My Environmental Good Deed for the Day

I changed a light bulb. Actually, I changed two. When I noticed a bulb had burned out in my bathroom, I decided to replace both bulbs in the fixture.

From this:

to this:

These compact fluorescent light bulbs fit into the same space as the old fashioned ones, and with the cover in place, you can't tell any difference.


The color is a little bluer than the incandescents over the bathroom sink,


or the CFL I have in the light fixture by my back door.


Here, the temperature rating of "Daylight" is about 6000 Kelvins. I am still getting used to this look.


In retrospect, I think I would look for bulbs labeled "warm white," "soft white," or "bright white," which are rated in the 3000-3500 Kelvin range, as being a little more natural.

These CFLs give off the equivalent light of a 60W bulb while only using 14W of energy. That's an estimated $37 savings per bulb over the life of the bulb, about 8000 hours, in electricity use. They cost $2 a piece, on sale from $4 each. This is more than standard bulbs would cost, but it would take 10 incandescent bulbs to equal the life span of one CFL.

So far, I have put CFL's in the outdoor light fixtures at my front and back doors and in this one in the bathroom. I have at least two other ceiling lights slated for replacement with CFLs. I'm starting with those since they are the harder bulbs to change.

The draw-backs: CFLs have a slight delay in start time as compared to incandescents. I notice this in my outdoor lights in cold weather, but it is not a big problem. The larger issue is that all CFLs contain mercury. Finding a way to safely disposed of the used bulbs is a problem I will have to deal with in the future.

Oh yeah, and I recycled the cardboard packaging, too.

###

A rhetorical question: Why, if we can put a man on the moon and make compact fluorescent light bulbs, why do we still use these teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy thumb screws to attach the covers onto ceiling light fixtures?