I’m Thinking Blue
Over the weekend, Kiara and I splurged and spent about $200 on new light bulbs. We bought the fancy CFLs that use about 1/4 of the electricity of a normal incandescent bulb. We spent several hours moving around the house and replacing all of the bulbs. The only ones that we didn’t replace were two outdoor safety flood lights because they are very hard to get to, and don’t work so well when it is cold. We also didn’t replace two outdoor bulbs because the CFLs didn’t seem to want to work out there when they were cold, but the ones in the porch worked fine. Go figger. We also didn’t replace the six that are in closets because we hardly ever use them. The last three that we didn’t replace were the ones over the stairs. As soon as I figure out a way to replace them without killing myself, I’ll swap those out too.
I’ve noticed that it takes some time for our indoor flood lights to warm up and put out decent light. The non-floodlight styles start a little dimmer than normal, but within a dozen seconds or so get to the point where they are brighter than incandescent bulbs. I also noticed that replacing a few 100 watt incandescent bulbs with “60 watt” (really 13 watt) CFLs puts out more light. Huh. Go figger. The light that we’re getting out the CFLs is also more crisp, clean, and brilliantly white than the old bulbs. I kind of like that. It’s easier on my eyes.
We’re hoping that our nearly $170 a month electricity bill will drop to about $150 a month with these changes. If that’s the case, then these bulbs will pay for themselves about the end of the year, and will save us money for the remainder of the approximately five year lifespan of the bulbs.
I just wonder why these weren’t invented and released to the mass market sooner?
Jhianna is going to be so proud of me because I’m thinking green blue about our planet!
