Comments on Home Efficiency Blog: Are CFLs Worth Their Price?

MEEH, When we wrote this post, LED's were sti...

2011-02-11T11:51:11.310-05:00

MEEH,
When we wrote this post, LED's were still crazy expensive and there were very few that could be dropped in to existing fixtures. That has changed and is continuing to change in a great way.
We haven't yet done the lab testing at PlotWatt to assess performance (temperature, dimming, etc.) and I suspect the life cycle cost analysis (given fairly serious raw materials

In your opinion how do CFLs compare to LEDs - ligh...

2011-02-11T06:24:03.587-05:00

In your opinion how do CFLs compare to LEDs - light "temperature" and environmentally?

Ok, so I have replaced all the most frequently use...

2010-11-22T17:30:32.132-05:00

Ok, so I have replaced all the most frequently used light bulbs in my house with CFL'S, for free courtesy of my electric provider. I have not really noticed any savings on my electric bill, at least nothing to get excited over.

luke, thanks for simplifying thingsfor 55 yr old,p...

2008-02-27T13:49:00.000-05:00

luke, thanks for simplifying thingsfor 55 yr old,prematurely senile people.im off to the hardware store

Thanks Ron for the 'toxic' question. This mercury...

2008-02-27T06:35:00.000-05:00

Thanks Ron for the 'toxic' question. This mercury problem has been discussed several times on NPR. Luke's reference to mercury release by incandescent bulbs surprised me. The graph is great, but too large to print. My computer screen is small.

Good question Ron. As I understand it there is abo...

2008-02-25T22:30:00.000-05:00

Good question Ron. As I understand it there is about 5 mg of mercury in a CFL. As a point of comparison old school thermometers had ~500 mg. A more relevant comparison though is the amount of mercury released during the most common form of electricity generation, coal power. Apparently over a 5 year period, an incandescent bulb will use enough energy to release 10 mg of mercury into the air.

I'm wondering if there are hidden environmental co...

2008-02-25T07:20:00.000-05:00

I'm wondering if there are hidden environmental costs to CFL's? Is there anything really toxic or rare that's required to make them? Also, nice graph!