Switching to CFLs?

Question

What uses less energy - Swapping out all of your lightbulbs at once and replacing them with CFLs (and throwing out all of the old energy guzzling lightbulbs that still work in the process) OR using the old energy guzzling bulbs until they burn out and replacing them with CFLs 1 by 1?

Answer 1

CFL's take the quarter of the watts to be as efficient as "regular" light bulbs and they last four times longer (or more). Their initial cost is about 5x the cost of a "normal" light bulb though.

However since a CFL doesn't emit heat it does not "heat" your home in the winter, you do save that in summer by not having to run the AC as much though! (An incandescent light bulb radiates heat slightly more than a human being!)

Really the choice is yours but the initial cost of replacing everything at once can be a little nick in the wallet compared to the short-term gain on your electricity bill and personally I hate throwing away stuff that still works.

*I included a link on how to clean up if you break one of the bulbs, it's not daunting but I'd rather not have pets, kids (or even adults) get mercury-related problems (such as our friend, Mr Cancer).

Answer 2

I would wait. There are several reasons including if you replace perfectly good bulbs with CFLs, you will be contributing to the local landfill.

If you purchase CFLs one or two at a time (whatever comes in a pack), then you will minimize your contribution to the environment.

How much energy will it take for you to drive to the store? Is that offset by the savings of your CFL? Only if you are replacing a bulb that stays on all the time.

Assuming it cost $0.10 / Kilowatt Hour of electricity, a 100 watt bulb, on for 1 hour will cost $0.01 per hour. And if you replace it with a 24 watt CFL that says it is rated the same as a 100 watt bulb (I think the real output will be about 1/2), the you are going to incur a cost of less than $0.01 per hour.

If you know what the cost of the CFL is, then you can calculate how many hours it will take for it to pay for itself (and then start saving you money). Assuming the cost is $5.00. You find that it will take 500 hours of light to break even. If you leave your light on for 3 solid hours per day, it would take you 167 days (or 5.5 months) to break even.

So, you see: A true analysis of the results indicates that the hype associated with the CFL is put out by those that must make the CFL. Cause the numbers ain't that good. And when you have to add an additional lamp to compensate for the poor light output, those numbers are even worse.

Factor in the mercury in the CFL (you do NOT want to call your department of environmental quality or an emergency response contractor to abate the mercury spill if you do break a bulb), then the environmental impact or risk to you is even worse than is stated.

If you must use CFLs, it is only prudent to wait to replace them.

Answer 3

It's not even close. Dumping the old bulbs is the best strategy. They use less than half as much power.

The exception is bulbs that you use only rarely.

The outlandish stories about mercury are just "urban legends". Conventional fluorescent bulbs contain 2-10 times as much mercury and are easier to break. Why wasn't that a nightmare? Here's the real story:

If you're concerned about keeping mercury out of the environment you should immediately switch all your bulbs to compact fluorescents. Using compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) actually reduces mercury pollution.

Fossil fuels contain mercury. Using incandescent bulbs causes more mercury to be emitted from power plants. More than the tiny amount (0.005 grams or less) that is in a CFL.

It's better if you dispose of old CFLs properly so that even the tiny amount of mercury is not released. But, no matter how they're disposed of, CFLs reduce mercury pollution. It's far more important to dispose of regular fluorescent bulbs carefully, and so, most cities have a special program for those, which can also be used for CFLs.

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/sustainable/Powerplay%20articles/16Powerplay.Mercury.CFL.html

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp

The links also explain how to clean up a broken bulb yourself. It's not that hard.

Answer 4

With CFLs you have to make a decision between two choices.

One: Save energy over using regular light bulbs. However this will cost you extra bucks.

Two: Use regular bulbs and preserve the environment. Many people don't know it, but all the CFLs sold in America are now made in China. China where there is NO EPA to regulate the mercury and phosphorus used in the manufacture of these neon lights. If you break one of these lights in your home, they contain enough mercury that by EPA regulations you are required to have a haz-mat team come to clean up your house. This can cost you thousands of dollars and your home is classified as a hazardous waste site until it is detoxified by a LICENSED hazardous materials disposal company. They (the CFLs) must be disposed of, even unbroken, the same as hazardous materials. You can't just throw them in the trash. They are also poor lights to read by. The spectrum of the emitted light is not correct for the human eye.

Answer 5

I replaced all of my regular bulbs with CFLs and threw away the regular ones. I notices an immediate reduction in my electrical bill, and they last a lot longer.
Remember when CFLs burn out take them to a recycling center as they have mercury and phosphorus in them.