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Re: [Phys-l] CFL's not such a hot idea



But then one of the major hypes would be wrong--that is, if the bulbs do not last longer, then their high initial cost will not be compensated for by an added lifetime such that your net cost for lighting would be higher--not lower as advertised.

The other factor here (and yes I have many CFLs in my home, but with many of our lights on dimmers, I can't totally convert--as California seems to want and mandate) is that the overall energy savings, while worthwhile, will not make much of a dent. Residential lighting is less than 1% of our total energy use (don't get confused between electrical use and total use--its the total we need to be concerned about). Whatever potential savings in energy use there might be in switching to CFLs can be swamped by the population increase over the period it will take to make the switch-over. Worth doing--probably. Saves the world--hardly. [This is mostly PR--making people feel like they are _really_ doing something for the environment. Driving 50 mpg cars does infinitely more!]

Rick (who dropped and broke the first $10 CFL he bought while installing it--and didn't think for a second about mercury contamination.)

***************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
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Free Physics Software
PC & Mac
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
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----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry Smith" <larry.smith@snow.edu>
To: "Forum for Physics Educators" <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] CFL's not such a hot idea


I have many CFLs in my house, and I do _not_ think they last significantly
longer than good incandescent bulbs. I've only been in my house 5 years
and I think I've replaced a greater percentage of the CFLs than the
incandescents. I don't think the CFLs are saving me much money, but they
do give more light per watt, and that is why I like them.

Larry
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