Carbonfund.org | Reduce what you can, offset what you can't

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CFLs are here today

Long gone are the days when compact fluorescent light bulbs were a nuisance. When these CFLs were first introduced into the market in the 1990s, they were bulky, expensive (up to $25 each), and threw an antiseptic glow. There were also concerns about CFLs’ mercury content. Enthusiastic CFL consumers slowly returned to purchasing incandescent bulbs.

Fast forward to the 2000s… introducing the sleek generation of CFLs, with a cost of just a couple bucks each and vastly improved light quality. These new CFLs are more compact and have been designed to easily replace incandescent bulbs in most light fixtures, and have significantly lower mercury levels. Their life spans now run from 6,000 to 15,000 hours, where as incandescent bulbs’ still range from 750 hours to 1000 hours. Best of all, CFLs just use a quarter of the electricity used to light an incandescent bulb, saving consumers upwards of $40 per bulb over their lifetime. And the energy and pollution savings potential is great. 9% of US household electricity comes from lighting. CFLs can reduce this figure by up to 75%.

Where to use CFLs? We used to suggest using CFLs just in the 4-5 most used rooms of a home. With the low price of CFLs we now think it just makes sense to always use CFLs, in the family room and the storage closet. Over their lifetime, evenly a rarely used CFL is cost effective.

It Gets Better

Carbonfund.org has partnered with THEBulb. to certify the first-ever CarbonFree™ Light Bulb. THEBulb, with a motto of “You do your part, We’ll do ours™,” is selling Energy Star CFLs and offsetting the electricity the bulbs use over their lifetime.

To us, this is what Carbonfund.org has always been about: reduce what you can, offset what you can’t™.

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Posted by Sean on 07/20