RE: low voltage & bulb species

From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Fri Jul 06 2001 - 00:10:27 MDT


At 09:48 PM 7/5/01 -0700, Amara 2 wrote:

>According to GE, a 15-watt compact fluorescent bulb can replace a 60-watt
>incandescent bulb.

Yes, but--

>Lighting in homes and businesses can represent 20% of energy usage. The
>common incandescent light bulbs waste most of the energy they use as heat.

--wait for it--

>The CFB bulbs will last many years. Do the experiment. Replace one or two
>light bulbs in your home that burn most of the time, such as outdoor lights.

The hidden killer consideration is in the last sentence. You can only
sensibly use these units in rooms where it's switched on first thing in the
morning and off last thing at nite (or left on 24/7/365.25). I had one in
the kitchen, where I do a lot of mooching and reading, and it lasted a long
time. I put another in the bathroom, where I ditto but in shorter and much
more frequent intervals, and the bastard died after a year or less. Okay,
it used less juice, but it cost about 10 to 20 times as much to purchase a
fluoro. Ferggeddit.

The LED idea might be a goer, though.

Damien Broderick



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