Be honest: Have you replaced all the bulbs in your home with "Green" environmentally friendly bulbs?

n/t

which are full spectrum lights that I use to paint by.

There's a great product-to-be...

...and we also have a few 3-way lamps.

Cheers

I am using them in my 3 way lamps.

...I had no clue, Thanks for the heads up!

:toast:

We've had 3-way, dimmer, chandelier, spotlight/floodlight, "fat albert" and low-temperature bulbs here for YEARS.

We even have them in different colors.

...most of the world is ahead of us. Every time I come back from Sweden I bring various magazines to show people here how far behind we are. It's pitiful.

:toast:

They were expensive ($6.87) each so I'm just buying a couple each week.

I've replaced 3 60-watt and 2 100-watt... I'm getting there. Yes, they're expensive, and I'm broke :) but I'm trying. Dining room and basement are on dimmers. I'll leave those for last!

I couldn't find them anyplace and ended up ordering them at a cost of $15 each plus shipping.

I took the dimmer off two more just to avoid the expense.

We have cans with dimmers all over our house. Can't wait until this is available. Our electric bill will be ridiculously low, but I think I'll have to take out a second mortage for all the new bulbs.

and the ones on the dimmers quietly 'bzzzzz' like office lighting.

Even in the xmas decorations.

i got 12 cfls for $6.00 after the instant rebate.

Totally unacceptable for a cheapo like me.

but this deal was an instant rebate right at the register. Next time i go i'm buying another 12.

Bought them last Wednesday.

Spotted in an ad in the Sunday paper.

When you look at their lifespan and the smaller effect on the environment they have, there is no reason not to get them.

so I'm doing it slowly and trying to get used them. It's working okay so far. :)

I replace them. It would be foolish and not economical to throw out perfectly good light incandescent bulbs just to make a statement.

I just recently bought a house, and I waited until the lightbulbs burned out before I replaced them. I think I still have some original "round" lightbulbs in the basement that aren't replaced yet. I guess I dont go there very often.

...to mailboxes as part of an effort to raise awareness and promote action.

They are both cranky republicans

...when you're old".

Or take them down to the swap meet.

Like dimmers and three way lamps.

The round ones that stick out. They're the last ones I need, they're a bit more spendy than the others. I like them just fine. My daughter replaced all hers too.

Right now though, everybody needs to do the plastic on the windows. It makes a huge difference and is so cheap.

They're a little expensive, but I put them in my bathrooms - they only consume 9 watts each, so six of them use less electricity than a single conventional 60 watt incandescent bulb. And they do look good - the outside is a globe bulb, frosted, and concealed inside is the fluorescent tube. It doesn't look too shabby.

Three more require either standing on beds to get to the ceiling fan lights and with my bad knee, I don't want to chance it.
A couple of others are going to need a ladder to get to and someone very flexible!

My porch light, carport light and flood lights have been replaced with efficient bulbs, too.

Compact Fluorescent bulbs use a fair bit of energy when they're first turned on, building up the initial charge necessary to ignite the fluorescent gas in the tube. Once the bulb is lit, it then takes much less energy to keep it burning, compared with an ordinary incandescent bulb. However, if the fluorescent bulb is constantly turned off and on, it will actually draw more power than an equivalent incandescent bulb over time.

So CF bulbs should not be used in places where lighting is only needed for short periods of time, or where the light will be turned on and off frequently. So I wouldn't use them in bathrooms, garages, utility rooms, etc. Until affordable LED bulbs hit the market (next year?), incandescent bulbs are still the best solution for these applications.

Also, as someone pointed out above, CFs shouldn't be used in dimmer or three-way switches. The variations in power can shorten a CF's life dramatically.

