Bright Ideas for Home Lighting
(Page 2 of 7)
April/May 2007
By Megan Phelps
So far, only about 5 percent of the light bulbs Americans purchase are CFLs. There are several reasons people have been reluctant to make the switch. One is the higher initial cost of the bulb. Another is historical problems with quality. Early CFLs tended to flicker when you hit the light switch, with a brief delay before they came on. The quality of the light could also make colors appear washed out.
RELATED CONTENT
MOTHER'S FLUORESCENT TUBE SOLAR COLLECTOR September/October 1978 Here's yet another simple, easy-to...
You can use an inexpensive, battery-powered push light to light your front porch area....
MODERN ILLUMINATION December/January 1992 From halogen to halide: a guide to lighting your home for...
Conventional water heaters heat water and store it until it’s used, but a lot of that heat is waste...
Build a woodstove out of mud-cast bricks using a plywood frame and sheetmetal stove pipe....
However, new fluorescents and CFLs don’t usually have these problems, says Alex Wilson, executive editor of Environmental Building News and author of Your Green Home. He explains that their light quality is higher today, and the technology has improved. “Today’s fluorescents are produced with electronic ballasts, so they’re not going to flicker and hum as they would with the older magnetic ballasts,” he says.
If you have older fluorescent lights, replacing the ballasts can increase their quality and efficiency. (See photo.) CFLs also have improved significantly, even over the last two years. Reed says the quality of light from a CFL now is the same as it would be from an incandescent. She encourages people who haven’t tried a CFL recently to take another look.
“I’ve seen not just an increase in the quality, but a huge increase in the variety,” Reed says. CFLs have been developed to work with recessed fixtures, dimmer switches, chandelier lights and outdoor lighting — even bug lights.
Not all CFLs are manufactured to the same standards, so to get the best bulb, start by looking for an Energy Star label. Wilson says there’s a surprising variation in the bulbs’ lifetime, because the technology is simply more complicated than incandescent bulbs. In the Energy Star tests, a certain percentage of the bulbs must last a particular length of time. “It’s a pretty good assurance that you’re getting a good quality product,” he says.
CONCERNS ABOUT MERCURY
If there’s one lingering concern about fluorescents and compact fluorescents, it’s mercury pollution. The chemical reaction that produces fluorescent light requires a small amount of mercury inside the bulb. Mercury is a neurotoxin, and many people are understandably reluctant to introduce it into their homes. To help address these concerns, the Energy Star program has posted a fact sheet on its Web site.
Most experts say not to worry about the health effects of exposure to the mercury in a compact fluorescent, even if the bulb breaks. As a frame of reference, one CFL contains 4 milligrams of mercury, just a fraction of the 500 milligrams found in old mercury thermometers, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In fact, using compact fluorescents actually reduces mercury pollution, because the main source of mercury pollution is coal-burning power plants — the most common source of electricity in the United States. According to the EPA, the power used during the life of an incandescent bulb breaks down to about 10 milligrams of mercury pollution, compared to only 2.4 milligrams to operate a CFL for the same length of time.
Page:
<< Previous 1 | 2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
Next >>
