Compact Fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Here's another question: I have ceiling fans with 3-4 lamps apiece. Would the CFLs be appropriate in them?

As long as the lights aren't on a dimmer, CFLs should be fine.

The bane of my lighting are the halogens in the kitchen (great for cooking, but wear out quickly and are expensive - plus hot!) - can't switch them out in a rental unit.

Friends of mine had a similar problem (not halogen lights - they just didn't like the dining room fixture in their rental apartment) - they bought one they liked, took down the old one, put up theirs and stuffed the old one in a closet.  When they moved out, they put the old one back up.  Maybe your landlord will let you do the same... if the new fixture would be lower wattage, he/she'd have financial incentive, too.

[Aggie]

Friends of mine had a similar problem (not halogen lights - they just didn't like the dining room fixture in their rental apartment) - they bought one they liked, took down the old one, put up theirs and stuffed the old one in a closet.  When they moved out, they put the old one back up.  Maybe your landlord will let you do the same... if the new fixture would be lower wattage, he/she'd have financial incentive, too.

I'd probably have no issues switching it out, but I love having a brightly lit workspace in the kitchen.  What might help is switching out the range hood bulb with a bright CFL (would have to be grease-shielded) and using the overheads less frequently, unless actually washing dishes/chopping etc.

[ivor]

I have CFLs in my ceiling fans.  The pretty small lamps are more expensive.  You can't use CFLs with a dimmer switch BTW.  They work great and I didn't have any trouble with them.

I also use CFLs outside although it took me a couple of tries before I found ones that last outside.

They only thing I don't like about CFLs is that it takes a while for them to warm up.  They aren't very bright until they do warm up.

[Opsa]

Apparently Philips makes a CFL that can be used with a dimmer switch, but I think you have to put it up to 30% or somewhere before it can get enough energy to turn on.

I've been talking with friends who use CFLs and they say that some take a little time to warm up to their final luminescence, and some sit and warm up first before coming on at all. I can think of some applications where a slow warm up from dim to bright might be an advantage: like by the bedside. I dislike having the light glare in my face when I turn it on in the morning.

[Griffin NoName]

They only thing I don't like about CFLs is that it takes a while for them to warm up.  They aren't very bright until they do warm up.

I'm not very bright til I warm up either.

I love this thread. Who'd ever have thought there was so much to write about CFLs !

[The Meromorph]

You just have to use the kind of dimmer switch called a 'Triac'. They work well with fluorescent lights. I only use that kind of dimmer anyway, because they don't throw off the exxcess energy as heat, like a resistance type.

[ivor]

Ah!  I didn't know there was such a thing.

I thought Triac was a super-villain from Dr. Who.

[goat starer]

It is all about the type of ballast. Some work with dimmers some do not.

The 'warming up' issue gets worse as the bulb ages. My kitchen light is pathetic for about a minute after switching on.

That said the world survived perfectly well before electric lighting so a brief dim period is little price to pay for the carbon and cost savings.

[Swatopluk]

But I think candles or campfires have a worse carbon balance than lightbulbs.

[goat starer]

they do not! wood, tallow etc are sustainable energy sources. New trees grow as do new pigs. Fossil fuels are the main source of power for lightbulbs and these are releasing carbon sequestered over millions of years.

[Swatopluk]

But that could in theory be changed and unlike home-made fires a power plant releases the energy from the material more efficiently, i.e. even if the power plant would be fed with wood, it would yield more than an oven at home (or worse: an open fire).

[goat starer]

So at aome point in the future electric light MAY be more sustainable than candles. I love watching the decline and fall civilisation.

Although fires and candles are not terribly efficient in themselves losses in power stations and grid transmission account for some 65-70 odd percent of total energy consumption. This compares pretty well the efficiency of a modern wood burning stove (although you would need to factor in transporting the wood!). If wood is sourced from sustainable forests it is essentially carbon neutral (again factoring out energy costs associated with harvesting and transport).

I would not however advocate a mass return to candles and wood stoves as we all know the air quality issues attendant.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate/solution/revolution.cfm

[Swatopluk]

The loss is also a question of the quality of the power grid and the distance the juice has to travel. If the power plants are inside the city that uses the electricity this solves a lot of problems (and also yields hot water that is not wasted but used). Both are obviously criteria not met by the US.

[goat starer]

Or indeed met by just about anywhere! decent CHP systems within cities would go a long way to addressing short term needs to introduce energy efficiency yet new housing developments where load weighting with local industry, schools and leisure facilities would give excellent efficieny still rarely consider the option because the up front costs are so high.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

I would not however advocate a mass return to candles and wood stoves as we all know the air quality issues attendant.

Actually, wood pellet stoves are being marketed around here as an environmentally friendly heating option:

Here's a sample from one retailer:

When you heat with pellet fuel you reduce CO2 emissions by burning a renewable fuel. Trees growing now are locking up the sun's energy and CO2 in a continuous renewable cycle.

The future of pellet fuel:

Although most fuel pellets are currently made from wood they can also be made from fast growing switchgrass. Pellets made from grass are the ideal renewable energy crop, since switchgrass grows on marginal farmland. The energy payback on pellet fuel is up to 14:1. For every one unit of energy used to grow, harvest and pelletize the grass, 14 units of heat energy are produced.

Or indeed met by just about anywhere! decent CHP systems within cities would go a long way to addressing short term needs to introduce energy efficiency yet new housing developments where load weighting with local industry, schools and leisure facilities would give excellent efficieny still rarely consider the option because the up front costs are so high.

When I still worked in industry, we had a few clients (auto industry, mainly) who had tried adding electricity cogeneration to their processes... and then got rid of it.  The consensus among them was that it got poor financial return, added another thing to break down, and generally wasn't worth the bother.  Hopefully things have improved since then.