Just in case you have not joined the wave.  Replacing incandescent light bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs or CFLs can save you lots of money. 90% of energy used by traditional incandescent lightbulbs is wasted as heat.

How Energy Efficient?

How does a regular incandescent bulb compare to a compact fluorescent one? CFL’s use about 66% less energy and last about 10x longer. The estimated amount of savings is up to $39 over the life of the CFL. PG&E advertises that replacing a 100 watt incandescent bulb with a 25-watt CFL will save at least $90 in energy costs over the life of the bulb. A typical house may have over 60 light bulbs.

Per the Energy Star.gov: “If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR CFL, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.”

A 60 W incandescent lightbulb can be replaced with a CFL that uses from 13 to 15 Watts of energy. LED lights would use even less energy, perhaps 12 Watts to achieve the same amount of light.

By 2012, light bulbs are required to be labeled with Light Facts that tell you their energy costs, light output, and other information.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs are falling in price everyday. Home Depot now has 23 Watt (120 Watt Equivalent) Flood Light CFLs. 14 Watt (60 watt equiv, 800 lumens) Candelabra CFLs are available.

Environmental Working Group has a new research which identified 7 bulb lines from Earthmate, Litetronics, Sylvania, Feit, MaxLite, and Philips that last a long time and have very little mercury.  Look for these when you are shopping.

Different CFLs emit different light temperatures or color of the light, measured in Kelvin (K). Cool Bright White CFLs are rated at a temperature of 3500K, while Soft White CFLs are 2700K. 3000K will resemble a halogen bulb’ s white or light. Temperatures from 5000 to 6000K resemble daylight.  Consider special Full Spectrum CFLs to beat Winter Blues

Flipping CFLs Quickly On and Off Warning

CFLs will last a lot longer if you do not turn them on and off frequently.  Leave them on if you will be back in the room within 5 minutes. Flipping a CFL on/off is the equivalent to 5 seconds of CFL ON time. CFLs will burn out quickly if not allowed to have 15 minutes between power cycling.

We recommend you do not use CFLs in motion controlled light fixtures.

Hybrid CFL – Halogen Lightbulb

To address the slow brightening of CFLs after being turned on, GE created the Energy Smart Hybrid Halogen – CFL. This bulb includes a halogen capsule inside the CFL bulb, that turns on instantly and then turns off as the CFL reaches full brightness. The down side is that this bulb has problems with rapid power cycling and has a lower life when this happens often. GE markets this lightbulb as lasting for 7.3 years and saving $48 in energy costs.

Actual lifespan of a CFL

California has subsidized the cost of compact fluorescent light bulbs so they cost an average of $1.30 versus $4 without subsidies. Analysis by PG&E for 2006 to 2008 has found an average lifespan of 6.3 years for CFL’s versus a projected useful life of 9.4 years. Field tests have shown shorter lifespans in bathrooms, recessed lighting, and when frequently turned on and off. We have read some articles claiming a 10,000 hour CFL average life span which equates to 3.5 years with 8 hours a day of usage.

EDN is reporting that some CFLs suffer from poor power factor that causes more power use. These power losses don’t show up directly on our electricity bill, but the utilities sure see the effects.

Low Temperatures

Outdoor CFL’s are not designed to work in extremely cold conditions, such as those below 0°F. Outdoor compact fluorescent light bulbs will take longer to reach full brightness in cold conditions.

Recycling CFLs

The one gotcha – CFL’s contain mercury, so you cannot simply throw them in the trash.  You need to recycle them at stores like Home Depot or Ikea. Several local hardware stores including Brownie’s in San Francisco and many Ace Hardware locations also recycle CFLs.

Also be very careful if a CFL breaks. Follow the instructions to carefully clean it up and ventilate the room for at least 15 minutes. Have people and pets leave the room, and do not let anyone walk near the broken CFL, and turn off any central forced air heating or cooling system, if needed. Consult these additional clean-up steps to properly dispose of a broken CFL.

Incandescent Bulbs are Being Phased Out

California began phasing out sales of incandescent light bulbs on January 1, 2011, while the Federal law takes effect on January 1, 2014. It will be harder to find incandescent light bulbs in the future, so CFLs are bound to become more popular by default.

New low cost LED Light Bulbs are coming soon that will surpass CFLs in efficiency.

Also read: Ways to Save Energy, Money on your Energy Bill CFL