Did I read right that these bulbs are $4.03 EACH? I think I paid about .98 for the last 4 pack of regular light bulbs I bought..so about a quarter each. That means each bulb would have to save 3.75 + over the life of the bulb.....how long are those things supposed to last???

IKEA will recycle them, and I think Home Depot/Lowe's may also have CFL recycling. Check out earth911.org, too.

I believe they easily last for thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of hours. A number of years, for sure.

With mine, the dimmer hums when I put CF's in. We left one regular bulb in (there are four cans in the circuit) and the hum went away.

You can often find them under $2. They save far more than $3.75 over the course of their life. They typically last 5,000 - 20,000 hours (which is far longer than normal bulbs). At $0.16/kWh, a 100 Watt equivalent will save about $60 over 5,000 hours.

At $2/bulb (vs. $0.25 for regular ones) and $0.16/kWh, they'll pay for themselves within about 150 hours. If you have a light that's on 8 hours a day, that's less than a month. Even if it's only on 30 minutes a day, it'll pay for itself in less than a year.

I still use more 'regular' bulbs as I had them $$ go out in as little as a week where a normal bulb will lasts for months. The high wattage ones are good in enclosed light fixtures where yah need more light but don't want to use a 100W regular bulb due to the heat build-up.

I have lost a grand total of one CF bulb since 2004, and that was used in an extreme (e.g. outdoor) environment where it wasn't rated. I've had three others work just fine outdoors, though.

The CF bulb we've lost so far was in a lamp that my son knocked over. Fortunately, it didn't shatter but just separated the bulb from the base. We haven't had any burn out yet.

The $4.03 was for the 7watt. My guess is they're not as common. But you can get 4/6/8 packs at Home Depot, grocery stores etc, that are less expensive (ie, might be $5/4pack). And where I live SCE is underwriting the 100Watt (23W) so it's 4/$1.

Actually I've had the CFL in my home office for the last 4 years (haven't replaced them; they're still going strong); the rest I just added in January. As MichaelColey says, the savings will outweigh the cost of the CLF. And it helps to reduce the electricity bill, as it offsets the increase in the gas bill due to the increase in oil prices

Michael my kitchen/dining room dimmers don't hum, but go full bright (ie, no dimming option). My bedroom dimmer hummed a bit, but I found by switching it to the middle or full the hum went away. Good to know about using the 1 normal bulb & 3 CLFs. In the bedroom my lamp on the side table is a standard one (no dimmer)) so I have a tendency to use that rather than the overhead fan/light dimmer structure anyway.

FWIW - I've already amortized what I've spent on the CLFs (just checked my checkbook registers from last year's bills (J-J compared to this year's J-J).

Hopefully they'll get sponsors soon for '09 & offer them up again. Also, you might want to check w/ your local electric provider. Maybe they've got some type of deal like SoCal Edison does where they're underwriting them.

Cheers.

Thank you for your interest in this initiative, but we are sorry to say that this project is no longer in effect since we are currently seeking sponsorships for a 2009 Earth Day Launch. By subscribing to the Greener Impact monthly newsletter, you will be kept informed on future giveaway programs and promotions pertaining to reducing global warming.

Sincerely, from the team at Greener Impact.

Right, ours do the same (don't dim even if you turn them down). The difference, though is that we get a noticeable hum from the dimmer switch if all the bulbs are CF, even if it's turn up to full brightness. If I put one incadescent in the mix, the hum goes away and the dimmer controls the incadescent while the CF's stay bright. We never really use the dimmer, so it's no big loss. And like you, we seldom use the dimmable cans at all, but have a table lamp on each side of the bid and a floor lamp by a chair. Eventually, I'll order some dimmable CF's (and I know they'll cost a lot more), but it's just not a priority.

If you live in Tampa you can do an online audit and get 8 free CFL's

https://websafe.kemainc.com/tecoezsurvey/

I would suggest checking out your local electric company to see if they offer the same!

Here in Hawaii many of us have switched to CFL's and done other things to lower electric costs.

The good news is that we often have large windows which let in lots of natural light. We also have moderate temperatures so many of us have no heating or cooling bills and can leave the windows open 24/7.

What electricity I do use including all charges, costs about .42 per kwh or $5 per day. Still, $165 for the month is a lot less than I used to spend in Georgia.

Here I have the windows open unless it gets really cold at night. I often cook in the microwave, have a fridge and computer with LCD monitor. I have one small air conditioner which is only used to keep the unroasted coffee dry (I'm a coffee farmer :-).

The TV is LCD and on often. The hot water heater is a small one. I wanted to go with an on-demand one, but the old heater conked out and I was unable to get an electrician to rewire for the on-demand fast enough.

Here in paradise we burn lots of fuel oil (which is shipped in), we burn other things, have windmills and even have dabbled in geothermal from the volcano.

I'd like to think we are a bit more responsible out here in Hawaii because of our isolation. We must be because I see people saving money by cooking their fish (sushi) and they even cook pigs underground with no electricity :-)

I recently moved to a new apartment and saw it was a good time to change all the lights to CFL. I did a total do over of all the light sockets and lamps, even going to the extreme by including the candelabra, the bulb in the fridge, to the light above the stove.

My former one bedroom apartment averaged $100 per two months (I live in a municipal electricity area where it's billed on a bi-monthly basis). My new two-bedroom apartment now averages $40 per two months ^

Total cost to invest in CFLs: $40 (candelabra CFLs are quite expensive)
Savings from the first bill alone: $60

And these CFLs are to last 10,000 hrs or more, the savings are well worth it!!

Wow - I didn't even think about the stove or fridge! What wattage did you put in them, & is the CLF affected by the cold temps of the fridge/condensation?

BTW - if/when I move from here I plan on taking all the CFLs with me & replacing the original bulbs back in their sockets

Cheers.

Oh man! I am so sorry I have missed this one!

For the fridge, the original incandescent bulb used a 40w so I replaced it with a 40w equivalent (9w) CFL. The cold or the condensation doesn't seem to have an effect on the CFL; the light works flawlessly without any flickers just like a normal bulb.

As for the stove, the bulb was already burned out when I moved in Since I only had CFL lightbulbs when I moved in, I just said what the hey and replaced it with a 60w replacement CFL. I think 60w is a bit too bright though, a 40w replacement bulb should be just fine for the stove.


The difficult part was to find a candelabra CFL for the chandelier in my new apartment's living room. I searched HomeDepot, Lowes, and OSH for those but they either cost in excess of $6.00 per bulb or they were too dim (15w equivalent).

Then I stumbled across ecolightbulbs, which seems to be run by some employees at Google! They had a candelabra 40w equivalent CFL bulb which only uses 7w with 8000 hrs of lifetime for only $3.69 per bulb! Granted $3.69 is still expensive, but it beats paying $6.00+ at Home Depot. The cool thing about the candelabra CFL that they sell is that it includes an Edison screw adapter so you can use it normal light fixtures if you want it to!

I was able to use google checkout for five of these and replaced them with the flame-tipped incandescent bulbs in the chandelier. My first impression of the CFL candelabra was that it looked too bulky compared to the old types, but I've gotten used to it. One minor gripe is that candelabra CFLs takes about 1~2 minutes to get to full luminoscity. At the first switch of the light, it looks very dim and dull. However, you do get a pseudo-dimming effect which I think is rather cool on romantic dinners.