The light bulb guys stopped by my house, and replaced 32 incandescent bulbs with energy-conserving fluorescents. They seemed to be feeling pretty good about themselves. And now, my house is aglow with a fluorescent haze that works better in some rooms than in others.
As you may recall, New York City’s utility company, fearing another electrical outage like the one endured by hundreds of households in Queens last summer, is paying conservation companies to help ordinary people like me make the energy-smart conversion to fluorescent household lighting.
“So what am I saving in the end?” I asked them.
“Well, do the math. For every incandescent bulb of yours we switch to fluorescent, you go from 60 watts to 14.”
My best guess is that I’ve cut my electrical expenditure down by one third, since electrical bulbs are not my only drain on current. That’s really impressive.
So I was deliriously happy until the sun set and the fluorescent bulbs in the bedrooms assumed an eerie blue glow I’m not sure I can read by…or stand for long. Somehow, the piercing intensity of fluorescent light works best in kitchens, hallways, foyers and bathrooms. But in the overhead ceiling fan fixtures of all of our bedrooms, I fear I’m going to have to take the fluorescents out and go back to less energy-saavy full-spectrum incandescents. I haven’t changed anything back yet; I’m just thinking about it as I also contemplate other ways to make this 100-year-old house more green. (Check out the “This Old House” website for information about their green remodeling TV show out of Austin, Texas.)
My hip and friendly bulb technicians made the mistake of telling me that their boss–the successful entrepreneur behind their company–once waited until his wife was out-of-town to switch their New Jersey home completely over to fluorescent lighting. When she returned, she started screaming and swearing “No way! No way! I know what you’re #%&! up to!” before insisting he put all their incandescents back.
We’re all in for a ride, I guess, and a debate over how far to inconvenience ourselves to keep the planet clean and safe.
posted February 9, 2007 at 6:58 pm
InconvenienceNo Not really. TRY ALTERNATIVE and thank goodness we have them so start putting a POSITIVE spin on your environmental policies.
posted February 10, 2007 at 7:44 pm
There are various color value compact fluorescents [CF]. The blue cast ones are generally unpleasant to my eyes. The bulb’s output is a function of its color temperature. The daylight spectrum bulbs are rated around 2700 Kelvins. The bluish ones are up around 5000 K. The higher the bulb temp the more blue light it emits. If you look carefully on the package you can find CF bulbs that produce a pleasing 2700 K light. It’s a comparatively simple but very worthwhile conversion from incandescents. Amory Lovins and The Rocky Mountain Institute calculated that if all households in the US repalced our bulbs with CFs we would be an energy exporting country from that one measure.
posted February 13, 2007 at 5:36 am
I had a frustrating weekend trying to locate new flametipped fluorescent bulbs for my 5 light fan (if I had to do over, I get one with fewer sockets!), the main light source in our most used room. They had started doing the typical fluorescent trick of not lighting up all the way instantly. I thought I was just going to replace them, easier said than done. 5 stores later (including “energy friendly” hardware stores) we found some at Walmart. I put them in place and voila! They lit fully once before reverting back to the slow to light up ways. But it beats 5 bulbs at 25 watts each (actually most stores have 40 watt ones)! I am disapointed in how hard they were to find and also that the time they are supposed to last is so much less than the 5 years on the package… Someone in CA wants to ban regular light bulbs (and switch to fluorescents). Maybe they should just suggest stores actually CARRY them!
posted February 13, 2007 at 4:42 pm
I thought I’d read a study that fluorescent light actually ‘hammered’ at the human aura, which could be one reason why many people find them offensive in any space in which they are going to be for any period of time. ??
posted February 16, 2007 at 5:36 pm
This is the reason I get a migraine when I go to mall’s or places that have that type of lighting. They make me feel rather ill to be exact. Small doses are fine otherwise, give me the old bulb anyday…..