--K
If there was one single, simple thing that we could do as a country to have a direct and significant impact on our carbon footprint and our wallets, it would be upgrading our lighting systems in our homes and businesses. This is the ultimate low hanging fruit. Lighting accounts for approximately 20% of the energy usage in our buildings. By being a little smarter about how we manage our lighting, we can cut this number by at least 50%. And of all the lighting upgrade options that are out there, switching your incandescent bulbs with CFL's is by far the easiest. If every household in America switched over to CFL's, it would be the equivalent of taking over 10 million cars off the road and it would save consumers BILLIONS of dollars (yes that is a B). This is quite possibly the biggest no-brainer of all time. So why hasn't everybody done this? Good question, and here is my official top ten list of reasons that I have heard over the years (and my rebuttals):
- CFL's take forever to come to full brightness and I don't want to trip and fall down the stairs. Twenty years ago, when CFL's first came out, they would take several minutes to come to FULL brightness, although they certainly gave out enough light initially to not be a safety issue. Today's CFL's take just a few seconds, and again, the initial output is perfectly fine.
- I have applications where CFL's don't work, such as dimmers and 3-way switches. They make CFL's specifically for these scenarios. When shopping for them, they will say right on the box if they are built to handle such applications.
- I don't like the "look" of CFL's, they don't have that warm glow that I like from the old style bulbs. Two things here. First, this is called progress folks, and with progress comes change, so suck it up and deal with it. Secondly, for those that just can't bear the thought of change, they now sell CFL's that can basically imitate the "warm glow" that an incandescent puts out. If you go shopping, you will notice that they will have some that are labeled things like "natural light" or "soft light" or "warmer light". If you can't divorce yourself from the warm glow, they make CFL's that will give you that look.
- I have lights that I turn on and off several times during the day and fluorescent lights will lose their efficiency gains in situations like that. Back in the day, this was potentially valid. But with today's smart start technology, the energy consumed by a CFL during start up is the equivalent of about 5 seconds of usage. This simply isn't the case anymore.
- They won't work outside because CFL's don't work well in the cold. If you are shopping for a bulb for the outside of your home, they have fluorescent lighting specifically rated for exterior use. The 3 outside lights that I have on my house have been burning at night for about 8 hours per night for over 4 years with no problem.
- In my kitchen or any place that I have recessed lighting, I don't like the look of the twirly bulb. They make CFL's that are shrouded by a conventional looking bulb, so now you don't have to worry about not looking sophisticated when the neighbors come over for dinner.
- They don't last as long as they say, I bought one last year and it didn't last 6 months. As with any product, you are going to get some defective products. But the bigger issue is paying attention to what you're buying. If you have two light bulbs that are truly apples to apples and one is 10% more than the other, do you always buy the cheaper one? Do you do that with all or your purchases? Like almost everything in life, you get what you pay for. If one brand is familiar like GE or Sylvania or Phillips and one is "Bob's CFL Company" but costs 15 cents less, would you really go with Bob? Really? If there was one thing to look for that will help is an Energy Star label on the package. This requires more stringent safety and quality testing and requires the manufacturer to provide at least a two year warranty. Lowest cost does not equal best value.
- They are only made in China and since I am a real American, I won't buy them. I'll buy this argument on one condition. Before you go to the store to buy your next incandescent bulb (most of which are made overseas), please discard everything in your home that is made in China. Next argument...
- I use them to also heat my home, and CFL's don't produce as much heat. I cannot think of a more inefficient way to heat a space. Seriously.
- They have mercury in them and so they are TOXIC and so I will NEVER put them in my home. This is probably the most important issue to address because it couldn't be more off base. The average CFL as 4 milligrams (mg) of mercury it. To put that in perspective, the thermometer that your mom put in your mouth when you were a kid had over 100 mg. The big disconnect in the mercury discussion is the fact that the single largest (by far) emitter of mercury into the environment is the emissions from the burning of fossil fuels (burning coal to make electricity). This is especially true in Cincinnati, where over 90% of our power comes from the burning of coal. Over the life of a CFL, the power plants will emit about 3 mg of mercury into the air. Over the life of that same CFL, if you had stayed with incandescents, the power plants would have emitted 14 mg of mercury. So let's say that you don't recycle your CFL (this will be item #11), your total emissions of mercury will be 7 mg (4+3), while if you stayed with incandescents, it would be 14 mg. If you DO recycle your CFL, the numbers are 3 mg vs 14 mg. So by transitioning to CFL's, the fact of the matter is that you will be reducing the amount of mercury going into the environment by AT LEAST HALF, and even more if you recycle the CFL.
- There is no place to properly dispose of CFL's. In Ohio, you can take them to any Home Depot and now, to any IKEA store and they will recycle them for free.
- If I break one, the Department of Homeland Security will be involved and I'll have dudes with moon suits at my place and it will bankrupt me. First, stop watching the cable news shows. Secondly, the EPA's recommendations for what to do in the event of a breakage are pretty simple. Open a window and stay out of the room for 15 minutes. Go in with a piece of duct tape and "pull up" any loose materials with the tacky side of the tape and put it in a zip lock bag and put it in the trash. No moon suits required.
- LED's are the future and I'll wait until then. Don't wait. We are probably at least 5 years away from LED's being truly ready for the residential market.
- The government is going to mandate that incandescents be phased out and so I hate the idea because they can't tell me how to live my life! Again, this is another example of where turing off the cable news would be good for your health. How many reasons do you need to see that this just makes sense, regardless of what Uncle Sam thinks about it? And oh by the way, every other major, industrialized country is phasing them out too.
Head to your local hardware store and spend a few minutes looking at what they stock and educate yourself. Your wallet and your grandchildren with thank you.
Energy Star CFL Buyer's Guide
-Mark Fisher
Update: According to Energy Star, CFL's are more energy efficient even when manufacturing is considered. This is due to the much lower energy use AND the longer life of CFL's. Here's a link...
And here's a chart that compares energy use vs production of incandescents, CFL's and LED's. Enjoy.
--K
