"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
I have thought about it. If you'd like me to change my mind, please
supply some proof. Just saying someone is wrong, is useless. Telling
someone to "think about it" is insulting.

Our friend is using word games and appears to be claiming that somewhere off
camera, in a perfectly sealed box, in a perfectly theoretical world where
all energy radiators are perfect and there's no such thing as conversion
efficiency, all light and heat end up the same - as heat. He's claiming the
difference between the ratio of heat/light emitted does not matter because
the CFL's much greater light output would be converted back into heat when
it strikes the sides of the hypothetically perfect box.

The quote, precisely, was: "Nonsense. A 100W incandescent bulb will put out
exactly the same heat as a
100W fluorescent; 100W."

"Exactly the same" is a) true only in the most theoretical sense, b) true
only if you decide to use the words heat and light interchangeably and c)
perhaps not really true even then. What he may have meant is "eventually"
but "exactly" implies that they *emit* the same amount of heat
simultaneously. That's simply not true. While both may radiate 25 watts of
energy, they do it in very different forms.

In the much more rational and problematic world we live in, the CFL not only
puts out less heat when measured at the emitter, it will put out less heat
overall. In the real world all conversions from one form of energy to
another involve losses of some kind. If that wasn't so, we would have
totally safe CFL furnaces, converting light into heat without pesky direct
combustion of fuel or dangerous resistance heaters. That's as ridiculous as
claiming that going from electricity to light to heat is as efficient as
going straight from electricity to heat without an intermediate process.

The device that puts out more heat to begin with will put out more heat in
the final analysis because it will not experience any loss in the
reconversion of light to heat. "Exactly" would only be true in a weird sort
of Flatland, where CFL bulb heat would be the least of one's problems. In
the real world, a tungsten incandescent bulb outputs more heat than a CFL
bulb of the exact same wattage, even when used as a heater.

CFLs put out more visible light than incandescents do for the same input
current and they do it by converting more of the input energy into visible
light and not IR or radiated thermal energy. Any claim that the heat ouput
is equal can be easily sanity checked by looking the difference in light
output for the same wattage.

The device that doesn't have to convert twice - once from electricity to
light and then from light to heat HAS to be the more efficient one, making
statements that they are both equally efficient radiators of heat dubious at
best. If the claim is true, it's only true in a theoretical sense and
applies to a world where no one actually lives. In the real world, CFL's
emit far more light than heat, and IIRC it's on the order of 60 lumens per
watt compared to an incandescent's 15. IIRC, the CFL emits 30 BTUs for a
similar incandescent's 80.

LED 3.4 btu's/hour
Incand. 85.0 btu's/hour
CFL 30.0 btu's/hour

Source: http://www.designrecycleinc.com/led%20comp%20chart.html

Less light = more heat - over twice as hot according to these figures.

So yes, if you want to be a clever lad with words and use the terms heat and
light interchangeably (except when you choose not to) AND you live in a
perfect theoretical world where conversion efficiencies are 100%, then you
can say that CFLs and incandescents both output the same amount of heat -
eventually. It's a good reminder that one needs to watch for "magical
thinking" and "creative expression" on Usenet every damn day.

--
Bobby G.