Energy efficient bulbs affecting your health?

[GoldenRivet]

thoughts?

I've done my own research on this concept and drawn my own conclusion. I have done what uncle sam insisted and filled my house with these things... but this report has me second guessing that choice.

[Jimbuna]

Not used in the buna household because SWMBO is adamant they give off yellow instead of white light.

[SteamWake]

CFL's are safe unless you break one. Then you have to call out a HAZMAT team practically. They contain vaporized mercury

About CFL efficency and lamp life. There are HUGE differences from one manufacturer to the next. A cheap chinese knock off lamps life may actually a little less than a regular incandescent with a nasty fall of of lumen output in the first 100 hours or som (some nearly 50%). A good quality CFL will leas years and only fall off some 20-30% output over its lifetime. Like everything else you get what you pay for.

As to the CRI (Color Rendering Index) fluorescents are typically closer to the blue green than the red spectrum. Although they can be had up to nearly 5,000K color temprature (nearly white light).

But honestly CFL's are a passing fad soon to be upstaged by LEDs.

About the EMI or electromagnetic 'waves' try this little trick. Unplug your amplified speakers, now touch it to your fingertip. That bzzzzt you hear is 60 cycle 'waves' coupled through your body. Its everywhere cannot be avoided and been that way for decades. The long term effects are as yet really un known but it seems to be begnine.

I'm all over this topic as its a part of what I do for a living.

Any questions I'm the expert

[GoldenRivet]

I have noticed they take about 3 to 5 seconds from switch ON to light ON

[GoldenRivet]

my opinion is that $40ish in energy savings over the life of the bulb is not significant.

when you consider that in 130+ years the incandescent light bulb has undergone almost NO changes... that means they got it right the first time.

when LED lights are priced more in my budget i'll be placing them all over the house.

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

I have noticed they take about 3 to 5 seconds from switch ON to light ON

More like 1/2 a second just seems longer .

Your used to instant (1/30th of a second) on for incandescents.

Yet again another place where LED's are superior.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

More like 1/2 a second just seems longer .

Your used to instant (1/30th of a second) on for incandescents.

Yet again another place where LED's are superior.

I walked into my kitchen last night and hit the switch and had time to walk 7 feet to my refrigerator before the first of three lights came on...

I didnt know i was that fast.

EDIT:

in fairness to these little squiggly bulbs... this only happens when they have spend an hour or so OFF

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

I walked into my kitchen last night and hit the switch and had time to walk 7 feet to my refrigerator before the first of three lights came on...

I didnt know i was that fast.

EDIT:

in fairness to these little squiggly bulbs... this only happens when they have spend an hour or so OFF

Yea some of the cheaper lamps at their end of life cycle will have a little trouble striking at times. The gasses in the tube arent just as energetic as they once were. Bet the same one comes on first every time.

[tater]

I only use these in limited circumstances.. My goal is pretty much MORE likght, not cost. So an old fixture takes a 60W bulb... I put the biggest CFL that will fit, maybe I get 150W worth of light.

On my low-voltage track lighting, I have been using "halogena" bulbs (halogen/xenon) sinc ethe 35W bulb makes as much like as a 50W. That means I can put more fixtures on the track. I have an LED, too (4W), and if was not so damn blue, I'd replace 'em all with LEDs (my transformers are 300W, so the lower the bulbs, the more I can run on one circuit).

[STEED]

They give me headaches and I'm not alone on that one.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

I've done my own research on this concept and drawn my own conclusion. I have done what uncle sam insisted and filled my house with these things... but this report has me second guessing that choice.

With all due respect :
It looks pretty much like some (you're not the only one at least, GR) Americans have an unwavering faith in "Uncle Sam".
I don't mean that's bad !
But you guys have a brain too, you know. And you don't have to take what your government/economy/anyone tells you for granted.

I personally have an unwavering faith in my own ideas.

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

thoughts?

Next time, don't forget to do your research first.

[XabbaRus]

Well the Electromagnetic Field is a non starter. It drops of very quickly with range so given your light bulb is going to be a good 5ft away from you and given the relatively small amount of power going through it you aren't going to get much electromagnetic field.

I'll have to look in my books to find the formulas for working out how much Electromagnetic Field is generated but it will be negligable.

You think how much of a field you need to generate to attract a lump of metal over a distance of a few feet. Strong and stronger than that generated by a CFL.