Here in Sri Lanka our energy companies give us substantial compensation for buying CFL bulbs, in the form of reduced electricity bills. I have been using them for over 10 years, and I have to agree with most people here; the really cheap brands are a waste of money, but good stuff from Phillips, Osram, Orange etc are very well worth the investment. I use Osrams throughout my house and I definitely feel the reduced pressure on my wallet. Plus these bulbs come with a 10 year warranty should anything happen to them. The warm-up time is literally nil, maybe at the most half a second, but that actually affords your eyes a little time to be prepared for the brightness; I never find myself blindly blinking tearful eyes. The light emissions do drop gradually over time, the bulbs which I bought in 1996 are quite dim, but working never the less. How many filament bulbs do you think last that long? The intentions of Walmart maybe less civic minded than that, but still, CFL really is an excellent alternative. Here are some estimated wattage comparisons to give an idea of their power consumption:
CFL - Filament
10W = 40W
15W = 60W
20W = 75W
25W = 100W
Slashdot Mirror
Here in Sri Lanka our energy companies give us substantial compensation for buying CFL bulbs, in the form of reduced electricity bills. I have been using them for over 10 years, and I have to agree with most people here; the really cheap brands are a waste of money, but good stuff from Phillips, Osram, Orange etc are very well worth the investment. I use Osrams throughout my house and I definitely feel the reduced pressure on my wallet. Plus these bulbs come with a 10 year warranty should anything happen to them. The warm-up time is literally nil, maybe at the most half a second, but that actually affords your eyes a little time to be prepared for the brightness; I never find myself blindly blinking tearful eyes. The light emissions do drop gradually over time, the bulbs which I bought in 1996 are quite dim, but working never the less. How many filament bulbs do you think last that long? The intentions of Walmart maybe less civic minded than that, but still, CFL really is an excellent alternative. Here are some estimated wattage comparisons to give an idea of their power consumption: CFL - Filament 10W = 40W 15W = 60W 20W = 75W 25W = 100W
... would one go about starting that thing? and I wonder how long that operation would actually take....