Compact Flourescent bulbs with good light output? Also mercury concerns?

We bought a house last Spring that needed a new furnace and hot water heater and we needed a new refrigerator and deep freeze. We replaced or purchased ones that were Blue Star efficient. And we replaced every bulb in the house with CFL bulbs. The people that lived here before had a level payment of $185 a month, gas and electric are on the same bill, the utility company said we could use the last people's level pay until December when it would be changed to our average monthly usage they said they only adjust in December. But after a couple of months of our usage they dropped our level pay to $154 a month a good savings the utility company must think we have really cut down usage. We are very happy with the CFL bulbs and do recycle as much as we can and make sure things are disposed of correctly.

__________________
I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.

We just moved in June '07 and I replaced every bulb in the house (it's a small house ) with CFs on our first night. I have already had to change one. It lasted 3 months with minimal use. I thought it was just a fluke but I'm going to be pretty disappointed if they all start dying on me.

I use CFL's in as many fixtures as possible. I've replaced one bulb in 6 years. IMHO, if your CFL isn't putting out enough light, get a larger one . Yes, there is a warmup period... less than a minute in my case.

The mercury issue isn't a big concern with me. Mercury is everywhere. Wildfires release quite a bit more mercury than people think. (read an article just last month about how the average fire season out west releases the largest amounts of mercury by volume each year).

If a person is worried about mercury, cut off all electrics service to the house, including off grid power... cause toxic pollution is created in both on grid and off grid power (off grid > solar panel production, industries needed for wind turbine creation, etc.). Of course, once the off grid devices are created, the bad pollution ends.

Lisa... you should know you shouldn't put your old motor oil in the river... put it down in the water table (via a well or spring)...to get the maximum punch for your effort... it'll get to the river eventually...

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

See, the CFL's use about 1/4, that's about a quarter, of the Electricity
that Incandescent bulbs use.

So, if you were using a 60 watt, Incandescant, You'd use about a 14 Watt
CFL. And if that is not enough Light, simply put in a 20 Watt CFL.
That will give you the Light Output of a 75 Watt Incandescant.
You'll still be saving about 2/3 the Electricity, over a 60 Watt incandescant....
Go figure, hunnh.
I can't remember what Wattage equals a 90 Watt Incandescant.
But either way, over the long haul, it's really worth the investment.
Hunh, go figure.........

__________________
Be Intense, always. But always take the time to
Smell the Roses, give a Hug, Really Listen, or
Jump to Defend your Friends & What you Believe in.
'Til later, Have Fun,
Old John

Remember this those that think the bulbs are dim, there are Different ones now available. Like Daylight~! Gives a much brighter "White" now that yellow "soft" ones~! So there are many different types now on the market so those that gave up on them a few years back may want to go back and look at what is out there now.~! Even outdoor ones that are equivalent to 150 watts and 200 watts ones are also out there in CFLs~
I will switch over to LEDs when the price comes down but right now they are so expensive you are not Saving at all but spending more then if you would just by using regular bulbs.
But LED would be the way to go because they take less then the CFLs do and way way less then incandescent ones.

__________________
Oh my, dishes yet to wash and dry

See My Pictures at
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/0903/arabianknight/

Been using CFL's for 15 years! From back when they cost $15-20 ea!

Had 3 burn out on me so far, 2 by power fluctuations

Most of the ones I have now I bought at Sam's Club.

They come on at about 85% brightness, to full brightness at about 1 min.

My eyes do not need to have things "white" like the sun to see.

We put cfl's in all the main house when we built and incandecents in all the closets, my thinking is minimal use. Within 18 mo. I've had to replace all of the incandecents in like a three week period. I put in CFL's.

We have a LED light above our bathroom sink.
Best zit pickin' light in the house.

__________________
Having a deep emotional conversation with my quilted buddy..........

While it's true I don't need daylight colored light just to SEE, both my partner and I make a living in fields heavily based on color (me- makeup artistry, costume/fashion design; him- graphic design), and we spend a decent bit painting our house colors we like- having off-color lights just ruins all that hard work.

I think that they take getting use to. I still keep a standard 100watt bulb in the light over my chair where I read and do handwork, but am replacing all others as the old bulbs burn out. I did have one burn out in the barn in the light over the chicken feeder, but I am not sure that it wasn't bumped by me or maybe not screwed in right.

I'm betting it a you get what you pay for thing. Here in Hungary we use allot of florescence and they are better then the ones we had in the States. I can knit by them without a problem but do have a small amount of difficulty with light colored thread on oatmeal background when cross stitching...but I still do it. The demand for them is higher here, so we have a good selection at a good price (about 30-50% more then the other style) LED looks great, but they are still outside our price range.

We are happy enough with them here that we plan to use them exclusively when we move back.

__________________
Jen
If my typo's bother you, come on over and take a chair. We can discuss it over some "ham and swill calzones"
Follow us at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimisod/

I have CFL's all over... I even brought the ones we were using in California when we moved and we're now using them here. I've never had problems with them burning out, and it generally takes less than a minute for them to get to full brightness, which, with some of them, is a lil too bright IMO, and these are all cheapies. We have LED nightlights for the kids' room and the bathroom just so no one crashes at night, and while I do like them, I don't like other LED lights.