Everyone should be using compact fluorescent bulbs. Except we’re not — and that’s despite these bulbs saving electricity and preserving the thing that really matters: the environment.
This is the thing: saving the planet is still a hard sell, even though it shouldn’t be. And so is saving money on power.
Why? Because, as Seth says, these bulbs have a story problem. They look weird and are still quite expensive.
But there’s one more reason: people don’t just buy light. They buy atmosphere. They buy coziness.
And, as far as I can see, these bulbs give off a cold, blueish hue.
They make my skin look bad.
So until compact fluorescent bulbs look like regular bulbs — in every way — they won’t become ubiquitous.
And that’s a big shame because as we, here in Canada at least, bask in a crazy-warm January, we need to do what we can to cut down on greenhouse gases.
3 Comments
What I have found that the key to liking the light is directly associated to the brand bulb you buy. It is all about color temperature. Some brands cast a “white” light that is not easy on the eyes – what you want to look for are bulbs that truly produce 2700K.
At SOSLightBulbs.com, we sell nearly every brand out there but I can absolutely say that what you want in your house is TCP brand. TCP is the largest producer of CFL’s in the world and from our experience as a distributor; we believe they are the closest to producing true 2700K. Whether you buy them from us is your choice but it makes me sick when I go into someone’s house and their yellow walls turned green – simply because of the color temp that the CFL produce.
Another option is Cold Cathode technology. These are lower wattage bulbs that produce a nice yellow light and come in a variety of designs. They work great in lamps that you want to leave on all the time. I have them in lamps in our house and they never go off… and I can unscrew them at any point with our burning my hand thus producing less heat in the home. They take a while to warm up but they are great for the environment because of the extremely low wattage and they cast a good light. Here is a link if you want to check them out.
http://www.soslightbulbs.com/shop/customer/home.php?cat=1703
We all want everyone to convert to CFL’s or LED’s or even the newest technology Cold Cathode bulbs BUT we all need to have a good experience when we plug them in AND actually like the light output. If any of you need or want to learn more go to http://www.soslightbulbs.com then click the home icon in the center of the page – we have put some pretty informative stuff on there, even an energy savings calculator.
I know that this sounds like I am selling BUT I want everyone to have a good experience with a conversion to low wattage CFL’s whether or not they buy them from SOS is really up to you. I think Home Depot is carrying a decent line of CFL’s that we have tested if you would prefer to buy them there. What is ultimately important is that we all try to conserve where we can and be less dependant on power companies to produce more and more energy through environmentally unfriendly means such as coal plants.
http://www.SOSLightBulbs.com
Thanks for the info, Jason. It’s important that everyone changes over, so the more info and reliable vendors there are, the better. Good luck with your business.
Do you have this kind of userp-guide on your site? You know, “a guide to buying a bulb that you’ll actually like when you switch it on!”. That would help make you expert suppliers and set up apart from the competition.
Great advice…. I am sorry if I sounded too comercial.
Thanks!
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