One simple action you can take to make the world a happier place is to replace standard incandescent lightbulbs with modern compact fluorescent ones. Americans, with only 5% of the world's population, consume about 25% of the world's energy. Most of this energy use results in some kind of pollution. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs prevent pollution and also save time, money, and energy. If you replace a single 90 watt incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb you will:
"If every American household (there are currently 100 million) converted all lamps to compact fluorescents, America would instantly become an energy exporting nation! ... If every human on earth replaced their incandescents with compact fluorescents we could shut down 50 nuclear power plants!"
-- The Real Goods Alternative Energy Sourcebook, 1991
These two graphs show how much money you could save by replacing a single incandescent bulb with a fluorescent one. The graphs compare a 90 watt, 1550 lumen, incandescent bulb with a 22 watt, 1550 lumen, Lights of America bulb. For more details about these bulbs see the comparison chart at the bottom of this page.
The top graph shows the cost of using the two types of bulbs. It assumes that the incandescent bulbs cost about $1 each, the fluorescent bulb costs about $20, and energy costs about 10 cents per kilowatt hour. As you can see, the fluorescent bulb pays for itself after about 2500 hours of use.
After twelve years, the incandescent bulbs have cost you $120, whereas the fluorescent one has only cost $46.
The bottom graph is more realistic than the top one. It shows your bank account. You start with $150 in the bank, earning 5% interest a year. Energy costs 10 cents per kilowatt hour the first year but goes up with inflation-5% per year.
After twelve years of using incandescent bulbs you have only $55 left in the bank, whereas with the fluorescent bulb you have $188 in the bank.
In both graphs the incandescent bulb burns out after 1,000 hours, whereas the fluorescent lasts 12,000. The 11 vertical dashed lines on the graphs show where incandescent bulbs burn out and are replaced with new incandescent bulbs. Surprisingly, the cost of each replacement bulb is almost nothing compared to the cost of powering it-you can barely even see the little $1 bumps on the incandescent line where the replacement bulbs are purchased.
(Assumptions: Lights of America #2022 compact fluorescent bulb: 22 watts, 1550 lumens, 12,000 hour life span vs. 12 incandescent 90 watt bulbs with 1550 lumens and a 1,000 hour life span each. Energy costs $0.10 per kwh. Coal burns at 0.39 kg per kwh, and creates 2.276 kg of CO2 per 1 kg of coal.)
Compact fluorescent bulbs screw into the same sockets as regular light bulbs. Generally speaking, you can use a compact fluorescent bulb anywhere you now have an incandescent bulb. There are a couple things you need to be concerned about. You can't use fluorescent bulbs with dimmer switches, and fluorescent bulbs are bigger and heavier than incandescent bulbs, which can sometimes be an issue with desk lamps and table lamps.
Fluorescent lighting has a bad reputation for the quality of light it provides. With good reason. Traditional fluorescent bulbs had relatively poor spectral balance. New compact fluorescent bulbs use a much better mix of phosphors (the white powder coating the inside of the bulb), and have a color quality almost as good as incandescent bulbs. Traditional bulbs also used a core-coil ballast design that could result in hum, flicker, or a 60 Hz frequency reported to cause negative physical or emotional reactions. High-quality fluorescent bulbs now use electronic ballasts, which don't have these problems.
"Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."
-- Sir Winston Churchill
There are dozens of compact fluorescent bulbs on the market, being made by a half-dozen different manufacturers. The bulbs come in all different shapes, sizes and wattages. Three of the common shapes are shown below: the ring, the quad, and the capsule. Floodlights, table lamps, and fixtures are also available. Wattages range from 7 to 30, representing incandescent equivalents from 25 to 135 watts.
In many places the local power company subsidizes compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Here in the San Francisco Bay area you can get $27 bulbs for $10. I hear that in Boston you can get compact fluorescent bulbs for $2.
"[The U.S. government] should replace every light bulb with one of the new long-life bulbs that consume only a fraction as much electricity to produce the same amount of light."
-- Vice President Al Gore, Earth in the Balance
| Exercise | Call your local electric company. Ask them if they subsidize compact fluorescent lightbulbs and where you can buy them. Install 5 this week and reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by about 900 pounds this year. |
| Lights of America #2022 | Osram Delux EL | Panasonic T18W | General Electric 75 watt | |
| brightness | 1550 lumens |
1200 lumens |
1100 lumens |
1300 lumens |
| color quality |
86% |
82% |
82% |
91% |
| power |
22 watt |
20 watt |
18 watt |
75 watt |
| market price |
$20 |
$27 |
$25 |
$1 |
| sample subsidized price |
$4 |
$10 |
$10 |
$1 |
| lifespan |
12,000 hours |
10,000 hours |
9,000 hours |
1,000 hours |
| hum |
no |
no |
no |
no |
| flicker |
no |
no |
no |
no |
| instant-on |
instant |
1 second |
2 seconds |
instant |
 |
 |
 |
 |
For more information about specific manufacturers, see the Lighting Resource home page.
The Bottom Line
Replace your ugly old incandescent bulbs with cool new compact
fluorescents. It's one easy, cost-effective thing you can do to
consume less, pollute less, and build a brighter world.
