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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg A decade after introduction, only 10% of bulbs are CFLs (http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/as-cfl-sales-fall-more-incentives-urged/?scp=1&sq=green,inc&st=cse)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/CFL_Bulb.jpgLeora Broydo Vestel - BLOGS (http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com) - Sept 28, 2009

It's reliability --Ed.

An official at the Department of Energy’s Energy Star program has issued a grim assessment of the market for compact fluorescent light bulbs, or C.F.L.s, and is urging that funding for utility incentive programs be intensified.

In a September 18 letter to C.F.L. industry stakeholders, Richard Karney, Energy Star products manager, said that national sales of the bulbs have declined 25 percent from their peak in 2007, with sales in some regions such as Vermont and parts of Massachusetts declining 35 to 50 percent. Further, he noted, shipments of C.F.L.s — which are supposed to last far longer than traditional incandescents –are down 49 percent in 2009 over 2007 levels....http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/as-cfl-sales-fall-more-incentives-urged/?scp=1&sq=green,inc&st=cse

CFL use is still abundant. People are getting burned by some of the bands that DO NOT LAST. One of the other departments here purchased some Sylvania to replace GE. The Sylvania's life is similar to an incandescent. Many are lasting less than 30 days of 24/7 use.

The new 6 packs of GE 26 watt from Sam's Club have notes on the pack that says: Changing 6 100 watt incandescent to CFL will save 1600lbs. of coal to produce electricity.

I just replaced two 40-watt incandescent bulbs in the bathroom with CFL's. The new bulbs are actually brighter than the old conventional bulbs. I had to use the new smaller sized CFL's.

Harry

The biggest problem I have is dimmer switches. 10 years ago I put in a number of ceiling fans/light fixture units. Each one has a complex switch that contrls the lights, including dimmer capability, and the fan, including variable fan speed. The CFLs do not work with conventional dimmers and they don't work with these fixtures.

Since the fans help control my heating and cooling costs, I am not going to rip them all out just so I can use different light bulbs. Maybe this problem will be overcome by LEDs or some other technology, but the problem really needs a solution.

Has it occurred to anybody that sales of CFL's may have dropped because the people who are willing to buy them already have the CFL's they need? And because most CFL's last so long the market for replacements is smaller than it is for incandescent bulbs? I've been using almost exclusively CFL's for the past 9 years, and only one or two have burned out.

This also means that I have spares that I end up keeping for a long time, which is one of the problems noted in the article.

It can be hard to find a CFL that physically fits in some fixtures, lamps, etc. But that situation is getting better. And now many CFL's are available in warm tones (2700K) so they are closer to the appearance of incandescents and don't have that cold green/blue hue. My source is 1000bulbs.com but there are probably others.

A continuing issue with CFL's is that dimmable CFL's still do not actually dim over the range that the manufacturers say that they do, even with the recommended dimmers. In some locations I've had to switch to non-dimmables and select a wattage which is right for most situations. And this trial and error leads to even more CFL's in my spares drawer.

There are plusses and minuses for CFL's versus special fluorescent fixtures that take plug-in tubes. CFL's can screw into existing sockets without requiring retrofits of ceiling cans, etc. OTOH, the ballast is in the CFL so when the bulb goes you are replacing the ballast as well; with the plug-in fluorescents one replaces the tube only. But the plug-ins take a specific wattage tube so you can't change the brightness. And if the ballast does go it may be trickier to replace. Also, CFL's are a round light source and so may mimic more closely the light from an incandescent than the longer more linear plug-in tubes (although a linear source may be better for some other situations). Right now Energy-Star ratings require that the fixture accept only fluorescent tubes (so that incandescent bulbs cannot be substituted), and this may also apply for LEEDS points?

STM that the high percentage of incandescent bulbs at present indicates simple resistance to change and the higher initial cost of CFL's.

I think Lightfoot has a point about the longer life leading to lower sales. My wife and I haven't had to buy any new light bulbs in a while.

And as for the dimmers, that still bugs me. The ones in the kitchen emit a buzz if the dimmer switch isn't all the way up.

I've had mixed results with CFL's - worse with LEDs.

