Talk abouit the end of CFL light bulbs...

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: opus1
My main use of CFL's are on my porch lights -- I turn them on when DST ends, they're on 24x7 until DST starts again so they're on all winter. I have gotten years out of them in this type of use. Thanks to utility subsidies. I've got a ton of CFL's that cost me about $0.22.

I have LED's waiting to go, not sure where I'll start though.


Let's just do some basic math. On a 13 watt CFL, you will use 9.36 kilowatts in a month. On a 9.5 watt LED, you will use 6.84 kilowatts. Or 2.52 kilowatts less per month. The electric rates around here are pretty high, about 20 cents a kilowatt. So that's about a 50 cents savings per month. So at about $2 an LED, break even is in about 4 months and it's all savings after that. That doesn't even factor in the cost of the CFL, if you pay 50 cents for the CFL, payback is in 3 months instead. Of course even if your electric rate is 10 cents a kilowatt, break even is at 6-8 months instead of 3-4.

Class dismissed.

 

[Jetronic]

Originally Posted By: tgrudzin
GE announced a little while back that it was ending the production of CFL's. In Costco, I was purchasing a pack of LED dimmer safe bulbs. $10 for a pack of 4. A couple of item over, a 4-pack of CFL's was selling for $4.99, with an instant rebate of $4. So basically 4 for $.99! And I still passed.


A coiuple of years ago I took a similar offer aznd bought 90 CF bulbs (11w) for $0.25 each. Turns out theyr're the best cfl bulbs I ever bought aswell.Light output seems to be on par or better than the 15W bulbs I have, and I still have to replace the first one...

 

[NJC]

I'm also slowly converting from CFL's to LED. I buy the Sunbeam 3 pack 9W from Costco when on sale - it works out to ~$4.50 each. They're generally excellent.

Electricity rates in my area hover around $.10/KWh

 

[Merkava_4]

What?!!? I'm still using incandescent!! I haven't had a chance to switch over to CFL yet!!

Somebody needs to stop the world so I can catch up!!

 

[Garak]

It's a good thing they pushed us away from incandescent, right Merk? Now, the replacement is growing obsolete. I do know that I don't like CFLs in my garage door opener or in an outdoor socket when it's -40. I have not yet tried LEDs in those applications.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Mercury is the reason CFLs are going bye-bye. Not because they are a significant inferior lighting source to LEDs. People are not educated in what to do with burnt-out CFLs.... in how to dispose of them. Because of that, mercury contamination is growing.

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
Mercury is the reason CFLs are going bye-bye. Not because they are a significant inferior lighting source to LEDs. People are not educated in what to do with burnt-out CFLs.... in how to dispose of them. Because of that, mercury contamination is growing.

Recycling them is easy enough. Home Depot has a bin right next to the entrance that you toss them into and they ship them out to be recycled. I don't like CFLs because they're always dim when you first turn them on and you have to wait for them to warm up. Plus, most of them don't work well with dimmers, and my house has a lot of dimmers. I prefer LEDs.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: Garak
It's a good thing they pushed us away from incandescent, right Merk? Now, the replacement is growing obsolete. I do know that I don't like CFLs in my garage door opener or in an outdoor socket when it's -40. I have not yet tried LEDs in those applications.
Companies made out like bandits. Crony capitalism at its finest. Get legislation passed mandating your product. Then get the taxpayers to subsidize your product. Then close down US plants and move production of new mandated and taxpayer funded bulbs to China. Make sure this happens when a vastly superior tech (LED) is emerging but still a little ways off so you can get consumers to change out bulbs twice. It's like a fairy tale.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: hatt
Originally Posted By: Garak
It's a good thing they pushed us away from incandescent, right Merk? Now, the replacement is growing obsolete. I do know that I don't like CFLs in my garage door opener or in an outdoor socket when it's -40. I have not yet tried LEDs in those applications.
Companies made out like bandits. Crony capitalism at its finest. Get legislation passed mandating your product. Then get the taxpayers to subsidize your product. Then close down US plants and move production of new mandated and taxpayer funded bulbs to China. Make sure this happens when a vastly superior tech (LED) is emerging but still a little ways off so you can get consumers to change out bulbs twice. It's like a fairy tale.


