Comments please

edited

What you don't get with the 15 watt fluorescent bulb is a further 45 watts of room heat, which the 60 watt filament bulb provides.

Conventional, filament, lamps give out a lot of heat as well as light. Fluorescent lamps work in a different way to filament lamps, so give out less heat whilst generating the same amount of light..

I switched over to fluorescent bulbs about 7 months ago. I have several ceiling fans with 5 bulb fixtures, so I went from 300 watts per light down to 75 watts. It feels cooler, and the air conditioner doesn't have to remove the waste heat radiated from the incandescents. The newer ones also seem to match the color of the incanescents, they are not that blue/white light. Look up fluorescent bulbs, the are more effecient. More light per watt.

Mike

The principle here is that you can't get more energy from the bulb in the form of light than you put into it in the form of electrical energy. But you can, and almost always do, get less. Usually, the difference between input energy and light energy is made up in the form of heat energy.

Not all devices that convert electrical energy into light energy are equally efficient. In particular, incandescent bulbs, leds, fluorescents, etc. differ significantly in this respect. In fact, there is no reason to assume that all incandescent bulb filaments will burn for comparable times, or with comparable light output for a given energy input. There is no theoretical reason that a particular incandescent bulb can not burn brighter, last longer, and result in less energy wasted as heat than a standard, off-the-shelf bulb. A more efficient filament however is not necessarily economically viable.

Chuck

Umm so do I buy, and will I be getting a fantastic deal/savings etc., or not? Thanks req

If you like the color of the light produced, you will be getting a fantastic deal. If you don't like the color, you won't think the deal was fantastic. In either case, the compact fluorescent bulb will use much less energy to produce the equivalent amount of light, and it should last longer than a regular bulb.

Ed

Check out prices at your local Walmart. The prices listed appear high as compact fluorescent prices have dropped in the last year or so. Even the incandescent bulbs seem high priced. I am using a "100 watt" equivalent lamp now- no problem - it takes a minute or so to get to full brightness but otherwise fine.

I'm not in the usa; hence the prices :-( req

Yes, I too am impressed by how adequate these new CFLs have become and at the price drop too.

-------------- Neither am I in the US. :-)

My only concern with fluorescent light bulbs is the flickering.