wrote...


WDS wrote:
v wrote:
... A CFL bulb (any FL light) takes an
initial surge of power to start, plus it only has so many starts in it
from the day it is built. They only save on longer duty cycles.

The initial surge thing using a "lot" of electricity is somewhat of a
myth. Work it out and there's just no way that a fraction of a second
surge can use all that much electricity. If it did the wires would
melt and the circuit breakers blow.


Exactly. This myth was busted on Mythbusters on TV. They tested a
variety of bulbs ie, regular filament, halogen, metal vapor, etc
against FL and compact FLs. They measured the power used. The
conclusion was, while they did use more energy during a fraction of a
sec during start up, it only took at most a few more secs for the FLs
to come out ahead. And after that, they used a small fraction of the
energy of the other bulbs. The only bulbs that were even better were
LED type.

You may not like the light you get from CFL for all applications. And
they do take maybe 20 secs to reach full brightness when they are used
in cold areas, like an unheated garage in winter. (At least all the
ones I've tried so far have had this problem) But, they do exactly
what is claimed, which is to save a lot of energy cost.

From what's available in my area, there are pretty much three "colors" of
CFLs. One is quite warm and nice and a great substitute for incadescents in
most living areas. If in your neck of the woods, Home Depot tends to stock
all three "flavors."

Another advantage to CFLs that I haven't seen discussed is their use in
many new light fixtures. So often, I see stand-alone or wall/ceiling mounted
fixtures with a 60-watt maximum warning label, probably due to worries about
heat. Many times, 60 watts of incandescent light just doesn't offer what the
room needs. But with a larger-than-the-tiniest CFL, you still can meet the
wattage warning while offering much more light than a 60-w incandescent can
do.

Craig