Comments on The Art of Engineering: Some lights are more equal than others

I do use CFL's now they really giving me a goo...

2011-03-05T15:11:54.145+02:00

I do use CFL's now they really giving me a good cut from my bills. And even though they cost more than incandescent bulbs but what are one time purchase for a long period of time and cuts off from my bills.

I've changed most of my bulbs over to CFL's, but I...

2008-04-02T17:40:00.000+02:00

I've changed most of my bulbs over to CFL's, but I've been seriously considering going back to incandescants for a while now.

The "amount of light for a given use of electricity" claim: Most CFLs claim to use only 1/5 of the electricity to produce the same amount of light, but where has this been measured? Are the candela measures the same, or simply the total flux? I tested my own perception by taking a 100W incandescant and a 20W CFL. The 100W incandescant is significantly brighter. The 20W CFL turned out to be close to a 60W incandescant. I tried with both warm and cool CFLs and found only slight differences to the perceived brightness. I have a document where it is stated that CFLs actually use about half the power of an incandescant to produce the same perceived brightness. I value my eyes, so I use a minimum of 30W to 40W when it comes to CFLs, since that approximates a 100W incandescant. Larger rooms require more.

The lifetime claim: I have yet to have a CFL last longer than an incandescant bulb. I have one sitting at home that didn't even last two months, though that one was one of the cheapies, at "only" R20 each. At 5 times the price of an incandescant (or more), they quite plainly cost more. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying more if it's helping the environment, but I don't like being lied to and my experience so far is that the lifetime claims aren't true.

Thanks Arash :)

The whole burden on the pla...

2007-05-17T13:16:00.000+02:00

Thanks Arash :)

The whole burden on the planet issue is an interesting one. I was asked elsewhere about the mercury in the bulbs (CFLs contain a small amount of mercury) and the effects of this. That led to a whole lot of reading about CFLs and mercury.

What I find interesting is the focus that most people have on carbon emissions, when there are a whole lot of other issues that go around energy saving. It turns out that more mercury is released into the air due to coal burning than the total mercury in the bulb + due to powering it.

If you recycle the bulb, the benefits are huge. I'll be writing a bit more about this soon.

Great article Duncan and thank you for inviting me...

2007-05-17T12:41:00.000+02:00

Great article Duncan and thank you for inviting me to your blog.
I too think people should start shifting to the low energy bulbs. By doing this not only you reduce the costs of your energy bills, but you also through your action also decrease the burdon on our planet.

cheerio
Arash

Comments on The Art of Engineering: Some lights are more equal than others

I do use CFL's now they really giving me a goo...

I've changed most of my bulbs over to CFL's, but I...

Thanks Arash :)The whole burden on the pla...

Great article Duncan and thank you for inviting me...

Thanks Arash :)

The whole burden on the pla...