Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Standard incandescent bulb compared to two different styles of CFLs

Note the new smaller style of CFL in the picture above. The CFL in the middle is the new size that now matches those of incandescent bulbs.

You might be wondering how in the world compact fluorescents work in comparison to the incandescent bulbs we grew up with.

To keep things from getting too technical here I will keep this comparison brief.

Incandescent Bulbs produce light by using electricity to heat a filament (that really small wire that breaks when a bulb blows/burns out) which glows and produces light when it is hot. As much as 90% of the energy that incandescent bulbs use is lost through the heat created by the filament.

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs are a gas filled tube that uses a chemical reaction to produce light. The chemical reaction requires much less energy to produce light and thus creates very little heat.

So Compact Fluorescent Bulbs use less electricity and create less heat to produce the same light of an Incandescent Bulb.

When I was first purchasing compact fluorescent bulbs I had to scan all over the packaging in order to see how to get the same light output in a CFL as I had with an incandescent bulb.

Here is a quick reference guide:

Incandescent Bulb = CFL Equivalent
60w = 13w-15w
75w = 20w
100w = 26w-29w
150w = 38w-42w

Since a CFL bulb uses less energy than an incandescent bulb you can get more light out of fixtures. Say you want to replace a light in the kitchen and the fixture states that you cannot exceed 60 watts. You can replace the 60w incandescent with a 42w CFL and get more light without exceeding the fixtures wattage limitation.

Much has been made about the trace amount of mercury that is in a compact fluorescent bulb. There was even a false story about a lady in Maine who received an estimate of $2,000 from a hazmat cleaning company to clean up one broken CFL.

The amount of mercury in a CFL is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. It is about 1/100 of the amount of mercury in a household thermometer.

A CFL that is not broken/cracked does not pose a health risk. A CFL bulb should be disposed of at a local hazardous waste collection location.

If a CFL Breaks

1. Do Not inhale the vapor


2. Do Not use a vacuum for cleanup. This increases the fumes and your risk.


3. Obviously you want to sweep the pieces with a broom - not your hand.


4. Clean up the the glass with a damp rag or towel and place the contents in a plastic bag and seal it.

Take the broken remains to your local collection point for hazardous household waste.

UPDATE:
IKEA now accepts used CFLs via recycle bins at all of their stores. The CFLs are accepted at no cost to you.

To find out where to dispose of CFLs in your state, visit www.lamprecycle.org.

When in doubt, check with earth911.org for more information.

Just in the couple of years since I began replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents there have been leaps and bounds in the technology. This has helped to practically eliminate any differences between the performance of compact fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs.

The most noticeable (and one I am most thankful for) is that they are finally making compact fluorescent Bulbs smaller so they are no larger than the old incandescent bulbs.

The newer CFL on the left is much smaller than the old style CFL on the right.

The first time I bought some compact fluorescent bulbs I couldn't install them in a couple of lamps because they were quite a bit larger than the incandescent bulbs. They simply would not fit under the lamp shade.

Another nice feature that compact fluorescent bulbs now have is that you can now purchase "dimmable" bulbs. This lets you expand the light fixtures that you can swap out the old incandescent bulbs with.

In addition to dimmable CFLs there are also now 3-way CFLs. It is not recommended to replace 3-way or dimmable incandescent bulbs with regular CFLs.

See the nice soft light now available instead of the old "harsh" light fluorescents have been known for.

I prefer to buy the "soft white" style of compact fluorescent light bulbs. I have found that the "daylight" style gives a harsh blue tinted light. The bulb in the lamp picture above is a "soft white" style bulb.

I generally try and get the 26w-29w range when replacing 100w incandescent bulbs. I am thinking of getting a compact fluorescent in the 38w-42w range just to compare the brightness and see if I like the light.