CFL's (is it worth the investment?)

[patricimo54]

As a young man I determined the more I could do for myself the less dependent I would be on the system or society and in turn reduce my living expenses. Armed with this mindset I have lived my life trying to find ways to reduce or eliminate living expenses so that I could enjoy or use my money to it's fullness.
When the Compact Florescent Lights came out I was slow to get on the "wagon" with them, but finally did. They offered equal lighting for less energy money, longer life bulb, plus the whole green thing.





Well as you can see by the pics. in our kitchen we have a florescent two tube as our main over head, plus 4 can lights with CFL's, plus small tube under counter florescent. You would think I'd need to wear sunshades while working in the kitchen. The truth be know there are times that I am tempted to light our emergency propane light just to be able to see more clearly.
Are they really providing the lighting that they claim and I am just a victim of age or are they not all they are cracked up to be?
They claim to be 5 year bulbs, I have had some go out in a few short months.
They are made in China, incandescents are made in the USA.
As far as being "Green" they contain mercury and should be disposed of as a hazardous waste. These are just a few pro's and con's. What is your take on them?

[Admin]

Good topic Pat ;D
The first thing I saw in your pic was the humphrey gas light.

You are the only person I know that has a permanent emergency light in the house. Karma to ya.

I run a lot of CFL bulbs in the house and like yourself have had some burn out already which I took back to walmart and got my money back. We run low lights in the house at night so the reduced wattage seems to work fine. Our electric bill rarly exceeds 38.00 and I like that. A couple things I don't like about the CFL bulbs is they are dim when first turning them on and you're not suppose to run them on dimmers. Almost all my lights here have dimmer switches. I may try some LED bulbs when the price comes down. They burn a fraction of the wattage that even the CFL's do and suppose to last a super long time. I may try some in the new cabin seeing that I'll be running the place on a 12 volt system and inverter.

[patricimo54]

Jun 21, 2010 20:29:30 GMT -5 Admin said:

I may try some LED bulbs when the price comes down.

Now that is another good subject, LED's, but for the good ones they are really high.

[patricimo54]

Jun 21, 2010 20:29:30 GMT -5 Admin said:

The first thing I saw in your pic was the humphrey gas light.

You are the only person I know that has a permanent emergency light in the house.

After the heavy ice storms in northern Kentucky and southern Indiana in the winter of 08/09 I decided to include a gas back up light in my kitchen remodel. I lived off the grid in two different places in Utah back in the late 70's and early 80's. We utilized gas lights in both. They are getting harder to find. Must be due to the advancements in solar and wind technology. Both of which I am also looking into. I am thinking it is good have as many options as possible when it comes to lighting. We also have kerosene lamps and long life candles in reserve, but I would like to find a real deal on an Aladdin lamp ;D

[Admin]

Definately a good plan to be prepared. I had intended to run gas lights here in this house but never did. I should though. They are worth their weight in gold during outages. So convenient. I wish I was ready to apply solar to the house because the govt is offerring assistance with the whole going green thing and they kick in with grants and such that cuts your installation cost by over 40%. I just don't have the cash to put it into action. Even at 40% off it's still expensive to get started. I have such a low electric bill as it is I can't justify it.

[keeper172]

Keep us posted on what you find out on LEDs. It would be well worth building some lights out of them to run on 12v batteries even if the were only used in emergiencies. Also im about to buy a camper and if i could run all leds from 12v deep cycle with a solar charger that would be great.
Ive had good results with them CFLs. They are dimmer then normal light bulbs but we have adjusted well to them.

[keeper172]

Hey guys was doing some research on LEDs and came across this site on Low Tech energy sources looks promising as a source of info. Theres even a section on off-grid power.

www.otherpower.com/