View Single Post
  #2   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
 
Posts: n/a
Default Light fixture wattage limit and compact fluorescent bulbs

Is that correct??

Yep - if it says 23 watts, that's all it's using. With incandescent
bulbs, most of that 100 watts (about 97 percent of the energy, IIRC) is
just turned into heat. CFLs are obviously more efficient, turning more
of the energy into light instead of heat. As you pointed out, they're
about 4 times more efficient (1/4 the wattage for roughly the same
light output), so you're still only getting about 90% of the electrical
energy turned into light, but it's a lot better. And the color and
warm-up time of CFLs has increased dramatically over the last few
years, while price has decreased. I've gotten them on sale at Home
Depot etc. for about $10 for a pack of 4, and some electric companies
have rebates. LEDs are the next step - not many available for home use
yet that I know of, (more in flashlights etc), but they're somewhere
around 10-15 times more efficient than incandescents. I recently read
something about micro-LEDs incorporated into wall paint, so a small
current could be applied to a whole wall, which would give off a soft
glow and almost no heat. No telling when or if that will become
practical, but that's probably what people said about hybrid cars a
while back...
I almost exclusively use CFLs at home (incandescents for porch/garage,
where cold temps can interfere with most CFLs), and I think they're
definitely the way to go.
Good luck,
Andy