OT--lights out for the planet

The new fluorescent, energy-saving bulbs take ages to warm up and even when running normally give out less light than old-style incandescent bulbs; the quality of the light is different too. See and . In the film "Mr Blandings builds his dream house" (1948) Cary Grant switches on a very low wattage bulb in the cellar and remarks "That's not a light, that's a dark". Unfortunately I cannot find that particular quote amongst those at Bruce

I had the same experience when, in a penny-pinching measure, I replaced my Verilux with a Reveal of the same wattage. Now, admittedly, I don't have the right meters to say this with scientific precision, but it seemed to me that the 60W Verilux was notably brighter than the 60W Reveal. They're both supposed to be "true color" bulbs, so it shouldn't have been that one's whiter and one's yellower (or something like that).

In heavy usage over my stitchy spot, I went through a whole four-pack of Reveal in less time than it took a single Verilux to burn out. I find that the Verilux last over a year, and that's being on 8-10-12 hours a day.

I`m with you, Marg - we have ALL low energy bulbs both inside the house and the garage and exterior lights (which are motion-detector operated). Our electricity consumption went down significantly and we use no more gas for the heating than previously! When I`m stitching I only have my stitching lamp on and turn all the other lights off.

Quite often you`re better putting on an extra sweater than turning the heating up, although I can`t persuade DH to do this! Mind you, he doesn`t feel the cold as much as I do.

One of our major problems here is the vast amount of landfill needed. Now we have had the recycling bins delivered, it`s amazing how little of our garbage now goes to landfill each week - at least three quarters of it is recyclable. You just don`t realise until you start taking it seriously.

Pat

Where on earth are you getting your fluorescents? Ours do increase in brightness - but they only take a couple of seconds at the most - neither do they hum - and I have ears like a rat!

Pat

I just did a count up, and I have 12 large candles ( some perfumed!) on a shelf in the "computer room", plus three large boxes of matches so I know exactly where to find them. I`ve kept a box of ordinary candles in the hall cupboard for simply years. We don`t often get power cuts, but I`ve always been glad of the candles etc. whenever we do. I have one small battery powered radio, which is a Godsend on such occasions,too.

Pat

I've tried several different makes of energy-saving bulbs. Some are better than others but even the best (made by Phillips) don't seem as bright as their incandescent equivalent. Bruce

I agree that they`re never as bright as they maintain on the package - so we just get a higher wattage up to compensate. They still use much less power than any value incandescant.

To be honest, I think that we used to use miuch brighter lights than we actually needed in many situations - hall lights, for instance, where you only really need enough light to see your way and not fall over anything.

Pat

Some of them do take a little bit to come to full brightness, but it really isn't "ages". And the newer ones take no appreciable time. As far as being less bright, you buy the equivalent - IIRC 48 watt fluorescent are equivalent to 60 watt incandescent.

I have two in my bedside light; it's one of those lights where you can have one, or the other bulb lit or both. I find for reading in bed, all I need is one.

As for flicker and noise - I used to be able to hear (and see) this from old commercial fluorescents at work. I could also sometimes hear the 60 cycle hum from my computer. Most women have more acute hearing in the upper ranges - one of the reasons for being able to hear the annoying hum. And if you are old enough to remember when they standardized power supply (at least in North America) you may be able to remember the old

(As an aside, in Ontario, when the province moved to standardize power delivery, the company came through and replaced all motors in electrical appliances free of charge.)

When I first started buying compact fluorescents they were about $19-$25 a bulb (yikes). They are now running at $10-20 per pack of three (depending on wattage).

MargW

Thanks for the answer. I loved that move (in my opinion anything with Cary Grant is a great movie) but don't remember that line at all. I guess it didn't make much of an impression on me.

I use the energy saving bulbs in most of my lamps and in my opinion the difference is negligible. Especially since I use my Ott light when it's dark and that work nicely.

Lucille

I'm not sure which compact fluorescents you're buying, but the current generation available here in Ontario don't take any longer to warm up than do incandescent bulbs.