[NCLUG] Re: "Green" power.

[John L. Bass]

Grant Johnson wrote:
>
>> Not much.
>>
>> You're better off with LEDs.  There's also some minor hazardous 
>> materials
>> concern with LEDs, but it's less significant, and the lights last *much*
>> longer than compact fluorescent bulbs.  They also tend to produce a less
>> dismal shade of light.
>>
>> I have a couple of CF lights here in my living room, and I now wish I'd
>> gotten something else instead.  They frankly suck.  I won't toss and
>> replace them any time soon, though, because (on the conservation side of
>> things) it's kinda pointless to throw 'em away once they've already been
>> bought and pressed into service.
>>
>> I'll get incandescents or LEDs in the future, though, unless something
>> better comes along.  CFs just aren't on my shopping list.
>>   
> I agree.   Also, you can dim LED's.   There are two nice things about 
> CF bulbs:
> 1)  Much cheaper than LED's at this point.
> 2)  They last a long time (compared to incandescent bulbs), so are 
> good for very hard to reach places like the light above the staircase.
>
> I am looking forward to LED bulbs being generally commercially available.
I still have CFL's that I installed almost 20 years ago in some light 
use areas, from the first round of CFL's. In high use areas, they seem 
to have a life of around 5-7 years in my household, a few fail early due 
to ballast/starter failures.

For a typical family, the savings about 7% of electric use over the long 
term, which is pretty significant for our nation and planet. In some 
cases, where lighting is used a significant portion of a day, or 24x7, 
the savings are significantly higher. This is especially true in 
business applications where natural light isn't available, which is why 
standard tube fluorescents have widely been used for around 50 years to 
light offices and stores, to save a huge electric bill. As one go's 
farther north, the savings become more significant, as there is a higher 
lighting demand during fall, winter, and spring seasons.

Like long tube fluorescents, there are multiple spectrum options for 
CFL's, including "soft" versions which have a higher red output to match 
tungsten lights.

Mercury has been in every fluorescent bulb for 70 years, the concern 
about this however has only been recent, following wide spread adoption 
of CFL's. That concern caused the fluorescent industry to cap the amount 
of mercury used in bulbs to a safer level, and develop some with only 
trace amounts of mercury ... look for low mercury bulbs if concerned. 
Some major stores, like Home Depot have announced recycling programs for 
fluorescent bulbs, to take up the slack where land fill operations are not.

In recent years, we have seen a number of things banned from landfills, 
like lead from electronics and batteries. Our current generations are 
taking a much more Green view of the entire life cycle of many products 
... which is good.

Other alternatives to help reduce electric consumption, especially in 
the summer, and mid-day, are tube skylights. I installed two of these to 
light a hallway and bathroom in our house a couple years ago, with 
awesome results. It made the entire center of the house lighter during 
the day, spilling into the surrounding rooms from the hallway, with a 
very low increase in heating during the summer.

As the price comes down on white light LED arrays, it will become time 
to retire CFL use, and tungsten use.