Megawatts (May 07)
California - 16,601
New Jersey - 4,550 Delaware - 481 Maryland - 3,855 North Carolina - 10,463 South Carolina - 7,908 Georgia - 12,571
Total - 26,253
This doesn't count New York (11,537), D.C. (~1), West Virginia (7,992), or Pennsylvania (17,971)
No. Thousands of megawatt hours, vs megawatts, ie energy vs power.
Nick
Switch out with regular switches if tyou dont like them.
Different brands behave differently. I have some that take a while to brighten up, and some that come on instantly.
Most manufacturers will replace the bulbs if they die prematurely...I have some bulbs that are ~4yrs old and still work fine.
Chris
Around here most electricity is produced by coal-fired plants. Burning coal releases a certain amount of mercury. The reduced electrical demand from the CFL means that over its lifetime the amount of mercury saved by using less power outweighs the mercury in the bulb itself.
Thus, a net reduction in the amount of mercury in the environment.
Chris
But much more concentrated around landfills. Also, how about the direct exposures from cleaning up broken ones? Anyone really think people are going to know to open up windows for awhile before cleaning up? Know enough not to get the vacuum cleaner out?
It's just amazing that I managed to survive to my present age (71-1/2) after all the times I'd smear mercury onto silver coins as a kid.
And while I do get plenty mad at stupid things, nobody's yet accused me of being "mad as a hatter".
Jeff
Funny guy, you hit a Canadian site and luminaire is the French word for a light fixture. But to every cloud there is a silver ( probably mercury) lining, I was actually looking for that site :o)
Montreal
I wonder about my sanity, often but briefly :o) I KNOW I had been on the website for San Jose, California, USA. I googled again, got to California, turned left and ended up in Canada again :o)
Go here:
......and I'm not a guy. Merci.
Unfortunately the US NFPA found that same site. Luminaire is the word they decided on for US light fixtures too. It has been that way for the last few cycles. I guess we should call them "freedom fixtures"
tobantheincandescentbulb in CA too. I'm trying a few of those CFL flood
I have tried and tried these CFLs and find them hugely disappointing. I really think this is going to become the 1.6-gallon-toilet of the new generation - a few work somewhat well, most don't, but the reports from the field are all hidden under the glowing, glowing hype. Leaving the closet light on because it won't come to full brightness quickly might become the next double-flush.
I mean, I really *wanted* the CFLs to work. I like fluorescents, but give me T8s in a proper fixture and keep the damn CFLs except for a few special cases. Not only is there the brightness problem, but
-the light is poor in quality in most of the ones most people can afford
-there is no discussion of power factor because nobody knows about it
-No energy is saved during the heating season
-even the most compact CFLs are bulky and heavy, and won't fit a lot of fixtures, and overstress sockets.
-in a fully enclosed fixture, I find that CFLs tend to overheat and fail
-light output is often significantly lower than the incandescents the bulb is "compared to" on the package.
Of course, nobody sees anything past the "ENERGY SAVINGS!!! YAY!"
I've been using CFLs for quite a while and have not experienced any of the claimed issues. Color temperatures are good, initial brightness and time to full brightness are fine in living area conditions, no CFL meltdowns, no fit issues vs. "A" incandescents, etc. Only in an unheated storage container in CT winter is there a noticeable dim start and full brightness in a couple minutes and that's hardly a problem.
I'd posted a while back about the CFL's I was using in my bathroom (large globes) first brand I tried had unacceptable warm up time, second brand seemed initially OK but now that they've been in a month or two they're starting to exhibit long warm up times as well. Anyone recommend a brand that really works well?
nate
BALONEY. Any heat generated in my house in New England by electric appliances and lights is FAR more expensive than the heat provided by my oil burning boiler and hot water baseboards. It's not even remotely close. That's why no homes here have electric heat. It would be very cheap to install during new construction, but the operational costs to heat even a small home by electricity here would be astronomical.
I couldn't tell you on those as I'm not using any "designer" type CFLs.
I've got a dozen "Commercial Electric" 14W CFLs that have been in place in various table lamps, pendants, range hoods, etc. for a couple years with no problems at all.
I use 42W CFLs in cheap spring clamp reflector fixtures as work lights in my shop again with no issues. One 42W CFL that runs 24x7 finally burned out after probably 18 months which I consider pretty reasonable.
I've got some 25W I think it is CFLs in a couple enclosed hall fixtures and they're doing fine. They're a different brand and they start at probably 75% brightness and hit 100% within 2 seconds, something you don't even notice after a week of use.
That storage container isn't near power so I plug that string into an inverter from my truck when I need light in the container. Six 14W CFLs evenly spaced inside a 40' container with a white interior provides very good lighting, even for doing detailed work while in the container and of course uses only 84W of power.
I've tried them for years and have also been disappointed. They are slow to reach full brightness. I've had several burnouts. No way can you count "long life" as an asset especially if you're paying a significant premium for them vs. Incandescent. Over time their color temperature (and brightness) decays toward yellows. The one exception is a special "Day Light" rated bulb which cost me $8.95 + tax. If I could find these where I live now (no Menards in AZ), I buy a few more but CFLs are definetly on my "watch, don't buy." list now.
None that I have purchased in the last few years has been slow to reach full brightness. Long life is an asset if you factor in your time to replace burned out incandescents even at minimum wage given the large number of incandescents you'd replace over the life of one CFL. I've not found any notable change in color temperature or brightness except for during the first and last ~5 hrs of CFL life, the thousands of hours in between are quite constant. The nominal 75% power savings over the life of the CFL more than makes up for the cost difference. Your local lighting supplier should either have the "daylight" color spectrum CFLs or be able to order them for you.
My last issue of Consumer Reports did a spread on CFL's. I remember reading that the bulbs should not be used for all locations. If the light will not be on for more that 15 minutes, it should continue to use an incandescent. CFL's that are not kept on for 15 minutes or longer will have a shorter life expectancy.
When you use electric heat.
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