Sum It Up

The quarter is ending and the research section of our project is over. I hope that our CFL blog has given some readers better ideas and understandings about CFL bulbs.

To close the blog, I have added a great informative YouTube clip that compares the CFL against the Incandescent. It's not too long so go take a look.

Thanks to all the people who participated in our CFL research survey.

Have a Happy Holidays All!

Energy-Efficient or a Pain in the Bulb?

"The CFL spiral design is a symbol of "going green," the movement to make homes and living more energy-efficient. And sales of compact fluorescent lights, or CFLs, are booming: They made up 20 percent of the U.S. light bulb market in 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency says, up from 11 percent a year earlier.

Sales probably will continue rising as traditional incandescent bulbs begin disappearing from stores because of Congress' mandate that light bulbs be at least 25 percent more efficient by 2012. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, IKEA and other major retailers now sell a range of CFLs, which typically use nearly 75 percent less energy than regular bulbs..."

That is actually an excerpt from an article with constructive criticism towards CFL's. If you are not out shopping today and would like a good read please go to the following link to read the whole article.

ABCNews on CFLs

Our survey deadline was yesterday but the survey link is still active for stragglers who would like to participate in our research.

Happy Black Friday All! Unless you work in retail and you probably have to get up in 3-4 hours to get to work...

Save a Chicken! Eat a Turkey!

Check out the line graph I added above, this graph compares the usage difference between incandescent bulbs and CFL bulbs. As you can see CFL's use a lot less energy, which would help reduce your energy bills!

Today is the last day for everyone to take our survey, so please go take it if you haven't already. You can locate our survey link in the top right corner of our blog.

Happy Thanksgiving All!

CFL Tool

Happy hump day all. A group mate of mine sent me an awesome CFL tool to play with. The tool helps you calculate the amount of money you can be saving if you switched over to a CFL bulb! Go check it out, use the follow link:

CFL Savings Calculator

Time is running out, go take our survey if you haven't already. You can find our link to survey in the top right corner of our blog.

Something New!

Good Tuesday everyone! Instead of providing a factoid about CFLs today, I thought I would update the blog with a new "widget." I added a link list to the right hand pane of the page with some informative CFL videos.

Please go take a look AFTER you take our CFL survey and polls, for research purposes. Thank you!

Did You Know...

There are two types of CFLs: integrated and non-integrated lamps.

Integrated CFLs

Integrated lamps combine a tube, an electronic ballast and either an Edison screw or bayonet fitting in a single CFL unit. These lamps allow consumers to replace incandescent lamps easily with CFLs. Integrated CFLs work well in standard incandescent light fixtures. This lowers the cost of CFL use, since they can reuse the existing infrastructure.

Non-integrated CFLs

Non-integrated CFLs have a separate, replaceable bulb and a permanently installed ballast. Since the ballasts are placed in the light fixture they are larger and last longer, compared to the integrated ones. Non-integrated CFL housings can be both more expensive and sophisticated, providing options such as dimming, less flicker, faster starts, etc.

Now that you had your CFL quick fix of the day, go take our survey! You can find the link in the top right corner of our blog page.

Advice for Cleaning Up After Breaking a CFL Bulb

Broken CFLs are a big issue when it comes to purchasing these bulbs, so I wanted to lay down some tips on how to properly clean a broken CFL bulb:

• Leave the room and ventilate for 15 minutes or more
• While wearing rubber gloves, scoop up glass shards and debris from the bulb with a stiff piece of cardboard
• Avoid creating or inhaling dust from the broken bulb
• Don't use a vacuum or broom to clean up after a broken bulb on hard surfaces
• Place the remains in a plastic bag
• Wipe up the immediate area with a damp paper towel put it in the bag as well and seal it
• If you need to use a vacuum on carpet, place the filter bag in a plastic bag as well
• Wash your hands after finishing the clean up

CFL Cleanup kits are also available for purchase to help you clean up those broken bulbs. The picture header is an example of how a kit would look like.

Take our CFL survey, it's a great way to start your weekend! (See top right hand corner area for the link to our survey)

Did You Know...

Most CFL manufacturers have replaced electromagnetic ballasts with electronic ballasts; this has removed most of the flickering and slow starting traditionally associated with fluorescent lighting. No more waiting for the bulb to warm up!

Please help us with our research, take our survey! I have moved the CFL survey link to the upper right area of our blog.

Just an FYI...

The blog has taken a sort of identity turn, but it was needed to assist us in our CFL research. I apologize I have to use these dull "CFL" pictures, but again understand it is for research purposes.

On another note, I will try to update the design on the blog to give it that "pizzaz" look. That is only if I have enough time...

If people have a chance, please answer some of the polls in the left pane. Also, I relocated the survey link to the upper right hand corner area.

Have a good night all.

Did You Know...

A CFL bulb can save up to $30 in electric costs over its lifetime, prevent more than 110 pounds of coal from being burned, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 450 pounds. Now that's a green effect!

Just a heads up, our survey has been updated. Please take a moment to help us with our CFL research. See top right hand corner area for the link to our survey.

Night All!

Did You Know...

The average rated life of a CFL is between 8 and 15 times that of incandescents. CFLs typically have a rated lifespan of between 6,000 and 15,000 hours, whereas incandescent lamps are usually manufactured to have a lifespan of 750 hours or 1,000 hours.

