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By: Edna Schack

I remember the first compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) my husband brought home several years ago. My response was, “You’re kidding, aren’t you?” I had never been very fond of fluorescent lighting – it always seemed dim and flickery. But I’ve been proven wrong. If you’ve put off purchasing CFLs because of this, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. The quality of light is much improved and you’ll enjoy saving energy and lowering your electric bill. These long-term savings are why Frontier Housing provides CFLs in most lighting applications to make all of their homes more affordable to live in.

What makes CFLs more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs? Incandescent bulbs produce light by using electricity to heat up a filament inside the bulb. The filament becomes white-hot and emits light. If you’ve ever touched a lighted incandescent bulb you know much of the electric energy becomes heat rather than light, thus making incandescent bulbs relatively inefficient light-wise. CFLs, on the other hand, are much cooler to touch because most of the electrical energy is turned into light.

When you turn on a CFL, the electricity excites a vapor inside the lamp tube, producing invisible ultraviolet light. To make the invisible UV light visible, the tube is coated with phosphor that causes the light to fluoresce (hence the name - fluorescent), or become visible. Now here’s the interesting part and the part that has allowed the quality of CFL light to improve. Older fluorescent lighting used phosphors that reflected some colors differently than incandescent or natural light. Today’s CFLs are coated with phosphors that make it possible to imitate the light quality of incandescent lights and some CFLs can even approach the color of natural sunlight.

Because CFLs don’t get as hot as incandescent bulbs they use up to 75% less energy to create light. A 75W incandescent can be replaced with an 18-25W CFL. This translates into direct savings to you in energy costs. Just one CFL in place of a 75W incandescent bulb can save approximately $5/year at $.07/kWh (Kentucky’s average) and 4 hours use per day. CFLs last up to 10 times as long as incandescents; so you save time and money in not having to shop for and replace bulbs as often.

CFLs are available in a variety of sizes and types designed to be screwed into most existing light fixtures designed for incandescent bulbs. Because CFLs have lower wattages, light output, measured in lumens is important for comparison. A higher lumen rating will yield more light output. Most packages will indicate the incandescent wattage that the CFL in the package will replace. In addition to watts and lumens, I also find it helpful to pay attention to the Kelvin or K. For light similar to incandescents (2700-3000K), the terms “soft” or “warm” are often used. Bulbs rated at 3500-6500K have labels such as “natural,” “daylight” or “bright white.” These bulbs are often preferred for “task lighting” in areas such as your kitchen or workshop.

ENERGY STAR® lamps are required to include Kelvin measures beginning in December. As with other products, ENERGY STAR is a good guideline for choosing energy efficient products. www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls link There are outdoor, dimmable, and three-way CFLs available. Be sure to choose CFLs rated for these applications.

There has been much talk regarding the disposal of CFLs as they contain trace amounts of the toxic metal mercury. For this reason every effort should be made to recycle CFLs so the mercury does not end up in landfills. Home Depot has begun a free CFL recycling program; so if you are headed toward a Home Depot; bring your and your neighbor’s bulbs with you to drop off. In the meantime, continue to request appropriate local businesses and government agencies to recycle CFLs.

Energy savings can begin with changing to CFLs – both indoors and outdoors. The next step is to choose ENERGY STAR qualified fixtures as your existing lighting fixtures wear out. And, when purchasing exterior lighting fixtures consider choosing those that minimize glare and aim light where it is needed, avoiding loss of energy to unused light. Finally, if you’re buying new holiday lights, consider the new LED strings, and limit the length of time these are lighted.

October is ENERGY STAR Change a Light Change the World month. In recognition of this several Rural Electric Co-ops are offering free CFLs to members. Contact your utility co-op for more information.
 

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