Interestingly, none of that was really true. They were going to ban regular bulbs, but that never actually happened, you can still get regular bulbs, they just use slightly less electricity now. CFL's just made good economic sense in that less electricity usage is a good thing. To imply otherwise is somewhat perplexing to say the least. It made sense for utilities to subsidize them because if the had to build new power plants, it would cost hundreds of millions if not billions. Some people just have no clue.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: hatt
Originally Posted By: Garak
It's a good thing they pushed us away from incandescent, right Merk? Now, the replacement is growing obsolete. I do know that I don't like CFLs in my garage door opener or in an outdoor socket when it's -40. I have not yet tried LEDs in those applications.
Companies made out like bandits. Crony capitalism at its finest. Get legislation passed mandating your product. Then get the taxpayers to subsidize your product. Then close down US plants and move production of new mandated and taxpayer funded bulbs to China. Make sure this happens when a vastly superior tech (LED) is emerging but still a little ways off so you can get consumers to change out bulbs twice. It's like a fairy tale.


Interestingly, none of that was really true. They were going to ban regular bulbs, but that never actually happened, you can still get regular bulbs, they just use slightly less electricity now. CFL's just made good economic sense in that less electricity usage is a good thing. To imply otherwise is somewhat perplexing to say the least. It made sense for utilities to subsidize them because if the had to build new power plants, it would cost hundreds of millions if not billions. Some people just have no clue.
And some people believe whatever line they're fed.

 

[SHOZ]

The latest are incandescents that use the heat and reflect it inward somehow to get even more light out of them. Most efficient so far.

http://cleantechnica.com/2016/01/13/new-energy-saving-incandescent-light-bulb/

 

[dishdude]

Technology moves on. LEDs are reliable, use very little energy, instant on and don't contain mercury. There is nothing to not like.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: hatt
And some people believe whatever line they're fed.


I've always had a low opinion of those that believe in conspiracy theory. Those are typically based on ignorance. I'm an electrical engineer and have always been a fan of LEDs.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: hatt
And some people believe whatever line they're fed.


I've always had a low opinion of those that believe in conspiracy theory. Those are typically based on ignorance. I'm an electrical engineer and have always been a fan of LEDs.
We're talking about CFL not LED.

And there is no "conspiracy theories." Everything is out in the open and pretty clear. CLFs were a poor solution with LEDs coming on line.

 

[SHOZ]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Technology moves on. LEDs are reliable, use very little energy, instant on and don't contain mercury. There is nothing to not like.
Actually LEDs could be a lot more efficient. They are only around 20% or so now.

 

[JTK]

Fluorescent lighting inherently has cold start concerns and changing/reduced light quality output as they age, but IMO, the early CFLs were made much better and lasted a lot longer. As time went on they were built cheaper and cheaper to reduce cost. Same kind of thing will happen with LED lighting.

LED reliability is questionable today as it is. Like I've said in other threads, they're swapped out a lot of street/roadway lighting in my area over to LED the past few years. Lots of issues with them. Another area where you see this is in fish keeping. LEDs have taken over the market for marine and fresh water setups. Reliability of these fixtures is very sketchy. MUCH more so than fluorescent.

LEDs are "cleaner" to manufacture and own? I doubt that. Lots of chemicals required to build and dispose of these as well.

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Technology moves on. LEDs are reliable, use very little energy, instant on and don't contain mercury. There is nothing to not like.
there are lots of nasties in the mfg of electronics. In the late 1970s and early 1980s there were many contract electronic component manufactures in the Silicone Valley and the southern part of San Mateo county [I used to fix their forklifts] Before they found cheap labor and could dump the toxics in the creek behind the plants in China and Mexico or other third world countries.

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: SHOZ
The latest are incandescents that use the heat and reflect it inward somehow to get even more light out of them. Most efficient so far.

They have a coating that reflects the infrared energy back inward to heat the filament an additional amount for more light.

 

[SHOZ]

I made up some 100w LEDs and are they ever bright. They are actual 100w power draw though. A lot of heat to manage.

 

[blupupher]

Originally Posted By: exranger06

Recycling them is easy enough. Home Depot has a bin right next to the entrance that you toss them into and they ship them out to be recycled. I don't like CFLs because they're always dim when you first turn them on and you have to wait for them to warm up. Plus, most of them don't work well with dimmers, and my house has a lot of dimmers. I prefer LEDs.

Never seen that at any Home Depot (or any other store) around here. Must be a regional thing.

Originally Posted By: JTK
... the early CFLs were made much better and lasted a lot longer. As time went on they were built cheaper and cheaper to reduce cost. ...

I agree with that. The first set of CFL I bought (6 bulbs on clearance 8+ years ago) are still working with lots of use (4 in a ceiling fan that was on a lot, 2 in lamps used often, turned off and on a lot too). They have horrible warm up time, but are bright once on for about a minute. All 6 are now in my kids bathroom (which would go through bulbs every year or so). I have replaced multiple recently purchased (2-3 years) CFL's. While they do get to full brightness quicker, they just don't last.