Dimmable CFLs

[Pappy]

My only problem with CFL's is the warm up time. You have to wait for the light to come up to full brightness. Any of the newer ones more of an instant-on?

I was in Lowe's last night and noticed some of the Sylvania's are labeled as "Instant On". Have to give them a try.

[Ed62]

We only have two CFLs now. We bought them last year, to try then out. Even though they are not instant on, the slight delay doesn't bother me in the least. We'll be buying more this year.

In my USA home (N Mississippi)

Hank, anywhere near Tupelo? We have friends there.

Ed

[docrowan]

There is something to consider with CFL's If you heat your house with electricity, resistance not heat pumps, then you are not saving any money on electricity during the heating season. A standard incandescent giving off heat supplements the heating system in the home and the heat is not wasted. You may even find that you have to have the thermostat turned up a bit higher to compensate for the loss of directed heat on you from the standard incandescent lamp.

I have to pick a little at your argument against the CFL's related to heating in the winter.

I live in a one story home. The vast majority of my bulbs are near the ceiling and the rest are waist high or above. Because the heat from the bulbs rises, they would do a fair job of heating my ceiling and attic, but do very little for the people in the house. (True, halogen spotlights feel like they are directing radiant heat downward, but most folks don't have a whole lot of these.) In any case, I'd much rather put my electrical money into my heating unit that is engineered to keep ME warm rather than my lights that aren't.

[leehljp]

We only have two CFLs now. We bought them last year, to try then out. Even though they are not instant on, the slight delay doesn't bother me in the least. We'll be buying more this year.


Hank, anywhere near Tupelo? We have friends there.

Ed

I live about 90 miles to the west and just south of Memphis about 30 miles. Little town called Tunica, only a few miles from the MS River.

However, until the economic slowdown last fall, I was prepared to go to Tupelo area for some work in 2011 when we return for retirement (Dec 2010). Toyota purchased a nice piece of land and was in the beginning stages of building a Prius plant between Tupelo and New Albany. Since I live in Toyota-city I have contacts with quite a few mid-level managers and engineers.

We have been asked if we could assist in some of the community functions for cross-cultural understanding and cooperation. That may not come to be for a few more years now.

[docrowan]

Hank,

Work progresses at the Toyota plant, albeit at a slower rate. (I pass by the plant every day on the way to work.) I believe they are still projecting opening the plant in 2011. Suppliers are also progressing with their plants.
IMHO, they announced a delay because they didn't want to get boxed in to a corner if the downturn lasts longer than expected. A tremendous amount of work has been done, I don't see Toyota walking away from this.

[ragswl4]

Dimmable CFLs, now that's something I will look into as we are having a "lighting nightmare" in building our new home. 50% of all lighting has to be CFLs. They can't be the replacement types as the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia doesn't trust us to us standand fixtures with CFL bulbs. Oh No, they have to be "CFL only" fixtures. Regular recessed light fixtures are around $6-$10 where the CFL fixtures are $25-$35. We are installing 45 recessed lights all together. In addition to that all incadescent lights have to have both a motion sensor and dimmers that cannot be bypassed, no exceptions. All exterior lighting has to be CFL with motion sensors.

We have always planned to use CFLs everywhere as an energy savings but the county is making sure we spend a heck of alot more than necessary because we can't be trusted not to remove CFLs and replace them with incadescents. What a load of crap. Lighting will cost us 5-6 times as much as necessary. I asked if we could give the inspector an IOU on the light fixtures but he didn't see the humor in it.

Rant over, thanks for the info on the dimmable CFLs.

[crokett]

Rags,

sounds like the lighting/electrical fixture industry has a very effective lobbying board out there in CA.

[ragswl4]

Rags,

sounds like the lighting/electrical fixture industry has a very effective lobbying board out there in CA.

Ya don't think anyone is kicking back do ya? Bunch of idiots IMO. Starting to wish I had picked Idaho, Nevada or Arizona as a new home location.

[docrowan]

I'm a big believer in the CFL's and we use them as much as possible. However, I am very disappointed the government has seen fit to outlaw the tried and true and inexpensive incandescent.

[Mr__Bill]

A lot of the issue in California is a simple short supply of electricity. It seems that asking people nicely to use less just does not work, thus they unfairly penalize those who want to conserve by forcing then to conserve in the most expensive way possible. Builders will find other ways to cut corners to maintain price points and profit margins and in the end the consumer gets it both ways.