The tests will continue until more than 50 percent of the test samples for a given brand have burned out. It might take several more months, however, for the longest-lasting bulbs to expire. Turning CFLs on and off frequently shortens their life, so our testers, curious as they are, are now running nonstop cycles during which each CFL is on for 5 minutes and then off for the same amount of time. The purpose of the test is to see if any differences in life span exist among CFL brands and to compare the longevity of the different CFLs to that of incandescent bulbs.
Essential information: Reduce home energy consumption and start saving hundreds of dollars annually with these 10 easy steps. And see more vintage Consumer Reports testing photographs in our archives.
If you have a "60 watt equivalent" bulb that has been used for a while, replace it with a 40 watt incandescent. CFL is still more expensive than incandescent. And we cover a lot of the general nastiness with CFLs Podcast compact fluorescent lamps. I have a frugal friend named David.
When we get together, we frequently bicker about frugality. Then David went to Mexico for four months and needed somebody to watch his house. I just happened to be moving at the same time and it worked out for me to stay there. The first thing I did was replace the CFLs with incandescent lights. Over the four months I practiced all of the things that I think are frugal.
David and I both work from home, so this little test will have a lot of apples to apples comparisons. Since this article is really about CFL, I want to point out that with my lighting habits, it probably doesn't really matter what sort of light bulb I use. During the day, I rely on daylight. At night, I turn on a single 40 watt incandescent light pointed at the ceiling. As I use the kitchen or bathroom, I'll use those lights for a few minutes.
Just before bed, I use a 40 watt light in the bedroom for a minute or so. I use a few LED night lights. Supposing I use the main light for three hours per night, that would be 1. If CFL lived up to its claims, I might save a dime a month. It just isn't worth screwing with.
All of my lighting stuff might add up to 40 or 50 cents a month. I think David uses more lights. So when I see massive campaigns to save energy by switching to CFLs, I cannot help but think that even if CFLs worked as claimed, it would require that people use lights hundreds of times more than I do.
And I have a really hard time imagining people doing that. People must be turning on all of their lights and leaving them on all day and all night. In which case, they will save far more money by turning their lights off when they are asleep, or not home, or pulling back the curtains during the day. No trip to the store required.
To dry my clothes in David's really old dryer typically took an hour and a half. The average dryer uses 4, watts. So this works out to 6. The cost of electricity at David's house is I have these spiffy clothes drying racks I use. David's place uses electric heat.
I know that David will wait until he feels cold until he turns the heat on. David is developing a healthy relationship with the thermostat: turning it up when he feels cold, turning it down at night, keeping it low when he is away, etc.
I set the thermostat to 50 and when it started to get cold I would warm my immediate area. Mostly, I sat on a heating pad set on its lowest setting - the kind that you are supposed to use for a sore back. Using about 15 to 20 watts I think. Sometimes I used a personal heater set at the lowest setting.
And about once a week in October I actually turned the central heat on for an hour. And a pinch of November. There were a few days in the summer that got pretty cold - and I think David would have turned on the heat for the day. And then in September it got a lot colder. I think David would have run the heat nearly every day in October. Since then, I spent a winter in Montana, experimenting with all sorts of frugal personal warming stuff. I wrote about making the best of electric heat.
On the topic of heating, I have a house design that requires no heat. And for heating with wood in a conventional home, folks should be aware of the rocket mass heater which can heat your home with five times less wood.
David and I both work on computers all day. David does stuff to mitigate phantom load. I don't. We both use big tube-style monitors. I take shorter showers and I use a lot less water to wash dishes.
I also wash my clothes with cold water. I filled the fridge with stuff. Including bottles of water I had no intention of drinking. I imagined that every time I opened the door, all of the cold air would spill onto the floor. Contact our sales team for a complete list of recommended pendant lighting dimmers.
Back to Blog. Incandescent Light Bulb The warm amber glow of the vintage style incandescent filament light bulb will provide a nostalgic feel to any environment. CFL bulbs are also susceptible to shorter life spans when they are frequently turned on and off.
A bathroom might not be a good place for a CFL, for example. A table lamp, floor lamp or hallway light would be more likely to extend a CFL bulb's life span, McGowan said. Another complaint about non-incandescent bulbs is how they look. CFLs, in particular, have a curly design. Rey-Barreau said if you don't see the shape of the bulb, the light of a CFL looks no different than an incandescent.
Part of what's driving the use of cheap, inefficient incandescent bulbs is simply that they are familiar.
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