It's obvious that whoever designs these bulbs has never set foot inside an older home.

i have a house that uses Colonial kind candle bulbs...and they don't fit in those sockets. But, i'd say half of my house if flourescent and those energy efficient bulbs...in the places where i use most light.

i'm trying...

installation and light fixtures most blew out after a few days, one lasted around 3 weeks. The solution is to rewire the whole house and put in new fixtures (along with replacing the plumbing) but it is a rental and the owners are not about to do that, the house is 40+/- years old. Others living in houses this age have reported the same problems. Worried about the fire hazard.

blows anything stronger than a 60 watt bulb. House was
built in 1931. I have replaced some of our bulbs and
have had good luck so far. Still only use 60 watt or less
because of our wiring.

replaced with a 75 W equivalent still blew. Tried a couple of times, bulb bursted twice. Mercury is in these bulbs, as well as fluorescents. In the old days you had to dispose of fluos at a special place, these places no longer exist in ABQ. So going with incandescent for the time being, would like to save the money, but replacement cost alot with no savings.

:shrug: :cry: :shrug:

fixtures are rated for (some are not original to the house) the
ancient wiring will blow anything over 60 watts.

the ones in the chandelier and the flared lights where the bulb is visible I ain't allowed to touch.

Silly not to use them. You are just throwing money away if you don't.

edited to add: Forgot we have a chandelier with small old bulbs in it as well.

and the oven requires an oven bulb for obvious reasons. The lights I keep on are fluorescents. The incandescents are used only for specific tasks and not frequently.

I started making the switch 11 years ago, more out of laziness and not wanting to climb up on a stepladder to change bulbs every couple of month than for any reduction in the electric bill.

It's worked out well.

were all replaced. I am on a small small budget, but I am doing it as I can. I am most of the way there now, but I do have a question about bulbs in those fixtures that have globes/domes over them. I have heard that you are not supposed to use the compact fluorescent bulbs there. Is that true? Does anyone know? Those are all that I have left to replace; 5 fixtures with domes over the bulbs. The zillions of the rest of them have been replaced.

A globe fixture recommends a max of 60w INCANDESCENT bulbs. But a 100w equivalent CFL uses only 24w, and it runs cooler than the same fixture with a 60w incandescent.

More light for less bucks.

I have been wondering if I can do that or not. I have been sticking with the CFL equivalent of 60w(13w). Thank you for letting me know you can use them in the dome/globe light fixtures. I can finish up and do them all then. :D

can't go anywhere that uses 'em (without factor 70 sunscreen and special fabric covering everything including my hands and face), can't wait for LEDs to get brighter and cheaper.

my eye doctor says it is because my eyes try to match their almost imperceptable flickering. I get dizzy and a bit disoriented around them. I have special tinted glasses but they don't help much.

I feel like I start walking and thinking in circles when under those lights. It's eerie - like I'm some grade "B" horror movie.

...older ones had a low flicker rate around 60Hz. Newer ones have flicker rates in the KHz. If you haven't tried one in years, you may want to give one a shot now.

Thanks for the tip!

and the UV from any type of fluorescent makes me brutally ill. I can take about an hour (with sunscreen) and then I start forming lesions on my skin and in my mouth.

I'll burn candles before I'll use CFLs.

whats that about?

the laundry room. At least as far as rooms I go in. My roommate might still be on incadescents. But I leave CFLs out for him to use as he needs them as well.

Only table lamps and the like are incandescent.

because there are still some old-fashioned bulbs in the lights we don't use much, like in the guest room, but all the major ones have been switched out.

How do you plan to dispose of these? How do millions of people plan to dispose of them?

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=aa7796aa-e4a5-4c06-be84-b62dee548fda

:scared:

Yes, they have mercury, but the amount is essentially a globule the size of the ball in a ball-point pen.

You do have to take precautions when you clean them - open the windows and air the place out so you're not breathing mercury vapor, use a broom to sweep the pieces of the bulb into a tupperware container, then use paper towels to mop up what little mercury may be on the floor around the break site. Finish by sealing up all the cleaning materials, then dropping them off at a recycling place.

Take a few precautions (google for them, don't take my word for it) and you'll be fine.

