[Land-speed] NON-LSR, LIGHT BULB ADVISORY

[Jon Wennerberg]

On Jan 15, 2009, at 4:36 PM, joseph lance wrote:

This is an alert---as you may know Congress has passed a law banning
incandescent light bulbs and mandating the use of fluorescents  
beginning in
2012.

I have a lot of flood lamps and track lighting bulbs of various sizes  
and
types on dimmer switches. Some manufacturers are starting to make  
dimmable
fluorescent bulbs but they are very expensive compared to incandescent.

Lance




Lance:

Before you rule out the dimmable fluorescents -- give one or two a  
try.  I've got one - and the cost for the bulb itself is about the  
same as for a non-dimmable fluorescent.  No need to give up your need  
for dimming on a "Costs too much" basis -- the dimmer you've already  
bought (which wasn't all that cheap, I expect) will work with the new  
type bulb.

I've converted our entire house to fluorescent lamps (save one or two  
specialty bulbs that aren't yet available in fluorescents.   
Spotlights, floodlights, indoors and outdoors -- at least two dozen in  
all.  I admit there are differences between them and the old-style  
incandescents.  Fluorescents take a few seconds to reach full  
brightness -- up to a minute for units that are outdoors in the sub- 
zero cold (it's -13F as I type this).  And, on the other hand,  
incandescent bulbs use four or seven (or whatever) times more energy  
to give the same amount of light.  The manufacturers claim that  
fluorescents last far longer than an incandescent of similar light  
output - while using less energy over the life of the bulb, and the  
increased life at fewer cents per hour of operation are where the user  
(you or me) gets his investment returned.  I haven't had many  
fluorescents "burn out" yet so can't really compare, but I've been  
anal enough to write the in-service date on the new bulbs so that when  
they do go bad -- I'll know how long they lasted,.

Don't knee-jerk against the fluorescent bulbs until you've tried them  
- and then you won't find nearly as much reason to do so as you state  
in your message.


       Jon Wennerberg
Tall guy with moustache
and a pair of 2 Club hats