Along the lines of my last post of going green, CF (or Compact Florescent) lighbulbs are a great way to save money. I have been hesitant to use these for years as I never really liked florescent light. However, I bought my first set of these this past weekend and will try them out soon as lights start to go out.
I bought 2 four packs at my local Home Depot. One was on sale for $3.97 (soft white) and the other was at regular price of $7.97 (daylight). I like real light so I wanted to see the difference.
Yes, these are much more expensive than the $.98 4 pack you can buy at Wal-Mart these days. However, I find that I'm replacing those lights every 2-3 months. These CF's are guaranteed to last for 9 years! Even if the others lasted 6 months, that's $.50 per year for that light bulb. Over 9 years that's $4.50, where the CF is only $.99 for the one's that were on sale. In addition, the CF uses only 14 watts of energy compared to the 60 watts of a comparable bulb. So, that is saving 75% of energy use on your lights. Of course, lights don't typically account for a huge portion of your light bill, but if you are talking about less than a dollar a year for light bulbs, a few extra cents of savings on your electric bill adds up on a per bulb basis.
Of big concern still is disposal of the CF bulbs. These should be properly disposed of just like regular florescent lights and not thrown into the regular trash. Luckily, with a 9 year life, there might be some more options for local disposal by the time the first one of these go bad.
Anyone else out there use these kind of bulbs? What's your take on the light?
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