How many of you have invested in energy-saving light bulbs? Can any of them be used in the place of regular light bulbs? Have you noticed any changes in bottom line of your monthly energy bills??
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs
I have used those bulbs in 'mostly used' areas of house, though their life is short but I blv I have said enough from them by the time.
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs
I thought they outlasted regular light bulbs?
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs
I have regularly replace all of them used to have 100 watt bulbs to light up the room now running on 20 watts that gives out 100 watt, they take some time to run up to their brightness and also has a effect on the electric bills
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No, their lifespan is shorter than regular bulbs, hopefully as technology improves their lifespan will increase as well.
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So they save energy but you would spend more on buying more frequently. Whats the point?
Also, I don't understand 20 watts giving 100 watts light. never herd of that.
I want to look at these options because its a pain in the neck replacing bulbs on my high cielings every so often.
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I have recently installed some at my house; we shall see when the bill comes around. Though it is hard to track down because winter is approaching and this will be our first winter in this house.
Anyway, I am of the opinion that if I can save even a few watts, I should.
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs
u save a few watts , but have to buy more often..and someone else is using a few more watts to make the bulb, and a few more watts to warehouse that bulb. and then the fuel spent on transporting it, and then the addition to the land fill or additional cost of recycling it..list goes on
heh, dunno..someone would have to do a deep analysis of total cost of ownership of the 2 bulbs, as well as net impact on enviroonment and total energy consumption of entire life cycle to come up with a good answer.
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs
I have a few and they last much longer tan regular ones. I've got one on the high ceiling above the stairs area and it's lasted years. (I hope it doesnt go off today).
I dont know if its made much difference with the bill but thats cos I cant tell and cant be bothered to work it out, but I would assume so. They take a while to get warmed up, very dark when you first switch the light on
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Yea, I thought I heard somewhere that they last longer than the regular bulbs. However, I didn’t know that they take a long time to warm up!
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Captain sahab, they last atleast 2 to 4 times longer than the regular bulbs.
Here is the rest of the details from Fed Trade Commission:
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs
My dad is big on energy savers. We've been using them since the last few years and found them better than regular bulbs. They definitely last longer.
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Its good to live in the green country (i.e. surrounded by environmentalists).
Anyway, these mostly mercury based energy saver bulbs use quantum physics to produce same amount of light out of fewer power/electricity. So, a 14 watt Hg bulb will produce the same amount of light as a 75w incandescent bulb. This is because the incandescent bulbs produce invisible light or infrared light and a lot of energy/power is used to produce the same amount of visible light. These incandescent bulbs are also cheaper to make.
Now, you will definitely see a change in your bottom line bill if the majority of your energy bill revolves around lighting up the house. But if most of the bill revolves around the AC, fridge, the electric stove etc. then you won’t see much of a difference.
On a collective community level, such saving definitely add up!
Sorry for the rambling but I had to give an engineer’s perspective after Fraudia Bhai gave the usual business major jargon, which doesn’t lead to anything. And if you guys need a more in-depth workings on how the physics behind the two kinds of bulbs differ, please start a thread in the Sci. forum and I will oblige.
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs
They are marketed that way, but reality is little different, atleast me and my friends have experiencee it… energy saver bulbs didn’t last longer than regular ones, may be I’ll try different brand but chances are that all of us didn’t buy same brand 
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Now can I go and pick up any kind of energy-saving light bulb to replace the regular 40W, 60W and 100W light bulbs?? Do they also work for recessed lighting??