What Light Bulbs Are Better for You and for the Environment?

Watts: A Watt is a unit of power. If a 100 Watt Bulb is used for 1 hour, then that comes to 100 Watt-hours. Watts is the measurement of power that the electric company uses to calculate how much power you used. Most electric companies bill in kWh (Kilo-Watts and Hour). Mine cost me $0.12 per kWh. A kilowatt is 1000 watts. I would have to use my 100 Watt light bulb for 10 hours in order to reach 1 kilowatt.

Lumen: Lumen is the measurement of light. It is the power/strength of light. The lower the number the less light there is. Lumen's measure the light per square meter. If a light bulb produces 1000 lumen then in a 1 meter by 1 meter area, the light would be 1000 lumen in that area, but in a 2 meter by 2 meter area the lumen would be reduced to 250 lumen for that area. Basically, a higher lumen mean a brighter light and room.

Types of Light Blubs

Incandescent
Incandescent light bulbs use electricity to heat of a piece of wire (the tungsten filament) in order to product light. These light bulbs disburse a larger amount of heat which can be good if you live in colder climates. The bulbs are used primarily in products where you would need light and heat, such as a greenhouse, incubator and the children's toy Easy Bake Oven.

Halogen
Halogen light bulbs use the same technology as the incandescent. There is still a filament or wire that is heated up in order to produce light. The difference is that Halogen gas is used to extend the life of the bulb. When the filament heats up, it releases atoms that cause discoloration in the incandescent bulbs. When this happens the filament weakens and eventually breaks. With Halogen gas, when the atoms are released from the filament, the gas is able to create a chemical reaction which brings the atoms back to the filament which can keep the filament stronger. However the process of keeping the gas in a smaller space within the bulb causes the bulb to get hotter then the standard incandescent bulb. In this case hotter also means a slightly brighter white light.

Compact Fluorescent
Fluorescent bulbs work but sending an electrical current though a tube filled with mercury and gas. Fluorescent lighting is currently the closest thing to sunlight when it comes to color accuracy and brightness. You may associate fluorescent lights to that of flicking lights with a low hum which can be true for the industrial and business lighting. With compact fluorescent, you should not experience the flickering light and only some poorly made fluorescents emit a buzzing sound.

LED or Light Emitting Diodes
Light from LED lights are created by an electrical current that passes through a semiconductor. It's stable, solid and doesn't emit large amounts of heat. We are already using LEDs in our every day light and might not even realize it. The blinking light on our TV remotes, our alarm clocks, the lights on the VCR and DVD players, those are all LED lights. Now we are able to combine a lot of the tiny lights into one big light. These little lights are very energy efficient. However the downside is that they currently cost a lot more then other light bulbs and the light is more for focused light (such as a lamp or reading light) then as a something to light a whole room with.

Our Comparison Bulbs: Incandescent Halogen Compact Fluorescent LED Lumens 800 840 800 120 Watts 60 60 13 3 Lifespan (hours) 1,000 2,500 15,000 50,000

* I looked, looked, looked and looked. I could not find an LED Light bulb that had 800 Lumens. The largest I found was the one listed. Anything larger in lumens were spotlights since LED is best for spotlighting and not so much for lighting a room.

In conclusion, the most efficient and cost effective light bulb would be our Compact Fluorescent. You may say that since LED last so long that they are more efficient. That may be true and has shown true with some studies, but until LED light bulbs are able to light the room like Fluorescents can, it just wouldn't be practical. LED's best use would be for spotlights, flash light and traffic lights. Since it only takes fluorescent 13 watts to give the same light as a 60 watt incandescent, it will cost you 75% less to light your home. Plus you'll save the earth by reducing the greenhouse gases created by your electric company. You really can't go wrong with Fluorescents.