Do Energy Saving Light Bulbs save Electricity
Submitted by open4energy on Thu, 12/10/2009 - 22:24
I think that most of us, including me, do believe that compact fluorescent light bulbs save electricity. So as I looked for further ways to reduce the amount of energy being used in our apartment, having exhausted all the obvious areas of turning off, etc. etc. I remembered that there were still a few bulbs (twelve to be exact - "the dirty dozen") that had not been given the "full replacement" treatment.
As I write in our article Dirty Dozen arrested by Missouri Highway Patrol - CFL Bulb they were escaping "arrest" in a number of ways. Most importantly, I had not found CFL bulbs that would fit into the light fixtures of our rented apartment, and that made financial sense.
This situation came to an end last week when I stumbled upon Wholesale Bulbs (do visit their site using the banner above) and discovered exactly what I needed. As I have written before, we are called to be good stewards of ALL our resources. I consider myself to be of sober mind, financially responsible, conscious of the need to preserve our resources and not to pollute.
As I prepared to replace the old bulbs with my newly delivered CFL bulbs I wondered just how much electricity I would actually save. I have a Watts-up energy monitor, aso with a little effort I was able to hook it up into the appropriate electrical circuit (both bedrooms and the bathroom) of our apartment.
Please note that this is not something you should do yourself unless you have the correct experience working with electricity.
Here is the graph, it compares the two sets of light bulbs, each set being turned on in the same sequence, with 15 seconds between them.
X Axis - 15 second time intervals
Y Axis - Watts
Although I expected a savings, the results are quite dramatic when visualized. If it were not for the bathroom fan, which did not change, the new lights would have been saving more than 75% of the electricity of the old.
Rather than commenting, I suggest you look at the right hand side of this graph and compare it to that of the left.
There is no trickery and the axis are the same. This is what a 75% electricity saving for a regular two bedroom apartment looks like when you replace the old incandescent bulbs, with the latest T2 technology CFL bulbs.
I do suggest you look at our forum on Home Energy Lighting where we have articles on the history of CFL's, how to select a CFL and the Truth about CFL's - particularly regarding mercury, CFL disposal, Light intensity, and Buzzing.
I have noticed that the T2 A19 CFL's, with frosted glass cover (looking like a regular bulb) do take a a few moments to reach the full 800 Lumens. But I can see no issue with this "feature" - the immediate amount of light is quite adequate to see with - and the gradual increase in intensity is a pleasant reminder of how much energy I am saving.
We invite you to explore the catalog on Wholesale Bulbs web site - see their advertisements on the right hand side and at the top of our lighting pages.
As I write in our article Dirty Dozen arrested by Missouri Highway Patrol - CFL Bulb they were escaping "arrest" in a number of ways. Most importantly, I had not found CFL bulbs that would fit into the light fixtures of our rented apartment, and that made financial sense.
This situation came to an end last week when I stumbled upon Wholesale Bulbs (do visit their site using the banner above) and discovered exactly what I needed. As I have written before, we are called to be good stewards of ALL our resources. I consider myself to be of sober mind, financially responsible, conscious of the need to preserve our resources and not to pollute.
As I prepared to replace the old bulbs with my newly delivered CFL bulbs I wondered just how much electricity I would actually save. I have a Watts-up energy monitor, aso with a little effort I was able to hook it up into the appropriate electrical circuit (both bedrooms and the bathroom) of our apartment.
Please note that this is not something you should do yourself unless you have the correct experience working with electricity.
Here is the graph, it compares the two sets of light bulbs, each set being turned on in the same sequence, with 15 seconds between them.
X Axis - 15 second time intervals
Y Axis - Watts
Although I expected a savings, the results are quite dramatic when visualized. If it were not for the bathroom fan, which did not change, the new lights would have been saving more than 75% of the electricity of the old.
Rather than commenting, I suggest you look at the right hand side of this graph and compare it to that of the left.
There is no trickery and the axis are the same. This is what a 75% electricity saving for a regular two bedroom apartment looks like when you replace the old incandescent bulbs, with the latest T2 technology CFL bulbs.
I do suggest you look at our forum on Home Energy Lighting where we have articles on the history of CFL's, how to select a CFL and the Truth about CFL's - particularly regarding mercury, CFL disposal, Light intensity, and Buzzing.
I have noticed that the T2 A19 CFL's, with frosted glass cover (looking like a regular bulb) do take a a few moments to reach the full 800 Lumens. But I can see no issue with this "feature" - the immediate amount of light is quite adequate to see with - and the gradual increase in intensity is a pleasant reminder of how much energy I am saving.
We invite you to explore the catalog on Wholesale Bulbs web site - see their advertisements on the right hand side and at the top of our lighting pages.
Interesting information!
Interesting information!
2 points to remember though are power factor (taking into account power generated at power station, not showing on meter, but payable of course anyway in the bills) typically halving the supposed CFL savings, and the heat factor of ordinary bulbs, especially in temperate climates after dark, in well insulated houses.
I run through ordinary light bulb and CFL savings comparisons from http://www.ceolas.net/#li13x onwards, and heat factor at http://www.ceolas.net/#li6x including governmental/institutional references.
Savings are not as great as supposed, and in my view one should simply choose the light one prefers, but of course if savings are a priority, and one realizes how and when best to use CFLs in such a case (not switching on-off for brief periods, using more in summertime, not using in cold or rarely used locations etc) then why not...
WOW your Colas.net link is scary
WOW your Colas.net link is very scary.. you could make a good horror film using that site.
I've been using CFL bulbs since 1979 when Philips first introduced them to the UK.
Had my first Mortgage on my first house was short of money these were the way to save money on Power.
In 2009 4 houses later I removed all my CFL bulbs to replace them with LED bulbs as there even cheaper to run.
What problems did I have.. in all those years. NONE!!.
Saving the cost of the bulbs easily even when they were $15 a bulb in 1979 they originally had a 5 year warranty.
In the UK now your power company gives you 4-5 CFL bulbs free of charge.
Supermarkets now have buy one get 3 free offers... so for £0.33p you get 4 CFL bulbs thats > $0:20 for 4 CFL bulbs.
I tended to prefer Ikea CFL bulbs as they make nice variety of bulbs including spot lamps.
They also have the full variety of fittings all the sizes of ES to the standard UK bayonet fitting.
ES = Edison screw not usual used in the UK but growing.
So do they last that long! Oh yes they last for years.
As for Power factor.. ?? What!! these devices are electronic with teeny tiny inductors.
Its a bit like some one saying to you that your headphones or HiFi/PC have speakers, affect the Power Factor of the electricity you use in your home.
If the above were true every single electronic device in your house would be affecting your power factor.
Why because virtually every single electronic device you have will have a high efficiency switch mode power supply. The inductors used in those high efficiency switch mode supplies are significantly bigger than those used in a CFL bulb.
Yes I havee been a penny pinching electronics engineer for quite a long time.
It is nice to see that my daughtes have followed my example.