interim thoughts...: CFL lamps

(I HAD CHANCED TO SEE THIS BLOG ; THE PERSON WHO POSTED HAS SOME OBJECTIONS OR RESERVATIONS ABOUT

THE CFL BULBS, BUT HIS ARGUMNETS WERE NOT EXHAUSTIVE, AND ARE REBUTTED BY THE COMMENTS THAT

FOLLOWED HIS POST)

Falling prey to the hype around CFL lamps and their energy efficient, earth friendly ways, I have been using them for a while around my house. But my overall experience with them has not been very good. They dont last as long as promised; in many cases their life is less than the incandescent predecessors that they replaced. I am sure it reduced my electricity bill - but on a cost benefit analysis, I am not sure it passes the test. With a cost anywhere between 10-15 times ordinary bulbs, their life is pretty low.

Any similar experiences? Is it due to the thousand power cuts we have in a day?

Posted by Neelakantan at 8:17 AM

Labels: energy

4 comments:

Aadisht said...

That's strange. My personal experience with CFLs has been very good in terms of life. The only problem I've faced has been when the inductor at the base was wonky once and it used to make a persistent buzzing.
I used the Havells CFLs - not too expensive and very long lived.

9:36 AM, September 26, 2008

Nikhil Narayanan said...

When good quality CFLs are available for cheap prices, energy consumption would come down a lot.
Now availability is an issue.
What would help? Subsidized CFLs?
How else can CFLs be made popular in a price conscious market.

12:12 PM, September 26, 2008

aarushi said...

Life of CFL depends on continuous ON it seems, Philips give good life in my office because its always ON, but same when I bought for home it lost life within 1 yr, fortunately warranty period so got replaced, I think there are spurious quality available, check for made in vietnam, China etc all brands they have such Vietnam is not at all good. My experience is also same within 1 yr all CFL failed havells, but one in puja room is ok which is alwsys on, so blame it on frequent swith off

2:28 PM, September 26, 2008

Savitha Rao said...

My experience with CFLs has been very good . In the earlier (soulquest) office we had installed CFL lights . It's been more than 3 years now and they still work fine . In the current office almost all the lights are CFL. Our energy bill is quite moderate for an office . Besides the fact that we switch off lights and devices when not in use I am sure the choice of CFL contributes to the cost savings as well.