Everyone seems to be up in arms about the whole Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb (CFL) issue. There are those that, from Day 1, could not wait to switch over their lights to the new bulbs, and then there are those that won’t be caught within 100 feet of them, and have even complained to public institutions that have CFL’s in them that they want them removed.
The process of how a CFL bulb works is, frankly, more boring than the instructions to a piece of put-together furniture, so I won’t bore anyone with the process. Suffice to say, they do not work the same way as a traditional bulb. In a traditional bulb, the electricity warms the filament in the bulb until it glows, generating light. In a CFL, the process is handled by electric current being sent through a tube that contains both argon and a small amount of mercury vapors. They take longer to warm up, but in the end, they use less energy because they give off less heat. CFL bulbs even have a “ballast” in them that will kick start the heat and keep the current flowing.
Was that short enough without being boring?
This post was not meant to be a lengthy, technical rambling – I’ll let EnergyStar and the EPA handle that. They have wonderful directions (complete with schematics!) on their websites. No, this post was meant to focus on the top five complaints I have garnered in looking into the different facets of Compact Fluorescent Bulb.
Complaint #1: They have mercury in them!
Solution: Don’t break them.
Yes, it’s true that CFL bulbs contain mercury. However, they expend no mercury when lit or as long as they remain intact. While it is true that they are something that requires special disposal due to the mercury, again, as long as the bulb remains intact, that’s all they require. And personally, I’ve dropped one from a height of about 3 feet, and it didn’t break – luckily. That’s not to say that you should replace, water balloons with CFL bulbs the next time you have a contest. Just don’t drop them and you should be fine. And by the way, the average thermometer growing up (for those of us that remember mercury thermometers) contained about 11% mercury, and we were sticking that in our mouths! CFL bulbs contain less than 4% mercury, and if you’re sticking that in your mouth, well…I just don’t want to know.
Complaint #2: The government is making me buy them!
Solution: Stockpile the traditional bulbs.
While legislation was introduced that will ban the selling of traditional light bulbs along about the year 2014, they are still widely being sold. Just walk into any store and ask – you will be directed to an aisle’s worth of traditional light bulbs. They go on sale fairly regularly, and are not as perishable as, say, milk or eggs. They will keep for a long time and, with any luck, you can stockpile enough to hold out until the next big breakthrough – LED bulbs, which are currently on the market but still priced too extravagantly for those that have to choose between the LED bulb and their next month’s worth of groceries.
Complaint #3: The light they give off is this funny color…
Solution: Try a different bulb.
The CFL bulb has long had a rocky relationship with some consumers, mainly those that raced to try the first ones on the market. Past CFL bulbs have indeed caused funny, blu-ish or green-ish light, but today’s CFL bulbs come in a variety of shapes and colors, and can cause anything from soft white to almost daylight conditions in bulbs. Save the receipt, return it to the store or give it to someone else that needs it, and try a different bulb. Most stores are happy to accept exchanges – at least the last time I checked. And if you have friends that are die-hard users of CFL bulbs, hey – they make great Christmas presents!
Complaint #4: They don’t work with dimmer and/or three-way switches
Solution: Yes, they will, you just have to find the right bulb.
Okay, I’m not saying that “one size fits all”, because it doesn’t. CFL bulbs specifically say that if you plan to use them with a dimmer switch you should buy one specifically for a dimmer. It’s the same with a 3-way lamp. But there are CFL bulbs on the market that will work with dimmer switches. There are also CFL bulbs on the market that will work with 3-way lamps – for example, GE Lighting makes a 3-way 12-23-29 bulb that is comparable to a 50-100-150 incandescent bulb for $14.99 at staples.com. The bulb advertises that it lasts 6 years. That’s a lot of incandescent bulbs.
Complaint #5: They give me headaches, blurry vision, and nausea.
Solution: …
This one was a toughie, because it actually is a valid complaint. Medical studies have actually been done on this subject. In a study done by the Louisiana State University Department of Medicine on patients with systemic lupus, 13 out of 30 participants actually showed an increase in disease activity. Parents of children with autism have complained as well, that the bulbs have caused changes in symptoms of their children, and not in a good way. There are others that have complained that CFL bulbs have given them headaches, nausea, and caused them to miss out on daily activities. Is there the possibility that CFL’s could adversely affect people? Yes. But then again, so can a lot of other things. I don’t live in a house with anyone that has lupus, or autism, or any other disorder, so I don’t know for sure…if anyone wants to chime in on this, please, feel free.
The point of this post was not to persuade or dissuade those against CFL bulbs, simply to point out the top five things I seem to have found while researching them. I can, for absolute certainty, say that we have 41 bulbs in the house, 24 of which are CFL bulbs, and I get a bigger headache looking at my computer screen than with a CFL bulb. They don’t give off a funny color, and while they do take a while longer to warm up to “full glow”, when they get there they stay lit longer and give off a more consistent light. I’m also the first to admit, though, that we don’t have any dimmer switches, and our 3-way lamps that have a CFL in them are just connected a wall switch, so we don’t have to worry about it, but we haven’t had any problems thus far.
To be honest, we have experienced only positive things about our CFL bulbs, such as the fact that the four inset lights in the kitchen, before CFL bulbs, would regularly blow out. Since putting in CFL bulbs, they have not once done this. The same cause and result was seen in the garage. So, I guess the CFL bulbs are here to stay – at least in this house.
Please, comment on your thoughts on CFL bulbs. Are they worth it? Have they worked for you? Would you keep using them, or never use them? I’m curious to know – where do people stand on this?
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