Even with the mercury, CF bulbs ARE greener than conventional bulbs - the mercury inside the bulb, even if released, is less than the amount of mercury released into the atmosphere by a coal power plant to generate the electricity to power that conventional bulb.

Edit: More details: http://www.21st-century-citizen.com/2007/08/10/how-to-clean-up-a-broken-compact-fluorescent-light-cfl-bulb/

fixtures, and as a renter I cannot change fixtures......

Since they are not dimmable.
Don't turn on immediately.
Degrade with time. Etc.

After the summer of rolling blackouts.

These ARE 75 watt equiv too.


Who is saying these are too expensive?

Like all fluorescent bulbs, they contain mercury.

As someone stated upthread, they're not exactly an environmental godsend, either. Cities and towns need to get much more on the ball about toxics drop-offs... and places that sell them have a responsibility to INFORM people not to just put 'em in the trash.

9.9 9.8 10 9.9 10 9.2 9.2 ....

hey! damn french and russian collusion between judges!

otherwise we're excellent in this house. mmm, energy savings.... more money for beer....

another good tip is to use an electric kettle. saves on wasteful uses of energy boiling water in a pot, speeds up the process, and keeps it warmer longer.

I bought a bunch of those cheap torchiere lamps before I realized what power hogs they were.

This is what I did with one of them:

The pole is in sections -- the bottom section makes a nice battery tube for 8 D cells:
So I made it run on D-size NiMH rechargeable batteries. It could run off a 12 volt wall wart
if I wire up a connector for one.



I glued the XR-E's directly to the aluminum reflector with Arctic Alumina.
I cut all 4 corners on all but the most negative of the LEDs because they
are in series.



Currently direct drive, and the LEDs are barely coasting along at 400ma
with a set of partly-charged NiMH's. Obviously room for improvement
here. What sort of controller would work best for this? Continuously
variable would be a big plus.





This torchiere has since been updated with a Fatman controller and 1 more Cree XR-E LED. It is dimmable by means of a 50k audio taper
potentiometer (mounted in the original dimmer hole) connected to the Fatman.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=148472

Those torchieres that originally shipped with a whopping-
big 300 W quartz-halogen lamp can all be easily down-lamped
to 150 Watts. Not only will you perceive it as nearly as
bright, but you'll save half the electricity and the lamp
will be that much less of a fire hazard if tipped over or
if something falls on it.

Our torchiers (which see very little runtime) have all
been down-lamped in this fashion, but I really like your
LED idea!

Tesha

PG&E runs a subsidized rebate program here - 4 for a buck.

There are a couple left in my place that are conventional incandescents, but the vast majority of the bulbs in my apartment are now CF bulbs. I just replaced the bathroom mirror bulbs with special CF globe bulbs (Lowes carries them.)

The outside lights have motion sensors so they are not on much. Fluorescents don't fit in those fixtures.

There are no equivalents for the globe-type lights in the bathroom (and color rendition matters a bit more in there).

Fluorescents don't work well in a refrigerator, due to the temperature.

I don't think they make fluorescent candelabra base lamps.

We have replaced some of the CF's with even more efficient (and greener) LED lamps.
Have a box more of these waiting to be installed when I replace some fixtures.

I remember hearing all kinds of stuff about how the light is unnatural and depressing, the flicker can trigger seizures, all kind of stuff.

The color from modern CF bulbs is better and warmer, the ballasts cause the flicker to occur at a very high frequency, rather than the traditional 60 Hz, and I definitely like the effect they have on my electric bill.

at my home sounds awful. Not that bad, then?

