When we were young and Thomas Edison was still alive, buying light bulbs was easy. You had to decide if you wanted 60 watt or 100 watt. Today there are many more decisions to make. First you must decide on the type; incandescent, compact florescent (CFL), light emitting diode (LED), or halogen. You must decide how much to pay for longer life of the bulb. LEDs last the longest, but cost the most. You must decide on the color of the light; soft white, bright white, cool white, or daylight. You then must decide if the shape of the bulb will fit your fixture and if you need a dimmable bulb. Life is not as simple as when we were young.
Let’s first tackle the type. Halogen bulbs are great for automobile headlights, but they only have limited use in the house. They are essentially incandescent bulbs encapsulated in a halogen atmosphere that allows them to operate at a higher temperature. They are susceptible to the oils on your hands so should not be handled without gloves. Some lamps and spot fixtures are built specifically for halogen light bulbs and must be replaced with halogen. The decision is therefore limited to the other three types.
Both the CFL and the LED bulbs use about one-quarter the amount of electricity as the incandescent. The CFL lasts about as long as an incandescent bulb, and the LED lasts three times as long. The LED bulbs cost so much more than the CFL bulbs that the CFL is the clear winner except for some special circumstances. We are not done yet deciding which bulb to buy.
The bulb color must now be selected. If you have ever installed several CFL bulbs in the same room without matching the color, you know how bad that looks. There are inconsistencies between manufacturers in what constitutes a color like cool white, so you must look at the color temperature measured in Kelvin. This specification is not always on the packaging, but it will be soon.
When you find a color that suits your taste for a particular room, note the color temperature on the package in Kelvin and buy all future bulbs in that color. The color temperature of incandescent bulbs is 2700 Kelvin.
There are other considerations that may cause you to select incandescent or even LED lights for some applications. CFL bulbs are dim for about three minutes when first turned on. In my bathroom, there are four can lights (13 watts in CFL and 65 watts in incandescent). Because the CFL light level is so low on startup, I have one incandescent bulb in the mix. If you have a light bulb in a location that is very difficult to change, or you have to pay a handyman to change it, you might consider an LED light bulb, which has three times the life of other bulbs and is bright at startup. CFL bulbs are not good in applications where vibration is present, such as in the garage door opener. Since this application is only on for a few minutes each day, an incandescent is probably your best choice. Do not exceed the manufacturer’s maximum recommended wattage, usually 60 watts.
If you need to replace a bulb in a fixture that has a dimmer, there are CFL bulbs that are dimmable. If you have a lamp where the lamp shade snaps over the bulb, there is a CFL bulb designated A19 which is shaped just like a 60-watt incandescent bulb. Many CFL bulbs can be used outdoors if used in an enclosed fixture. To be certain, look for the package or bulb to say that it can be used outdoors, and verify the lowest operating temperature for the area where the product is being used.
CFL bulbs contain a very small amount of mercury and therefore should be recycled. All Ace Hardware, Home Depot, and Lowes stores will take your expired CFL bulbs and recycle them.
Oh, for the good old days when life was simpler. We used a lot more energy, but we didn’t have grandchildren to lay guilt trips on us.
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