Posted on Tue, Apr. 22, 2008

Home Energy Q&A

 

 

Q: I bought a couple of compact fluorescent light bulbs at a store a few months ago and both have them have already burned out. I've been reading your articles for years on how great these things are and how they last so long, but I sure haven't seen these benefits. What's the story with them?

 

A: The bad news is that this isn't the first time I've gotten a question like this. And to tell you the truth, it's happened to me a few times as well.

 

The good news is that whenever I exchange some emails with the people who wrote about this problem, in just about every case I find out that there's one common thread, and it's the same as what happened to me Ñ the bulbs we bought did not come with the ENERGY STAR label.

 

While sometimes I feel like I'm a cheerleader for ENERGY STAR products (and I guess I am a big fan because that label really does signify the quality I want), it's clear that there are a lot of compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) on the market that just aren't made to the standards we've come to expect from those that meet the ENERGY STAR requirements. In most cases where people tell me bulbs aren't lasting very long or providing much light, they've gone back to look at the packaging and saw that the bulb did not have the ENERGY STAR designation.

 

It may be that the non-ENERGY STAR bulbs cost less and so they seem like a better deal to buy. But when you factor in the long lifetime of good CFLs and the tremendous energy savings they give, then these cheaper bulbs don't make a whole lot of sense.

 

Over its 5- to 10-year lifetime, an ENERGY STAR CFL can save about $30 in energy costs, making it a much better deal than using an incandescent bulb.

 

If you want to take an easy step toward doing your part to help the environment, visit www.energystar.gov/index.cfm? fuseaction_cal.show

 

Pledge and join the "Change a Light Cam-paign" challenge. Just pledge to change at least one light in your home to a CFL that has earned the ENERGY STAR designation. EPA calculates that if every U.S. household replaced just one bulb in their homes with a CFL, it would prevent greenhouse gas emissions that are equivalent to those produced by more than 800,000 cars on our nation's roads. It would also save more than $600 million in energy costs every year.

 

By the way, that Web site also has some great details on CFLs and even information on manufacturers making the bulbs.

 

As these bulbs have gotten more popular, they're becoming available in all kinds of stores, from warehouse clubs to hardware stores and in many specialty outlets. Over the years, I've seen their prices drop from $15 to $20 or more for just one bulb to as low as $1.50 today.

 

Sure, that's still more than a 49-cent incandescent, but the tremendous energy savings over the bulb's lifetime, the reduced heat from the energy-efficient bulbs, the lowered inconvenience of replacing bulbs in hard-to-reach lamps and other factors make them an incredible investment. In today's crazy stock market, a guaranteed return on investment from a CFL makes especially good economic sense.