There are a few differences that take getting used to. When you first turn them on, they come on instantly, but at about half-brightness. It takes about 2-3 minutes for them to warm up and come to full brightness. The color seems OK, doesn't bother me - they use newer phosphor formulations in most CF bulbs that have a warmer color than old-school tube lights. As for flicker, I'm actually sensitive to flicker - for me, I notice it when I use a computer with an old CRT monitor that isn't set to a high enough refresh rate, say 75 Hz or more - I can visibly see the flicker there and it bugs me. Most modern CF bulbs use an electronic ballast with a frequency in the kilohertz range, unlike the older tubes that flicker at 60 Hz with the AC power. I don't see the flicker at all in CF bulbs. You might see them flicker for less than a second when you first turn them on, but after that first second, the flicker stops.

have that small base. I have ceiling fans in every room but my dining room, which has a beautiful crystal chanelier that wasmy grandmothers and it has the small base bulbs behind the 550 hanging crystals. Everything else in the house has either flourecent bulbs or the newer spiral ones.

I'm thinking the food might not.

just got the fan in the bedroom left to do - yes INDEED

i just wait for the old bulb to die, then i replace it.

Our house is old. The new bulbs don't fit into all of the fixtures. We love the new ones. Our bill went way, way down since we started using them. We could not believe how much less we paid for energy after changing the bulbs.

We replaced every bulb, indoor and out, for all "on/off" sockets, the only ones left that are incandescent are the ones in the ceiling fans in the kitchen and living room, a total of about 4 bulbs(we only put two in each), which use dimmer switches. I looked, high and low, for florescent bulbs that can be used with dimmer switches, but I can't find them in my area.

Some of my lights are not cfl compatible so I have been using 24 volt 30 watt halogen bulbs combined with dimmers.
My line of work is electrical construction in the home remodeling field.Me and the contractors I work with sell energy efficient appliances and lighting to our clients.
So far I have taken 200 kilowatts off the grid in the last year.That is 200 kw that no longer needs to be generated by the power company.

Changed out 17 bulbs in February and have been pushing same in a couple of LTTE's and in a newsletter that I write for my workplace.

I've replaced the bulbs in every single fixture that can accomodate them. If you live in an older house like I do, you may have many light fixtures which can't accomodate the new, "green" bulbs, which are a bit longer than the old bulbs. I have a deco slip-shade chandlier and wall sconces original to the house and I'd love to use the green bulbs but they won't fit (Too long - I can't squeeze them in. I tried.). Neither do they make those bulbs for enclosed ceiling shades like the ones in our kitchen. I've replaced some of the fixtures to accomodate the new bulbs but I'm not going to toss out an entire houseful of beautiful deco fixtures to change a light bulb. I've compromised by switching to low-wattage bulbs for some of the vintage fixtures. This still doesn't solve the problem in my studio, where I need decent lighting to work. I've yet to find a "green" bulb that emits enough light for studio work. I would also like some eco-friendly bulbs you can use for outdoor lights.

Perhaps it's because I live in a small town where my shopping options are limited, but from what I've seen almost all of the bulbs on the market are designed for new homes and fixtures. Or perhaps these manufacturers think most people just light their homes with table or floor lamps. Whatever the case, whoever designs these things has apparently never set foot inside an older home or they'd know the bulbs they design don't fit many older fixtures.

So my answer is yes, wherever possible. In my home, that covers about 50%.

... to replace "every" bulb. For example, the bulb inside your refrigerator, or bulbs that you want to dim.

I've replaced about 90% of the bulbs in my house, if not more.

About 1/3 of them burn out within a few months. These are the larger, spotlight type of bulbs, essentially the kind shown in your pic but with a big glass reflector around it.

I have a dining room overhead that uses 6 of those tiny bulbs. I haven't seen CFC replacements yet. However, next month, I'm replacing the fixture with a light/fan combo that WILL take CFC bulbs, which I've already bought for it.

the fucking thing blew up, mercury and all, all over the place, and you're supposed to dispose of them like they are a chemical hazard. Well I didn't know that and just threw it out. Don't know what caused it to blow, but I took the rest back and said hugh ugh.

:scared:

I've had several burn out in 6 months or less, which I know can't be typical.

