The incandescent light, bulb one of the most venerable inventions of its era but deemed too inefficient for our own, will be phased off the U.S. market beginning in 2012 under the new energy law just approved by Congress. Although this will reduce electricity costs and minimize new bulb purchases in every household in America, you may be feeling in the dark about the loss of your old, relatively reliable source of light. The incandescent light bulbs are being taking away due to the industry moving to more efficient lighting. One of the lowest-cost ways for the nation to reduce electricity use and greenhouse gases. In fact, it actually will save households money because of lower utility bills. 90% of the energy that an incandescent light bulb burns is wasted as heat. And yet, sales of the most common high -efficiency bulb available(compact fluorescent-CFL) is amount to only 5% of the light bulb market.
Earlier this year, Australia became the first country to announce an outright ban by 2010 on incandescent bulbs. The change over for the U.S. will take into effect until 2012 and phased out through 2014. However, don't be surprised if some manufacturers phase out earlier.
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You can save money over time, Each cone -shaped spiral CFL costs about $3, compared with 50 cents for a standard bulb. But a CFL uses about 75 % less energy and lasts five years instead of a few months. A household that invested $90 in chnging 30 fixtures to CFL's would save $440 to $1,500 over the five -year life of the bulbs, depending on your cost of electricity. Take a look at your utility bill and imagine a 12% discount to estimate the savings.
The Energy Star label bulbs carry a two -year limited warranty. Turning a CFL on and off frequently shortens its life, which is why the government''s Energy Star program says to leave them on for at least 15 minutes at a time. also, if you have dimmable light fixtures, make sure to buy CFL's labeled "dimmable."
When CFL's hit the market, they had a limited range of tones. Now, manufactures offer a wider variety, but there is not an agree upon labeling standard. When purchasing CFL's look for lower "Kelvin temperatures" like 2,700 to 3,00 for "redder" light, closer to old -fashioned incandescent bulbs, while bulbs with Kelvin temperatures of 5,000 and 6,500 provide more "blue" and intense light.
Some consumers are rightly concerned about the toxic substance mercury that helps CFL's produce light. Even though the amount sealed in each bulb is small as one old -fashioned thermometer had about 100 times as much mercury contact local trash collection for disposal instructions. Environmentalists agree that more work must be done on bulb recycling programs. Right now, you can return any CFL to any Ikea store or Environmental Protection Agency or www.earth911.org for recycling.
If your state permits you to put used or broken CFL's in the garbage, seal the bulb in two plastic bags and put it into the outside trash, or other protected outside location, for the next normal trashh collection. CFL's should not be disposed of in an incinerator.
Don't use a vacuum. The bulbs must be handled with caution. Using a drop cloth might be a good new routine to develop when screwing in a light bulb, to make the clean -up of any breaks easier.
By the way, don't think that incandescent bulbs are mercury free. In the United States, CFL's contain a very small amount of mercury sealed within the glass tubing -an average of 5 milligrams-about the amount that would cover the tip of a ballpoint pen. By cpomparison, older thermometers contain about 500 milligrams of mercury. It would take 100 CFL's to equal that amount. Incandescent bulbs contribute almost doulbe the amount of mercury into the environment over its lifetime.
There is another option to consider for lighting, LED's(Light-emitting diodes). We already use them for jazzing up holiday lighting. The lights on the New Year's Eve Times Square Ball are LED lights. LED's last even longer than CFL's and make bulb buying more like an appliance purchase than a throw-away item.
The incandescent bulb has had a good run, with the technology little changed since 1879, Thomas Edison produced light with a carbonized thread from his wife's sewing box. The breakthrough that ushered civilization out of the candle era was so revolutionary that the light bulb itself became the culture's iconic image to illustrate any thought, brainstorm, or idea. The use of CFL's reduces power demand from 60 to 70% in light bulb energy, which helps reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
