What is a Compact Fluorescent Bulb?
Compact fluorescent bulbs are extremely energy efficient light bulbs. They can replace incandescent and halogen bulbs, saving money and power, since they cast a similar color spectrum and fit into the same fixtures. Power companies have government incentives to get people to use compact fluorescent bulbs in all kinds of lamps in business, commercial, and residential applications. Like ordinary fluorescent lights, compact fluorescent bulbs create illumination by heating a certain kind of gas, which separates them from halogen or incandescent bulbs. Yet this recent invention has several advantages over the old fluorescent bulbs popular in businesses, office building, and retail environments that make them more appealing to residential properties. Most importantly, compact fluorescent bulbs use many times less energy than any other kind of lights. Bulbs consume watts, a measurement of electricity. We’re familiar with wattage for traditional incandescent bulbs, which fall around 40-150 wat
Typically referred to as a CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp), compact fluorescents are the wave of the future in lighting. Not only do they provide pure light, but they use a quarter of the electricity required by standard incandescent bulbs. For example, fresh2 uses only 23 watts of energy but delivers the light equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb. In addition, the heat generated by incandescent bulbs can affect the cost of air conditioning. With fresh2 bulbs emitting a tenth of the heat of incandescents, you can realize cost savings on energy bills beyond usage for actual lighting. There’s a time-savings, too. One fresh2 bulb can outlast as many as thirteen incandescent bulbs — making them ideal for hard to reach areas, such as open ceiling fixtures and recessed cans.
Compact fluorescent bulbs can replace most standard incandescent bulbs and offer many benefits. They use up to 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs while providing the same amount of light output (lumens), last up to 10 times longer, and give off less heat than standard bulbs. Several designs and sizes are available to replace bulbs in indoor and outdoor light fixtures, lamps, recessed lighting, and floodlights. Todays CFL’s are quicker starting, longer lasting, maintain higher lumen output, and offer better lighting quality than earlier models. WILL HIGH-EFFICIENCY LIGHTING LOWER MY UTILITY BILL? High-efficiency compact fluorescent lighting will save you money on your utility bill because CFL’s use less electricity than regular incandescent bulbs. For example: If you were to replace a 60 watt incandescent bulb (840 lumens with an average life of 1,000 hours) with a 15 watt compact fluorescent bulb (950 lumens with an expected life of 8,000 hours) you would save approximately $21 in
