While the pro’s/cons stated are basically sound, a couple of things need more discussion. First, at present with an outside temp in the 30’s, I LIKE to have heat coming from my lamps. Not terribly cheap, but light and heat together is a good thing for NE heating months. (As if a 100 watt lamp is going to contribute significantly the warming my 90,000 btu/h furnace puts out). Secondly, as mentioned, my experience also is that the little squiggly lamps fail at a rate a lot higher than the old nasty ones they replace. Almost 2x more ( ~1/2 the lifetime, as a result). I don’t get enough hours out of them to make up for the relatively huge up front cost. The Hg disposal and the total cradle to grave costs are beyond me to determine but they’re not negligible. My bottom line is that I’m not sure this is a great step forward. While the theorical science and calculated efficiency are ok, in practice it doesn’t appear that we are getting what is touted.
I can’t comment on CFL longevity in normal use, but they certainly are deficient when it comes to outdoor use.
The box claims they will last 11 years or 12000 hours. The stated minimum start temperature is 4 degrees F and we haven’t gone below 20. Yet the squiggle bulbs last only 1 month in a sheltered outdoor light fixture with a sunlight-sensitive switch. I don’t know if it’s the temperature, humidity or start mode.
The future of lighting is not CFLs, which are just a temporary solution, but LED bulbs, which if a digital clock I have is any indication, can easily last far longer than the 50,000 hour lifetime often claimed (that is, if there has been any degradation at all, I can’t see it; of course, LEDs running at 100C, common in LED bulbs, will wear out many times faster than those at room temperature; dedicated LED lighting fixtures with much better heat dissipation can greatly improve this though).
As far as CFLs go though, I’ve had only one premature failure and that one still lasted longer than an incandescent, and when you consider the costs of electricity, the overall costs, including manufacturing and recycling, for a CFL are much lower - even if the CFL didn’t last longer due to the electricity savings (I calculated this before and I believe that a 100 watt equivalent CFL took only a couple hundred hours to recoup its initial costs, which must include manufacturing costs (materials+energy), or they’d be sold at a net loss; recycling costs are presumably less than manufacturing costs/cost of mining raw materials).
ETA: Here is the post where I calculated break-even costs for a CFL:
(a more expensive, and likely better quality, CFL will take longer but still much shorter than often assumed)
My experience is the opposite. I got tired of changing incandescents in the light fixture by our front door, switched to a CFL bulb and it’s already lasted twice as long as the average incandescent. Maybe I just found the right brand.
Someone who has different experiences and opinions than my own? How disheartening. What have I got left if my own reality is not true?
I use the free bulbs that the utility company sent - Niagara Conservation. Perchance GE bulbs would last longer. I won’t risk any more free ones until Summertime. If the longevity claims on the box are correct (for inside use) then I’ve got about 10 year’s worth of lighting, and I hate tossing that away for the sake of curiosity.
It could be the colder weather is shortening bulb life but I suspect that the photo-sensor in the fixture is functioning as an ad-hoc dimmer switch and I’m led to believe that CFL bulbs hate dimmers.
It would seem that perhaps CFL technology is too new to get consistent results between, or perhaps even within, brands. Suffice it to say for every individual posting on the Internet about how their CFLs crap out too soon, there are probably five to ten happily not noticing their CFLs because they’re still going strong.
Powers &8^]
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, NJ-jr, we’re glad you found us. For future ref, it’s helpful to other readers to provide a link to the column under discussion – saves searching time and helps keep us on the same page (and avoids the Canadian Football League misapprehension.) No biggie, I’ve edited in a link to what I think is the column you’re commenting on. If I’ve guessed wrong, please just email me and I’ll correct it. And, as I said, welcome!
I’ve found my newer, modern GE CFLs are certainly variable based on location within my house. Identical bulbs (from the same package, or at least same brand and type) in the kitchen burn out once a month, while in my finished basement, they haven’t burned out since the finishing was done 3 years ago (I know because a couple still have bits of drywall plaster stuck to them).
Overall temperature is similar (on same radiator circuit), may be differences in frequency of switching, load on circuit (on different breakers), or more moisture/heat fluctuations in the kitchen. But it’s definitely “real”, not confirmation bias, nor “older” bulbs.
Don’t have any full-sized LEDs old enough to compete, but the real champions for both age and heat output are some 50 Watt halogens that I put in a hallway when I moved into the house 12 years ago, still going strong (knock wood…)
Well, I bought a Panasonic CFL bulb in the early 1990s that had a long indoor lifetime. Methinks the issue is manufacturing quality, which yes has improved over time on average especially among lesser known brand names. Also, some CFLs can handle dimmers – but you have to acquire the kind that specifically designed and labeled that way.
I’ve had good experiences with CFLs, indoors and outside (well in a garage actually). Their only drawback is that they take a minute or so to reach their fullest level of brightness, unlike LEDs.
I’ve written the CFL manufacturer demanding answers to why my outdoor bulb experience was unsuccessful.
I have no complaints about their longevity indoors, but then I don’t use many lights other than the one on my desk. That’s on at least 16 hours every day and probably lasts about 500 days. I believe that it’s a CFL but it looks like a tuning fork instead of an ice cream cone. It is available in a fairly wide color spectrum depending on where I source it from.
I definitely understand the OPs complaint that they like the additional heat that incandescent lights provide in the Winter. I wouldn’t mind some of that either. Maybe he can get a halogen bulb for that application.