CF bulbs do have electronics in them, which makes them more vulnerable to power spikes, brownouts & such than normal bulbs. If you have noisy power, or you have bad wiring that's causing power issues, that could be causing the bulbs to fail.

electric company out several times, plus 2 electricians, plus I tested the outlets myself with a voltmeter (they were fine when I checked). All I could find is that I was using 100W bulbs when I shouldnl't use anything over 60W. The electric company put a 1 week power monitor on my house to test for surges and whatnot and found nothing. Since I got rid of my 100W's I haven't had electrical problems, so maybe that was it. Still... the fluorescents don't last as long as they should. And I don't know what else I could do to test my power.

I know a couple who had the power average about 103-107 volts in their home because they were near the end of the power line on the street. For decades it wasn't a problem, and then with the tech boom, they discovered stuff wouldn't work right, and called the power company. The company ended up tying them into another line.

Check your power.

I have some that can not be replaced with any existing green bulb. For example, I have a light in the bathroom that is recessed in the ceiling. The distance between the socket and the glass is too small to put the green bulb, which is longer than a standard bulb, in. I'm not going to replace this fixture that uses 1 60 watt bulb. I also have a chandelier in the infrequently used dining room. I don't think their are green bulbs that fit it that can work with the dimmer switch.

Otherwise I switched them all early this year, because I felt I should as I watched every appearance the Kerrys made on their book tour. Yes, I know Gore was mentioning these earlier. It's just that I felt I would be a hypocrite posting links and comments on the Kerry appearances if I didn't. (I also was pushed by THK's chapter on toxins to look for and us "green" paint when repainting a room and some wall ways - this was a good experience as it did not have the typical nauseating paint smell. I switched to non-toxic cleaning products as well. These changes affect the environment as well - though not global warming.)

We've replaced every bulb that makes economic sense.

By that, I mean:

o Every bulb that is routinely used *AND*
is run for more than a minute or two at
time and for which a usable CFL replacement
was available.


Examples of lamps we haven'et replaced yet:

o Closet lamps -- the run time is too short;
In the time between switch-on and switch-off,
CFLs wouldn't even get bright, and the run
time is often less than a minute. Based on
how often these lamps burn out (never),
their aggregate runtime is probably just
an hour or two per year; CFLs wouldn't
last any longer and wouldn't pay back ever,
either in cost or ecological expense.

o Some hall lamps that run longer than the
closet lamps, but not by much. These are
now all converted to slightly-more-efficient
quartz halogen lamps, but may end up as
CFLs.

o The lamp in the kitchen over the island.
Won't take a CFL form-factor lamp.

o The mirror lamps at the bathroom mirror
and my vanity table. These are not the
main room lights (which are CFL) so they
also get short run time, plus these are
the two places I really want good color
rendering (plus fast turn-on).

o The fridge. Minutes per year.

o A few lamps on dimmers, but as soon as I
see a good source for dimmable CFLs, they're
history too.

Tesha

> Some hall lamps that run longer than the
> closet lamps, but not by much. These are
> now all converted to slightly-more-efficient
> quartz halogen lamps, but may end up as CFLs.

FYI, we had a bunch of the quartz halogen ones and I've found
LED lamps with the same fittings so they are simple to swap.
They are marginally less bright but much more efficient, last
longer and - important for the kids - are a hell of a lot cooler
than the halogens!

Hope this helps!
:hi:

But LEDs still have pretty awful color rendering.

Tesha

efficient lighting) in our family room (it was expensive as we bought the sustem when it first came out.) I am replacing my christmas lights with LED as well. (NOTE: PHILLIPS BLUE LED CHRISTMAS LIGHTS ARE SPECTACULAR!)

I was not impressed with the floods that I bought and will probably end up getting LED bulbs. I've only found one candelabra sized bulb and it was ugly and very dim.

which will require replacing the fixtures too and they are lights that are very seldom used in fact a couple haven't been on since I checked the circuits a couple three years ago.
We see a 20 buck or so saving each month on our bill too which has already repaid us for our original outlay. One of the things I like in the bath room and kitchen is the fact the cfl's don't light up full brightness instantly like incandescents do, gives the tired ole eyes a moment to adjust. ;-)

splchk

I haven't seen any LEDs for that yet.

from Rejuvenation.com, and they're now offering to wire the fixtures to take a two-pronged CFL bulb. Their premise is that eventually LED bulbs will be available for use in the fixtures. They are even selling them at 30% off, which makes them cheaper than the conventional bulb fixtures.