Rough day??? Take our survey! You can find the link to our survey in the top right hand corner area.

CFL News

Home Depot is offering CFL bulb recycling at all of their stores nationwide! This is a free service that provides safe, responsible disposal of the bulbs. Just bring any unbroken, or expired CFL bulbs to the Returns desk at your local store.

Additionally, they are launching an in-store energy conservation program which will switch their lighting fixture showrooms to all CFL bulbs. Cost savings for this project will be $16 million annually.

That's some good news to end the week. Have a great weekend everyone.

Bored this Friday evening??? Take our survey! (See top right hand corner area for the link to our survey)

Did You Know...

The modern CFL was invented by Ed Hammer, an engineer with General Electric, in response to the 1973 oil crisis. Hammer invented the bulb in 1976 and primarily worked alone. Hammer's original prototype is in the Smithsonian museum.

Just a quick factoid for today. Have a good night all!

Before you get some shut eye take our survey! It's been said that it causes people to have good dreams. (See top right hand corner area for the link to our survey)

CFL Classified & Google Analytics

Hello everyone! No CFL specific informatio today, but I wanted to inform everyone that I will not be adding daily CFL pictures to my next couple posts... I know I know, it's heart breaking but it is an action needed to be taken to improve our CFL research.

On another note, I added "Google Analytics" to the site to keep an eye on the site traffic. Hopefully we will receive good results using this tool.

If you haven't already please take our survey, its good for you! (See top right hand corner area for the link to our survey)

Did You Know...

CFLs come in a variety of shapes and sizes! The majority of CFLs are designed to look identical to the incandescent light bulb version.

Have a good Veterans Day!

If you have the day off, please take some time to take our CFL survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SvmbalyQqokSMjtZOvV2mA_3d_3d

Google Trends

Good afternoon all.

There is no fact today, but I wanted to show you all a linear graph that displays the amount of searches for CFL information compared to the regular incandescent bulb.

The red line is incandescent & the blue line is CFL. As you can see through the past year or so the regular incandescent bulb is still the most searched for bulb but the CFL bulb has received some more attention since being introduced.

CFL v Incandescent (Google Trends)

That's it for now, please take our survey and check out the new poll question that was posted!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SvmbalyQqokSMjtZOvV2mA_3d_3d

Did You Know... (CFL fact of the day)

It is regular for CFLs to produce different shades of white light??? The shade of white light is identified by the correlated color temperature which is measured in kelvin.

Lower kelvin numbers mean the light has a warmer color, while higher Kelvin numbers mean the light has a cooler color.

The majority of CFLs available in the market offer soft or warm white light (2700K–3000K), which is comparable to an incandescent bulb.

This color range works well in most residential settings and enhances warmer colors (red, yellow, orange) found in your home.

CFLs are also available in higher kelvin color temperature CFLs (3500K, 4100K, 5000K, 6500K) and will emit more white to bluish-white light. These products are usually identified with the terms "bright white," "natural" or "daylight."

Please go to the following link and take our survey to further enhance our CFL studies:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SvmbalyQqokSMjtZOvV2mA_3d_3d

PS. No posts this weekend, I have places to go and people to see... Have a great weekend!

Did You Know... (CFL fact of the day)

HELP! My 20-year old CFL bulb finally gave out on me. How do I dispose of it?!?!

Everyone knows you can't just recycle CFL bulbs with regular glass bottles because of their mercury content...

Their's no need to fear IKEA is here... or hopefully nearby. All IKEA stores will take old CFL bulbs off your hands for free recycling!

With that problem solved, go take our CFL survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SvmbalyQqokSMjtZOvV2mA_3d_3d

Did You Know... (CFL fact of the day)

For each incandescent bulb you replace with a CFL, you can save approximately 1000 to 1250 pounds of CO2 from being added to the atmosphere during the life of the bulb!

Go take our survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SvmbalyQqokSMjtZOvV2mA_3d_3d

Did You Know... (CFL fact of the day)

Newer CFL bulb models are now compatible with dimmable light fixtures!

Go to the following link to take our survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SvmbalyQqokSMjtZOvV2mA_3d_3d

Did You Know... (CFL fact of the day)

CFLs provide 75-80% energy savings

An incandescent wastes 90% of its energy generating heat.

In comparison to using 100-watt incandescents, one 27-watt* CFL
can save 730,000 watts over its lifetime!

This is enough electricity to power an average home for a
month!!

Don't forget to take our CFL survey! Just go to the following link.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SvmbalyQqokSMjtZOvV2mA_3d_3d

A Green Halloween (Comes in Orange too!)

CFLs don't only save you money, but they have Holiday spirit too!

Before you have a Halloween Ball tonight, please remember to take and spread the word about our CFL survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.coms.aspx?sm=SvmbalyQqokSMjtZOvV2mA_3d_3d

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Tags:

CFL's & Other Eco-Friendly Ideas on Colbert Nation

The Green Light

Given the focus on "greenness" and energy efficiency these days, you have probably been exposed to some sort of advertisement about tossing out your old incandescent bulbs for CFL's. It is definitely an easy way to save a few bucks on your electric bill, but for some reason people are still not making the switch. But what about you? Have you made the switch?

Please go to the following link and provide some of your own feedback about switching to the new "Green Light."

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SvmbalyQqokSMjtZOvV2mA_3d_3d