Why Fluorescents?

By now many of us have heard that under a bill proposed by Assemblyman LIoyd Levin,the state of California is about to become the first state to legislate what kind of light bulbs you can purchase and which bulbs will be outlawed. I can't help but envision the border patrol capturing a Nevada resident sneaking across the California border with a sack full of 100 watt incandescent bulbs he hoped to score with a local Home Depot. The state legislators of California are also considering banning incandescent bulbs,which have already been banned by Australia and Canada.

Those 60, 70 and 100 watt incandescent light bulbs you have in your home really do waste a lot of electricity and do not last long,but they are cheap. I just saw a six-pack of 75 watt incandescent light bulbs on sale for less than a dollar for all six,while the compact-fluorescent lamps California wants to everyone to buy were selling for $6.00 each.
Although replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact-fluorescent lamps really does make good economic and environmental sense,most of us just do not like being told what we can do in our own home,especially by a state government.
To help clarify some of the misinformation and hype surrounding this issue, I would like to review some aspects you may not be aware of. First, in an attempt at full disclosure I live in s solar-powered home and I have used only compact-fluorescent lamps and low wattage halogen bulbs since 1994. In fact, you will not find a single incandescent bulb in our home. We use 13 watt compact-fluorescent lamps in closets and hallways where limited illumination is required. We use 23 watt compact-fluorescent(http://www.gofluorescent.com/) lamps in all table lamps and areas you would normally use a 75 or 100 watt incandescent bulb. All bedrooms have ceiling fixtures that require two 13 watt PL type fluorescent lamps per fixture, and we installed four-foot T-8 stile fluorescent fixtures in the kitchen, garage, and shop areas where maximum illumination in needed.
Fluorescent lamps are available with different "color temperature"rating, and we chose with a "warmer" color temperature. These more closely match the slightly yellow color of an incandescent bulb,and do not have the harsh blue-white color that was typical of older-style office fluorescent tubes. We use recessed 45 watt halogen reflector-type bulb in high-ceiling areas and over all bathroom sinks, where a more natural and brighter light is needed or the high ceilings required a more focused lighting. A halogen lamp is different from a fluorescent lamp and does not require a ballast. However, it still is almost twice as efficient as a standard incandescent bulb ever though technically it still has a glowing filament like an incandescent bulb.
All fluorescent lamps and tubes require a ballast to operate. Up until the late 1980s, this ballast was a heavy transformer which provided the current-limiting electrical flow all fluorescent tubes require to operate. With the demand for smaller and more "compact" fluorescent lamps, this bulky ballast was eventually replaced with an electronic circuit-board that provides the current limiting function plus a higher frequency voltage that solves the lighting "flicker" that was typical for the older magnetic ballasts. In larger fixtures, this electronic ballast is mounted in the same location inside the fixture that the old ballast would have been located. In compact fluorescent lamps, this electronic ballast is located inside the screw-base.
Depending on your local electronic rates, replacing a standard incandescent bulb with a compact-fluorescent screw-base and the illuminating glass tube, a separate ballast located inside the fixture is not required.





Conclusions
Considering a typical home can have from 30 to 40 individual light bulbs, replacing these with compact-fluorescent lamps can represent a singnificant dollar saving on your annual electric bill, of course the cost saving that justified buying these lamps in the first place cam only be realized if they actually last long enough to generate these savings.
Yes, it really is good for our einvironment and will reduce our dependene on forein oil if we all buy more energy saving appliances, light bulbs, and vehicle. Yes, many of us are already doing this even if it cost substantiully more for these higher effeviency products than the less efficient brands. But, we all will eventually make these decisions on our own, without government dictate, siply because the rising cost of electricity and oil will soon bring the rest of us around. In the 1950s when they werebuilding nuclear power plants, this electricity was advertised as being "too cheap to meter." The time of electricity costing 2c per kWh has long past, and residents of manystates have already experienced some major increases in the cost of their electricity in just the past year. Rate increases of 30% to 40% are already being considered by many electric utilities still operating under rate caps imposed during the de-regulation of the industry in the 1990s.........