Hello again world, it's been awhile. I thought I might try this blog thing again and see if i can stick with it this time. Probably not but who knows.
I saw a story today about Germans buying up and hoarding their old incandescent light bulbs in advance of a European Union ban on their use that made me sit up and take notice.
Several years ago my husband and I decided to make the switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs in all of our light fixtures. With the added benefit that they need to be replaced much less frequently than incandescent light bulbs they are also MUCH more energy efficient. Today I learned just how BAD our old light bulbs were in terms of their energy use.
Did you know that incandescent light bulbs WASTE 90-95% of the energy they use?!? I knew they were bad but I didn't know they were THAT bad! That's right only 5-10% of the energy they use is actually converted to light. The rest melts away in heat radiation. I was shocked at how inefficient these dinosaurs of the light bulb world actually are and kinda proud that I made the switch ages ago!
Now that isn't to say that I don't have a few quibbles with my new fluorescent bulbs ... I do. For one thing they are slow to warm up and when you first turn them on they sometimes tend to be rather dim. It usually doesn't take TOO long to warm up however, and when they do the light they produce is quite bright enough to satisfy. Unfortunately I do have a couple of bulbs in the house that are extraordinarily dim when you first turn them on and it can take some time to reach their full potential which can be very annoying at times. For instance there is a bulb in my powder room that is SO dim when turned on you would swear that it wasn't on at all. Folks have learned they need to pre warm the bulb for about 5 minutes in there if they want to use the room and actually see what they are doing. Having a sit down in a semi dark room adds to the ambiance I suppose if that's what you're looking for (reading a romantic novel perhaps? *chuckle*) but for most it's just plain annoying ;) Not all the bulbs are as bad as that one however, and I suspect it's a bit of a lemon but I figure I'll live with it until it eventually blows so I guess it's not THAT annoying after all :)
Another beef I have is the size. I bought a tri-light the other day for $14 egads! and when I got home I found it was about a third too big to fit inside the harp thingy that holds the lampshade on. ARGHH so back to the store to buy a energy guzzling heat wasting incandescent. Eventually the bulbs may get smaller or I'll buy bigger harp/shade(s) for my lights ;)
The cost is also an issue for a lot of folks altho I think that is a bit misleading. The fluorescent bulbs last a lot longer than the old style bulbs so paying up front while a bit of a shock MAY not be as much of an issue as it first appears. However I don't know whether it really does come out cost neutral in the end or not. I usually just chalk it up to the cost of trying to reduce my energy footprint as best I can and move on from there.
Is there a moral to my story? I suppose buried deep inside there might be, but I was just reflecting. No pun intended ;)
IA
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