The Good CFL
Around here (and all the great local blogs), CFL is shorthand for Senator Lieberman’s vanity party, Connecticut for Lieberman.
Everywhere else, it’s shorthand for Compact Flourescent Lamp.
Alice @ Real Tech News has posted an article today quoting 10 Reasons Why Compact Flourescent Bulbs (CFLs) Will Change the World:
Like most people, I hated the compact fluorescent bulb or CFL when it first came out, and to be honest, for some time after that. They were priced high but packaged in a gimmicky way that made me suspicious. Most hotels uesd them and it felt like it took five minutes for the light to come on and when it did, there was not much light, and it was not a warm looking lighting color. And then the price – at double or even three times the cost, who would take the chance on a bulb that would last years when there was little known about them? So I stayed away.
I’ve been using these funny-looking lights in my apartment for almost two years, and expect that they’ll continue working long after I’ve moved out. The savings weren’t all that noticeable to me because I installed the CFLs after only a couple months of life in the apartment.
Anyway, here are a couple of reasons why Compact Flourescent Lamps are the good CFL (adapted from FastCompany by Alice at Real Tech News):
1. If every one of 110 million American households bought just one ice-cream-cone bulb, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people.
2. Compact fluorescents emit the same light as classic incandescents but use 75% or 80% less electricity.
3. A $3 swirl pays for itself in lower electric bills in about five months.