Burns Best Farm

Energy Saving Light Bulbs

Catching up with the outside world today, I leafed through the latest copy of Fast Company magazine.  Once a year, Mike will get a notice from one of the airlines that his frequent flier account is about to expire and they'll offer magazine subscriptions in exchange for airline miles.  This magazine is one he chose. 

In this month's issue,  on page 74, they are running a piece on compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) or "swirl bulbs" as they are referred to by many.    Apparently, they use 75-80% less energy than a traditional incandescent bulb.  The author also states that all of the negatives the CFL's used to have (low wattage, slight noise, dull light) have been replaced and improved.

He makes the claim that if "every one of the 110 million American households bought one of these bulbs and put it in place of an ordinary 60-watt lightbulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people."

The average sale price of these bulbs is $3.00 each.  He says they pay for themselves in five months in the form of lower power bills, and the bulbs can last up to 10 years even in heavy usage fixtures.

The rest of the article goes on to do the math on how Wal-Mart is pushing these "swirls" by placing them in the ceiling fan displays at each of their stores.  W_M did the math and as a company, they save $6 million A YEAR on energy costs directly related to powering the lights inside their ceiling fan kits on display.

It's a really interesting article and I challenge you to read it in it's entirety.  I bet your main library would have the magazine in hard copy for you this month.  As this article is printed in the current issue, you have to subscribe to the magazine in order to access it online.  But by next month, the archived September issue will be free for the reading. 

I have a burned out bulb in my laudry room.  Guess what I'll be buying on my next shopping trip.

Untitled Comment

09:12, 2006-Aug-31 .. Posted by momof2

We use these and I honestly haven't noticed a savings on our electric bill but I know that's because our electric company keeps raising the rates! So, in all reality, our bill truly would be more if we weren't using them.

We bought ours in a multipack at Sam's Club. I think we got 8 bulbs for $15.xx - great price!

Untitled Comment

10:07, 2006-Aug-31 .. Posted by mommyof2

We switched all of our bulbs to these type a few years back. They are only cost-effective if they are in lamps, in an upright position. If you put them in ceiling fan fixtures, like we did, they will burn out in about the same amount of time as a regular light bulb. They also catch asian beetles on fire, the little buggers love to fly into the swirl. This smells horrible. We have since gone back to regular bulbs. This was our experience anyway.

Christy

Untitled Comment

08:00, 2006-Aug-31 .. Posted by southofthegnatline

....okay - (chest all puffed out) - my Dad has been on to these bulbs now for a l-l-l-l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-n-n-n-n-g time - so I'm guessing that makes him ahead of his time or something.........he'll be thrilled!

;-)
hkj