CFL Savings Calculator

Did you know that simply replacing all of your incandescent light bulbs with energy-savings Compact Fluorescent lamps (CFL) can significantly reduce your energy bill? Compact Fluorescent lamps give off the same amount of light as incandescents, but use fewer watts (energy). CFLs, when compared with standard incandescent bulbs, offer many benefits. First, they help save energy and money. They use 2/3 less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs, and last up to 10 times longer. Replacing a 60-watt incandescent with a 13-watt CFL can save you at least $30 in energy costs over the life of the lamp. Second, CFLs offer convenience, because they last longer, and come in different sizes and shapes to fit almost any fixture. In addition, CFLs produce about 70% less heat than standard incandescent bulbs, so they’re safer to operate and can help cut energy costs associated with home cooling. When shopping, always look for ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs.  They are available in different sizes and shapes for indoors and outdoors.

If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR CFL, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.

Where to Use CFLs:

	To get the most energy savings, replace bulbs where lights are on the most, such as your family and living room, kitchen, dining room, and porch.
	Some CFLs have trouble operating in enclosed fixtures. Check the CFL's packaging for any restrictions on use.

How to Choose the Right Light:

	Matching the right CFL to the right kind of fixture helps ensure that it will perform properly and last a long time. Read the packaging to be sure that the type you choose works for the fixture you have in mind. For example: If a light fixture is connected to a dimmer or 3-way switch, select CFLs that are labeled for this use.
	For recessed fixtures, it is better to use a 'reflector' CFL versus a standard-shaped bulb.
	Choose the color that works best for you. For example, while most CFLs are created with warm colors for your home, you could choose a cooler color for task lighting.
	To get a CFL with the right amount of light, choose one that offers the same lumen rating as the light you are replacing. The higher the lumen rating, the greater the light output. Use the table below to see how lumens can generally be compared.

 

A-shaped Incandescent Bulb (Watts)	Typical Lumens (Measure of Light Output)
40	> 450
60	> 800
75	> 1,100
100	> 1,600
150	> 2,600

Remember, saving energy prevents pollution. When you use less energy at home, you lessen greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere. Every CFL can prevent more than 450 pounds of emissions from a power plant over its lifetime.

Colors:

CFLs are produced in varying shades of white:

	"Warm white" or "Soft white" (2700 K–3000 K) provides a light very similar to that of an incandescent bulb, somewhat yellow in appearance;
	"White", "Bright White", or "Medium White" (3500 K) lamps produce a yellowish-white light, whiter than that of an incandescent bulb but still on the warm side;
	"Cool white" (4100 K) lamps emit more of a pure white tone; and
	"Daylight" (5000 K–6500 K) is slightly bluish-white.

The "K" denotes the correlated color temperature in kelvins. Color temperature is a quantitative measure. The higher the number, the “cooler”, i.e., bluer, the shade. Color names associated with a particular color temperature are not standardized for modern CFLs and other triphosphor lamps like they were for the older style halophosphate fluorescent lamps. Variations and inconsistencies exist among manufacturers. For example, Sylvania's Daylight CFLs have a color temperature of 3500 K, while most other bulbs with a "daylight" label have color temperatures of at least 5000 K. Some vendors do not include the kelvin value on the package, but this is beginning to change now that the Energy Star Criteria for CFLs is expected to require such labeling in its 4.0 revision.

CFLs are also produced, less commonly, in other colors:

• Red, green, orange, blue, and pink, primarily for novelty purposes
• Yellow, for outdoor lighting, because it does not attract insects
• Blacklight, for special effects

CFLs with UVA generating phosphor, are an efficient source of long wave ultraviolet "blacklight" much more efficient than incandescent "blacklight" bulbs, since the amount of UV light that the filament of the incandescent lamp produces is according to blackbody radiation, and the UV radiation is only a fraction of the generated spectrum.

Being a gas discharge lamp, a CFL will not generate all frequencies of visible light; the actual color rendering index is a design compromise (see below). With less than perfect color rendering, CFLs can be unsatisfactory for inside lighting, but modern, high quality designs are proving acceptable for home use.

How to Dispose of CFLs:

Compact fluorescent lamps are not regulated as hazardous material requiring special handling.  Please place lampss in a plastic bag and dispose with normal trash.  CFLs do contain mercury, but nowhere near enough to provoke panic or evacuation. If you break a lamp, you can do the cleanup yourself, without renting a moon suit or contacting authorities.  The EPA advises the following treatment: 

	Open a window and leave the room for at least 15 minutes (to let the mercury vaporize).
	Remove all materials (i.e., the pieces of the broken lamp) without using a vacuum cleaner. You don't want even a small amount of mercury lurking in your vacuum. To do so:  Wear disposable rubber gloves, if available. (Never touch the pieces with your bare hands.)
	Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard (you don't want the stuff to get on your broom or dustpan either).
	Wipe the area clean with a damp paper towel or disposable wet wipe. Sticky tape, such as duct tape (yet another use for the versatile material!), can be used to pick up small pieces and powder.
	Place all cleanup materials in a plastic bag and seal it. Place used or broken CFLs in the garbage, seal the CFL in two plastic bags and put into the outside trash (if no other disposal or recycling options are available).
	Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.

The first time you vacuum the area where the lamp was broken, remove the vacuum bag once done cleaning the area (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag and/or vacuum debris, as well as the cleaning materials, in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.