Jefflog

Several months ago, I read an article on Wal*Mart’s initiative to push fluorescent lights to its customers. Their goal is to sell 100 million compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs within 1 year.

I don’t shop at Wal*Mart very often, but the article got me thinking about CFs again. I had used them about 10 years ago, when they cost up to $20 a pop, although they promised to last as long as 10 regular bulbs and save you $40 in energy costs over its lifetime. They also had the annoying habit of flickering for a few seconds before they would turn on. My bedroom had two light sockets connected to the wall switch, and I had a CF in one of them and a regular incandescent in the other just so I could see my room as soon as I flipped the switch.

My experiment with CFs ended when I tried to change out a regular lightbulb for a fluorescent one and dropped my $20 bulb on the sidewalk in the process. At least when you break a standard bulb, the accident only costs you 50 cents.

I finally bought an 8-pack of CFs at Costco today, for about $12 or about $1.50 each, and installed them throughout the house. Boy have times changed. These bulbs don’t flicker and come on instantly. I can’t gauge any difference between these bulbs and their incandescent brethren, except for the swirly look to them. And at 1/4th the energy use, they’ll probably pay for themselves within the first year. Amazing.