Are in a ceiling candelabra thing because the CFLs don't fit in the sockets there, in the desk lamps that came with the dorm for the same reason, and in the fridge.

The rest of them are seldom turned on and some are speciality so the "green" bulbs don't fit.

The bulbs don't work at -40.

I spent about 15.00 for a lightbulb for my front porch light. I just replaced it last year. These lights are not simply the flourescents in packs. I haven't seen them for sale anywhere recently, but they are GREAT for places where you don't want to replace the bulb for years, like stairs, high ceilings, etc.

14 years for one light bulb. not a bad return for my 15.00 back then.

how I have the cheaper florescents in most all of my lights, and as bulbs burn out I am replacing them with the new ones.

since I have kids, I wish I could install motion sensors in all the rooms in my house so that lights go off if no one is in the room. over the years, I bet that would pay for itself ten times over!! as it is, I just constantly remind them and more times than not they remember because they don't want to hear me tell them or make them get up from bed and turn off lights, etc.

And I dont think I will anytime soon as I have a couple of hundred of the old style still to use. And I think they may outlast me.

Throwing them away before they are at the end of their useful life is in no way green.

Incandescents produce a lot of heat and are therefore useful for heating in the winter time.

they are expensive, and the ones I have seem to burn out much faster. I am going to stick with them though.

All of the lights in our living room and dining room have been replace. the bedside lights in our bedroom. the over head lights will be burning out pretty soon & they'll get green lights. If anyone knows if some one is make 1- 5 watt green bulb that will replace the bulb in Fender amplifiers please let me know. Also the light bulb in our address is impossible to replace. if anyone know if come company is making green 1/4 watt bulbs that are compatible with a circa 1920 light fixture please let me know too.

oh I also don't drive. I walk ride a bike, use public transportation or carpool everywhere. just to show how insanely committed I am to all this I only use mechanical pencils and fountain pens. And I very rarely brag or argue about any of the above.

I answered every single one but honestly I haven't gotten around to the one fixture on a dimmer switch yet. When we replaced all of them, they did not yet make compact fluorescents for dimmer switches. I know they do know so I better get that last one done.

I have them everywhere else - even in the outdoor lights.

I haven't yet found a CFL that can match the small size, color and light output of the 300-watt halogen worklights I use in my shop.

Other than that, pretty much everything is CFL or conventional flourecent. I still have some fixtures to replace bfeore I can install the CFLs.

and I'll keep my eyes out for those.... I haven't seen them yet but folks here are assuring me they exist! :D

replace the out door bulbs (which aren't turned on very often) as they burn out! :hi:

Wouldn't it be really nice if "green" people lobbied for getting offsets to include buying lightbulbs for people who can't afford it?????

Wouldn't that be the "liberal" thing to do?

Whenever a light bulb burns out, we always replace it with the latest high-tech version.

When I moved into this house they had all regular blubs. And none have gone out since I moved in back in July. But since it's all old wiring in the house, the house is 50+ years old, I don't know how well they'll do.

infrequent ones - will be replaced when they burn out

These are in the livingroom ceiling fan as we rarely use the livingroom except for very infrequent times when we have visitors. End table lamp bulb has been replaced.

Side porch - switch is busted, no sense in replacing bulb until we replace the switch

2 wall lights in hallway - maybe use them for about 5 minutes or less once every two weeks

cellar - 3 lights there on the list to be replaced

bathroom medicine cabinet lights - also on the list

Kitchen, den, bedroom, back porch lights which we use everyday have all been replaced

Our electric rates went up this past January, we switch the bulbs we use daily and found while our CONSUMPTION went down significantly that even with the rate increase our electric bill stayed the same.