Why Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs?
In an effort to hold your attention, we will skip the technical issues herefilaments and the release of thermally equilibrated photons and so on. We will say that incandescent bulbs are highly inefficient since the light they generate is really just a by-product of heat generation. According to the Federal Trade Commission, incandescent bulbs lose 90 percent of the electricity consumed as heat and only last 750-1000 hours, whereas CFLs use 75 percent less energy for the same amount of light (producing no heat) and last 10,000 hours. For the homeowner this means a savings of $30 or more over each bulb’s lifetime, not to mention the significant decrease of millions of tons of global warming pollution. Shining the Light on Brightness The first mistake most people make is in buying CFLs that are way too bright. Light is measured in lumens, but we have come to quantify brightness by watts, which is actually the amount of power a bulb uses. Since 90 percent of the watts used to light an inca
