycler won't take them, and we're not supposed to put them in garbage.
We learned they do last IF you leave them on for long periods--as in an office or warehouse--, but in a home thy last a LOT shorter time than an ordinary incandescent if you use them normally and turn off lights as you leave a room to save energy.
The greyish light quality is chill and makes us appear corpse-like, and rooms look cheerless and bleak. Plus you can't recycle them when they burn out, --and they've got 5 mg Hg each, which is toxic.
Anybody who thinks consumers are going embrace more than one experimental complact flourescent bulb of the type now being offered at Ikea and Wal-mart is seriously mistaken. I was stupid to buy 8 before trying one for a while.
Also these bulbs cause serious problems to lupus sufferers, and depress those who already suffer from seasonal affective light disorder. (I should know, I am subject to it) The savings aren't worth sacrificing quality of light. I can no longer read long periods by this light after dark, as it causes eyestrain.
These bulbs were thought up by clever people but they were not tested on real people. And the shortsighted failure to provided easy recycling is counterproductive as a green energy solution.
I'm not sure which brand you bought but the CFLs in our new house were there when we moved in (at least a dozen of them) and they are all still working fine. I did find that if you purchase the 13 Watt CFLs you are going to get that very dull light which you referred to. You need to check the lumens rating on the package to determine how the CFLs stack up to regular incandescent bulbs. I am happy with the light quality and brightness of the 23W CFLs from both Syvanlia and GE.
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