Study: CFL Lightbulbs About as Efficient as LEDs

[igot1forya]

Most LED's don't work with dimmers (unless the dimmer is built-in). Any type of voltage drop or spike for a LED can cause the LED to die. Most places that sell LED bulbs will specifically say, "do not connect to a dimmer circuit".

 

[cablechewer]

I have a mix of incandescents, CFLs and LEDs. I find the heat output from the CFLs and LEDs to be similar with one exception. I have one higher wattage LED spotlight over my kitchen sink. It gets pretty hot. It also has heat fins on the back side to help dissipate the heat. I tried it in a lamp and according to my Kill-a-watt it still only draws about 9-10 watts.

The biggest thing with both CFLs and LEDs is to use them in a fixture with proper ventilation. Even if they produce only small amounts of heat, if it is trapped in a fixture that heat will build up and damage the ballast, which will shorten the life of the bulb. Another thing that will shorten bulb life is poor quality power. I had a bathroom fixture in which CFLs would burn out every few months. It seems incandescents do have one use - they tolerated that fixture far better than a CFL. I replaced the fixture about 2 years ago and every since then I have had no burned out bulbs.

If I didn't have so many fully enclosed fixtures in my house I would have more CFLs and LEDs (finding them certified for enclosed fixtures is not easy at local stores and I haven't checked the net yet).

 

[greenspoon]

[citation][nom]Torment[/nom]If you let your kids play with lamps, you've got bigger problems.[/citation]

You obviously don't have kids. I do not let them play with lamps, but accidents happen.

 

[Torment]

[citation][nom]GreenSpoon[/nom]You obviously don't have kids. I do not let them play with lamps, but accidents happen.[/citation]

I'd be more worried about them getting shocked or cut than them coming into contact with miniscule amounts of mercury once in a blue moon. If they're regularly breaking bulbs and playing in the aftermath, I'd suggest different lamps and different bulbs.

 

[kaby]

Whats wrong with a little mercury? I am already going to die from MSG, Trans Fat, Cholesterol, salt, caffeine, the radiation from my cell phone, the Teflon on my pans, UV radiation, swine flu, bird flu, SARS, anthrax, green house gasses, yellow dye #5, and rectum cancer from wiping my butt with bleached toilet paper.

 

[Regulas]

Seen it already but I will echo it. Compact Florescent has Mercury in it that will end up in land fills then make it's way to the water table, nice huh.

 

[d_kuhn]

[citation][nom]kaby[/nom]If you read the article from last week you would know If everyone threw a cfl into a land fill that about of Hg would still be far less than what is created by a coal plant powering the same amount of incandescent bulbs.[/citation]

The difference is that a coal powerplant is a point source and as such can be controlled. Mercury emmissions limits for coal burners are in the process of being legislated to a fraction of current levels. Technology is being developed to meet a removal target of 90% - which would drop emmissions from coal PP's to 5 tons or less per year... and that's to generate 50% of US energy need.

I'd say that if there's a chance that CF bulbs are adding 2 tons of Mercury to the waste stream per year... it's a big problem for that product.

There are solutions to the problem, but they're ugly. Something like a $5 or $10 per bulb 'Deposit' would keep folks from chucking them in the garbage, but for that to work incandescents have to be off the table as an option or folks simply won't buy CF's. This IMO is the direction Europe is moving... and lately it seems that where Europe goes... we follow.

 

[Regulas]

@kaby
Coal power plants don't pump out Mercury that is more dangerous than lead, you eejit.

 

[jacobdrj]

All things being equal, I'll take the LED's. I don't like the flickering of middle-aged CFL's, the time they take to turn on, and the fact that they are more fragile than LED's. However, things are not equal, and LED's have a way to go before being reasonably priced.

I have a low-wattage full sized FL that has been running continuously for 7 years. Damn impressive. I hate it, but it is what I can afford right now...

 

[Guest]

I converted my whole appartement to 12 CFL that i bought at IKEA 3 years ago and since then I have only 1 CFL that died, that saved me tons on electricity and no more changing a bulb every 2-3 months like before. For the one that died I recycled it at IKEA free of charge.

I like the idea of a CFL bulb deposit to get people to recycle intelligently.

 

[Guest]

You sheep should simply have no choice in bulbs or anything else for that matter. Americans, like Europeans are too stupid to think for themselves. Therefore, we now have a gov't smart enough to think for us. If ze Furor says use CFLs zen use CFLs. None of us are capable of making choices like wanting real dimming ability, not having mercury in lamps that can be knocked over & broken, and preferring one color temperature over the other. I can't wait for more 'Change' to be stuck up our, uh, well you get the point.

 

[blarneypete]

[citation][nom]Torment[/nom]I'd be more worried about them getting shocked or cut than them coming into contact with miniscule amounts of mercury once in a blue moon. If they're regularly breaking bulbs and playing in the aftermath, I'd suggest different lamps and different bulbs.[/citation]

You still obviously don't have kids. I would be much less worried about electrocution and cuts. The socket is low-frequency AC, and that type of shock to people rarely does any real damage. Cuts heal. Metallic mercury can stay in your body for a very long time, from months to years to forever, depending on circumstances and diet. Mercury is much more dangerous than the shock or cut.

 

[puddleglum]

The study, conducted by the Siemens Corporate Technology Centre for Eco Innovations, used a 25,000-hour LED lamp life as a constant and compared it against 25 1,000-hour incandescents and 2.5 10,000-hour compact fluorescents.

How do you compare half a CFL bulb???

 

[Guest]

One of the benefits is that these led bulbs can fit in smaller spaces, like the desktop, or a bathroom mirror light.

CFL is mainly used for larger spaces, where more light needs to be spread over a larger surface (eg a warehouse, workshop, or so.

Ledlights are smaller and therefor are better for more focused light.

 

[Torment]

[citation][nom]blarneypete[/nom]You still obviously don't have kids. I would be much less worried about electrocution and cuts. The socket is low-frequency AC, and that type of shock to people rarely does any real damage. Cuts heal. Metallic mercury can stay in your body for a very long time, from months to years to forever, depending on circumstances and diet. Mercury is much more dangerous than the shock or cut.[/citation]

Do me a favor: stick your left index finger in the left hole and your right index finger in the right hole. Get back to me on how harmless low frequency a/c is.

 

[mickey21]

If LED bulbs lighted the area as well I would consider them, but I find their light lacking...

 

[stevo777]

Well, we could all go out and throw our used CFL's at the federal politicians houses and settle the "harm Vs. harmless" issue. My guess is that if we did that on a recurring basis, CFL's would get outlawed pretty quickly

 

[shrex]

How is it that TVs have CFLs which last for 60,000 hours while we consumers can only find CFLs that last 10,000 hours.

 

[toms-viewer-1996]

[citation][nom]shrex[/nom]How is it that TVs have CFLs which last for 60,000 hours while we consumers can only find CFLs that last 10,000 hours.[/citation]

They use CCFL's, which are Cold Cathode Compact Fluorescents. That is also why they achieve peak brightness immediately.

 

[shrex]

Why cant they be used for the home then, i have never seen any available