It could be the quality of the product - could be the way I use them - could be the electricial system.

My kitchen has conventional florescent lights 12yrs old.

My gut feeling is CFLs are merely a mediocre transitional solution.

I really can not say if they will be commonplace in 30 years, I believe some other technology will come and replace them.

As far as sales going down I’m in the we already bought them camp. Right now I have 3, 4 packs of them in the closet. I have not replaced many in the years I have been using them so this supply is going to last me a long time. The only light I still use incandescent is the ceiling fan single bulb light. The CFL’s burn out much faster in it due to the constant motion I guess.

In my uneducated opinion it is like C4C, auto sales will go down the rest of the year because folks who were on the fence bought then. And, as pointed out in another post here, folks will hold out until the next giveaway incentive to go and buy a vehicle. As with the zero percent financing and all the other incentives, folks will hold out until they get the deal they want. Well, most people anyway, there will always be buyers who are in need of a new vehicle today due to losing their current working one. Like I was in July of 08, poor time to NEED to buy a fuel efficient vehicle. No incentives, no price breaks, it was a sellers market.

It can be hard to find a CFL that physically fits in some fixtures, lamps, etc. But that situation is getting better.


That was why I could switch to CFL's in my bathroom: the newly available smaller CFL's fit while the bigger ones wouldn't.

Harry

Hopefully in 30 years we'll have LED lights and all be driving electric cars powered by an endless supply of solar and wind power.

CFL's are pretty expensive. I'd imagine to the normal person, when they go to the store and see a 4 pack of CFL's for $10 vs a 6 pack of incandescent bulbs for $1, the bulbs that they've used their entire life and know will work where they need them, that the incandescent bulbs get picked.

Also, how much per month on an electricity bill would someone with all CFL's vs incandescent save? Well for myself, lights are on from when it's dark till I go to bed. So right now that's roughly 7pm to 1am. 6 hours of lights. One fixture holds 2 bulbs, the other holds 4, and both are on during that time. Normally that's 6 60w incandescent, but now its 6 15watt cfl's. In one month the incandescent use 64.8kWh, cfls 16.2kWh. 10 cents per kWh, so $6.48 vs $1.62. So yeah, not a whole lot of money saved in one month, but they do pay for themselves after 3 or so months.

I've been using CFLs for 15 years, and haven't bought an incandescent (except appliance bulbs) since before 1998. I think in 30 years CFLs may still be with us, but I'm hoping that by then we've seen widespread adoption of LEDs or even something better that we don't yet know about.

I think lightfoot may be on to something. I don't buy as many CFLs as I used to, simply because (1) I have already made the switch, (2) I haven't moved in a few years and (3) CFL quality has improved so I'm not having replace prematurely dead ones as often as I used to.

By the way, if you need smaller sizes/wattages IKEA has a better selection than Home Depot, etc. Their quality used to be awful (I'd lose 1/3 of them within a few months) but seems to have improved the last few years. I have not had an IKEA CFL die prematurely in quite some time. And the prices are great.

I have a 12-year-old Ikea CFL that's still running. It's moved with me through 4 residences.

When I went through my house and replaced roughly 90% of the lights with CFLs I spent right around $100. Based on my utility bill, they paid for themselves in 3.5 months.

I wrote an article on it here:

ER Project House: CFLs Installed – Energy Usage Down 40% (http://ecorenovator.org/er-project-house-cfls-installed-energy-usage-35/)

I have a 12-year-old Ikea CFL that's still running. It's moved with me through 4 residences.
Sweet. My first CFL, bought in 1993 or 1994, lasted about that long. Finally just tossed it out a couple years ago IIRC.

EDIT: I should add that by "tossed," I mean took it to the local transfer station for proper haz-waste disposal.

CFL's are sort of the "hybrids" of the lighting business: they aren't perfect but they're available right now, and save a lot of energy.

Ultimately LED's (or something else) may take over, but one problem to be solved is that the light from LED's is more directional than light from incandescents or CFL's. If this can't be resolved then fixtures may have to be redesigned or relocated for LED's to provide the more even illumination needed for many purposes.