Letters to the Editor
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Sigh
No offense, Pablo, but I'm definitely mourning the day when regular incandescents vanish. I have installed CFL bulbs in a number of places in my house, while leaving regular incandescents in place in others. The comparisons are interesting.
First, the lifetime of these bulbs in nothing near 3 years; that assertion is simply nonsense. So far, I haven't gotten any of them to last one year, and a few have zonked out after only a few months, just like an incandescent. At the price, that's a pretty annoying result.
Second, no, I'm sorry, but the light sucks. Buy a bulb with the same rated wattage, and the difference is obvious. If you put in a "60 watt" CFL floodlight in your bathroom, it's too dim. Put in a "75 watt" CFL, and it becomes that harsh fluorescent glare we all know and hate. Am I exaggerating? Well, I installed two bulbs in my daughter's bathroom, one regular incandescent, and one CFL, both with the same rating. Further, I installed the CFL so that it was on the switch nearest the door, to increase it's use and (theoretically) get all that extra life we're promised CFLs have. The result? My daughter always uses the incandescent, even though it's less easily accessible. "I don't like that one," she says. (And no, I didn't tell her in advance.)
Look: I've installed CFLs in all the places in my house where the quality of the light doesn't matter--front and back porches, pantries, closets, and so on. And I'm perfectly willing to do it to help the environment. But this happy happy joy joy talk about how good CFLs are falls on deaf ears in my case, and frankly I think it's just plain untrue. They don't last longer, they're more expensive, their light sucks, they have to be disposed of like toxic waste, and they contain a neurotoxin. I'll use them, but I sure ain't happy about it.
And by the way, Pablo, when was the last time you actually saw a thermometer with mercury in it? I haven't since, oh, Reagan was president.
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The rocky path to enlightenment
Low energy lighting is rapidly developing technology, so it pays to be astute in joining the rush. CFLs make a good choice for the interim, particularly for high-use areas. Warm white, or soft white produce a more pleasing light than cool white, but are less efficient.
LEDs are probably the best long term bet - efficiency is improving rapidly, and cost falling. It doesn't make much sense to pay high prices for LEDs now; equivalent globes will cost a fraction in a year or two, and choice of light fittings will be much wider.
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The evolution of fluorescent bulbs
This is clearly an evolving technology, meaning we should use it where we can, and wait for improvements where we can't, but there's no way we're replacing every incandescent bulb with fluorescent ones. We've put many where we could. However, they interfere significantly with wireless systems and monitors, including some television screens, some cordless phones, and definitely our computers, meaning that one of our most-used rooms (our home office) has to be virtually fluorescent-free.
Additionally, while the color of fluorescents has indeed improved, the flicker is a real effect for me, and indeed for some inexplicable reason they trigger repeated yawns and headaches in me when in a room without any other kind of light (e.g., offices with no windows). A blend of light can prevent this effect while still improving over incandescent bulbs alone.
Finally, in my experience the duration varies widely, and inexplicably shorter than incandescent bulbs in some cases -- we've used them in our living room for years, and I've had to replace many.
I look forward to improved fluorescent bulbs -- they've gotten smaller, lighter, cheaper, and started shedding better light just in the last few years. But they're not filling every socket in our house yet, nor do I expect them to for some time to come. If LEDs improve quickly enough, we'll jump straight to those, since they use still less power for brighter light.
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The big problem with "replace 'em all!"
If you're "new" to compact fluorescents, then whatever you do, DON'T replace all your standard light bulbs at once. That's a recipe for discovering that you "don't like" fluoros, and backsliding to wasteful old incandescents.
Rather, make a plan, and replace your old bulbs slowly, over a month or so. Say your house has 10 rooms (3 bed, 2 bath, kit, din, lng, garage, hallway). If you think about it, that's actually 10 different "kinds" of light that you need, reflected by the fact that, in all probability, you have already installed a variety of light fittings putting out a variety of watts, in all those places. From the naked bulb in the garage, to the 6 overbench downs in the kitchen.
So you need to find the right compact fluoros to replace your current lighting, WITHOUT losing the quality of light you've spent at least some effort to build.
So switch a couple of rooms to fluoros, using a few different "kinds". Do they work? No? Switch them around.
Find what works, and then do the rest of the house. Seek not just replacement, but actually IMPROVE the quality of light in each room before going on to the next.
That way, your transition will be gradual, and you'll actually enjoy the quality of light in your home, rather than just annoying yourself and then backsliding to incandescents, like so many have done.
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Takes a little work to find the right bulb, but then they're fine
I second the posting about getting "soft white" over "daylight." "Soft white" is much closer to the incandescent light you're used to. It took me a while to figure this out, and I had to do a lot of digging online, so better resources on visually pleasing CF bulbs would be a great help to consumers. I suffered through blue light with our first foray into CF, and the right bulb makes a HUGE difference.
I also suggest that you buy a higher CF wattage than you think you need. We had some 13-watt CFs that claimed they would replace a 60-watt incandescent & it just wasn't true. We've been happy with CF bulbs that are 20 watts or higher. You probably want something that says it's equivalent to at least 75 watts of incandescent.
CF bulbs take about a minute to warm up to full output, so don't get discouraged when you first switch them one. Once you get used to having them you won't really notice this warm-up time any more.
If you're only going to switch out a few bulbs, do it in areas where you tend to use lights for a longer stretch of time. You save more energy this way, you use them past the warm-up time, and I've read that CF bulbs' lifespans are shortened by being switched on & off quickly (but from an energy usage standpoint it's still more efficient to turn them on only when you need them). I did eventually replace all my bulbs, but the one in the laundry room was the last to go; if I had closets with bulbs those would've been the very last.
You'll be shocked by how much you save on electricity. While you're at it, put appliances with standby modes on a power strip & turn the strip off when you aren't using those appliances (good for the entertainment center, office area, small kitchen appliances w/ electronic buttons like coffee makers, toasters, & microwaves, etc.) One power strip for our TV, VCR, & DVD player cut our electricity bill by a third (results won't be as impressive in a bigger home with big overall bills, but you'll still notice what you save).