Thursday, January 31, 2013

Light Bulbs

Everyone has a few reactionary positions.  I had a friend in the 1970s who hated the 55 mph speed limit, maybe because he was always getting stopped for speeding.  

I hate CFLs.  We tried them, we really did.  For months.  Then I asked J to get me a regular 50-100-150, so that I could see when I was reading.  J tolerated his CFL a bit longer, but finally gave up and returned to the trusty incandescent.

It's not that I'm opposed to energy conservation.  We leave the heat set at 62 degrees in winter, and the air-conditioning set at 78 in summer.  My friend A brings her fleece slippers when she comes over in the winter.  But I'm absolutely incensed that I have to use light bulbs that don't do what they promise.  Allegedly the light is "equivalent" to that put out by incandescents.  No, it's not, unless "equivalent" is "good enough".  Adding insult, the light isn't the same color, although we got some CFLs a few years ago that were very close.  We were never able to find them again, I think because the producers figured that, since the government was going to phase out incandescents, they could palm any junk off on us, and didn't have to make the lights work well.

Not only do CFLs not put out enough light initially, but they deteriorate over time.  So bulbs that may last for years will put out inadequate light for most of those years.

It's enough to turn me into a free market nut.  Well, not quite.

2 comments:

Max said...

I'm a big fan of the Philips LED bulbs, but they're pretty expensive so they're more suited to high-use situations. CFLs are horrible; for the love of god don't use them near a bathroom mirror or where you like to look at food!

PeonInChief said...

I can only imagine the color that a CFL would turn my face. (Shudder, shudder.)