How Do I Choose Which Light Bulbs to Use?
Incandescent light bulbs have served us well for a century, but their horribly inefficient operation has finally caught up with them. Energy efficient light bulbs like compact fluorescents and LEDs have been brought to the forefront by marketing firms, government, and environmental activists. It's interesting to think just how long incandescent light bulbs have been around with no real updates or advancements. They did what they needed to do, and aside from energy efficiency, they did it well.
Today there are many light bulbs to choose from, which is a change from the past 100 or so years of incandescent dominance. The three main players are incandescents, compact fluorescents, and LED light bulbs. Pricing is fairly consistent within each type of light bulb, with incandescents being most inexpensive. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are a bit spendier than incandescents, and LED light bulbs are extremely expensive.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs came in on a tide of energy efficiency to topple incandescent light bulbs. Being at least 75% more energy efficient helped, but there is also the wide variety of color temperatures available. Dimmable compact fluorescents are also a big draw, and lent some credibility to CFLs when they were still gaining momentum. CFL technology is great; the only big drawback is the trace amounts of mercury in each compact fluorescent light bulb. The mercury amount is tiny, but a lot of people make a big deal out of it anyway. Compact fluorescent light bulbs must be recycled/disposed of properly nonetheless.
LED light bulbs have all the benefits of CFLs and they do not contain mercury; they can work until they die and then be thrown away without a care. Throwing away LED light bulbs will be pretty rare for a long time, however, as they are rated at lasting 75,000 to 100,000 hours each! Their prices are outrageously high, but it's because the technology is still fairly new and they last so long. LED light bulbs still need more work, but they will definitely replace compact fluorescent light bulbs in the future.
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Written by Blair E. and originally submitted to ArticlesBase.com.
