Compact Fluorescents vs. Incandecent: The Bulb Battle of the Ages

I must confess...when compact fluorescent bulbs first came out I was not a fan. Being a licensed Electrician, I didn't like the idea of that much more fluorescent bulbs would mean more harmonic problems. No, light bulbs don't affect musical instruments...harmonics are an electrical term....eh...way to much info for here. Suffice it to say fluorescent ballast can cause disruption of harmonics. Let's leave it there.

So! I wasn't a fan...each bulb has it's own ballast built in and I was concerned with the problems this would cause. I also did not like the fact that in colder rooms, cooler nights out doors, and even in general in some cases, the bulbs are very slow to get up to full brightness. I don't like turning on lights and still feeling like I'm in the dark.

However over time I began to warm up to the idea. The facility where I was working did a complete conversion, changing out almost all incandescent bulbs in favor of the compact fluorescent. The initial cost was staggering, but the savings over time quickly compensated.

General Electric reports that "If every household in the U.S. replaced ONE light bulb with a GE Energy Smart bulb, we would save...

• A combined national total of $600 million a year in energy costs.
• Enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars." (http://www.gelighting.com)

On GE's site you can also check out an estimated savings chart they have provided.
It's evident that there is a cost savings to be had. However, one could say that GE is trying to sell bulbs so of course they will produce this information. Instead of taking their word for it, let's do some calculations ourselves.

So let's say you have, a 100W incandescent light bulb and it runs 3 hours a day. We'll go with an average utility company charge of $.10 per KWH (kilo watt hour, their rate of measurement.)

The rating on a light bulb tells how many watts of power that will be consumed per hour. So, a 100 watt light bulb will use 100 watts of power for every hour burned.

100 watts x 3 hours x 365 days a year.
100 x 3 = 300. 300 x 365 = 109500 watts per year.
109500 / 1000 (kilo) = 109.5 kilo watts per year.
Average utility cost is $.10. 109.5 x .10 = $10.95 cost for one year.

Keep in mind that is one bulb in your house.

Now to compare with the compact fluorescent. Most are 13 watt.

13 watts x 3 hours x 365 days a year.
13 x 3 = 39. 39 x 365 = 14235 watts per year.
14235 / 1000 (kilo) = 14.235 kilo watts per year.
Average utility cost is $.10. 14.235 x .10 = $1.42 cost for one year.

1 - 100 watt incandescent - $10.95 per year.
1 - 13 watt compact fluorescent - $1.42 per year.
Difference of $9.53 per year.

That is quite staggering! Consider how many bulbs you have in your home, and you could come up with quite a savings.

General Electric also provides an interactive savings calculator where you can input the exact number and wattage of bulbs in your home. You can check it out here.

Obviously if you can handle the slight problem of being dim when first turned on, compact fluorescent bulbs are by far the better choice for your home.