Great presentation, I really enjoyed this, finally someone took the time to expose the CFL nonsense. I remember replacing all the incandescent light bulbs in my parents kitchen light fan, 5 bulbs in total, with CFL's. My mom had her sewing machine in the kitchen and was trying to sew with these new lights, but after 1/2 an hour she said she can't handle these CFL's; to be honest she was almost in tears. And I know what she meant, instead of a nice strong solid yellow light that the incandescent bulbs gave off, the CFL's were giving off a low intensity flickering pinkish light that made you feel like you had motion sickness. I replaced them back to the incandescent light bulbs and my mom was very happy. As for the CFL's we put them in low usage areas such as the laundry room or hallways, but still, they are one crappy light bulb. This video does a great job of showing why it doesn't always pay to just simply adopt new technology to replace older technology, because it's new technology. A lot of people in the green movement don't want to know the truth about the shortcomings of the new technologies, they just want to replace old technologies and think they are saving the world in the process. And some politicians unfortunately don't care about the economics, technology, or the science either, they just want to cater to the green lobby groups, and thus we have the end of maybe one of the best products ever created - the incandescent light bulb.
I completely agree. I am on the same page. It seem so funny to me that the powers that be push a lightbulb that supposedly has a longer lifespan when almost every product out there is made to breakdown quickly. All of this is about profit, and I'm glad the video speaks into all of this. Seems the general population just wants to believe what they're told. My mom just recently had to get a new fridge and stove because her 40-year-old ones ultimately broke down. She hates the new ones (which she was told will probably only last 5 years, 10 if she's lucky) b/c the fridge has cheap plastic shelving (her old one had solid metal wire shelving and a butter tray) and the fridge emits emf from some chip (which affects her tv viewing b/c of constant static...emf toxicity is a whole other topic), and a stovetop that she has to baby as it's prone to scratches and is much flimsier than her old stove. It's all pretty sad.
I get headaches, nausea, and blurred vision from florescent, and LED lights. I also hear a high pitched sound. No dimmer switch problem. Incandescent light resolves all of these problems.
Look into temperature Kelvin and light. Incandassent light bulb are at a hotter Kelvin temperature so they look and feel like light during sunrise. Nice and warm. Flourasent and led light Kelvin give off a light that would feel like at a colder and later part in the day, or maybe planet Neptune during midday. Flourasent is probably the worse. Led and flourasent light , imo, may lead to depression anxiety, and lead to mental health problems. Because these lights are not the type our eyes used to looking at. So the brain is not functioning properly. The bulbs don't last aslong, and the fact that they dont light up to full luminosity right away, well dugh they'll use less energy. You can do.that with old light bulb, just put in a lower watt bulb and run it dimmer. Scam So many douchebags and so little time to take em to trash.
The only cfl I have ever bought that failed prematurely was part of a 2 pack. Both cfls were in the same light fixture. They were suppose to last 10,000 hours or at least 8 years. One popped after about 5 years, the other one still works after 9 years. I even tried to get the other one to fail by turning the lights off when I knew I would be back in the room soon, but it just wouldn't. It is now in a table lamp
On point. I have recently replaced all bulbs in my houses with incandescents and halogens. Everything looks better, more comfortable and the infrared they emit is great for health, mood and energy. Keep in mind we had warm white leds before, not even the terrible cool white led or cfls. The difference incandescents and halogens make is incredible.
Incandescent lights are all I use. I’d sooner use an oil lamp than fluorescent or LED lights. Light shouldn’t feel cold and make your eyes hurt. Warmth is everything.
The first CFL I ever used in my apartment lasted longer than the package claimed. I bought it in 2001 before there was really a cfl craze. I was at the store and was purposely looking for a light bulb that would produce less heat than a regular 60 or 40 watt light bulb for my plastic desklight that I clipped onto my cheap computer desk and aim up to light up the room. It outlasted the 2 years/3000 hours the package said at 4 hours a day. Lasted 3 years and easily more than 4 hours each day.
Good point. In the winter here in SD I don't worry too much about leaving incandescents on; it's basically resistive heat and reduces the load on my other forms of heating. Things like this are not usually considered in the simplistic analysis that CFL proponents use. I'm sure it's mostly about money; the ones who stand to make money on CFLs are pushing them on us. LEDs might make sense but those wear out too and are not very tolerant to heat buildup.
thing is, they don't need to be heat tolerant, also if you buy a good bulb, it will last a long time (don't buy the cheap ones, they are gonna burn out, that's what's bad about them, they use a literal resistor in series, the normal good ones use a proper driverk
I like standard incandescent bulbs more because the light is warmer. Your brain reacts to light changes by releasing feel-good chemicals. CFLs put out highly efficient but weak blue-ish light, which is probably less like sunlight, which makes people happier.
Not sure if anyone else has posted this here, but an even more important consideration in northern climates is the fact that during the seasons when you are heating your home incandescent bulbs are the most efficient available. It is true that they only convert about 5% of the energy they use into light, but the rest is released as heat which is not wasted in many places in the world for much of the year.
Really? I think I made a video with extremely profound information and this is your comment? You cannot fathom the idea of a bathroom with a light in it where there is no sink - combined with the idea that we are attempting to measure the amount of time that that light is on. Handwashing occurs after the light is turned off. To keep the video short, I edited out the part where she washed her hands. So this response is for you and the other 75 people that have written something similar.
I changed all mine about seven years ago and they started burning out after about four months on average. They spew out toxic fumes when they burn-out too. These were also on for long periods of time, one was used as a night light in the kitchen and left on 24/7. I just bought some Krypton bulbs from Feit Electric on Amazon, less than $10 for four bulbs rated for 25,000 hours of service. I'm making life-time buys on the bulbs for my stove and refrigerator (where a CFL will not work).
Awesome video! I replaced all of my 'energy saving' cfl bulbs back to incandescants as soon as I found out that there is mercury in the cfls. I've since replaced the incandescants except for the one in the bathroom with warm white leds, they are great! I didn't like the cfls anyway, horrible things with awful light that take forever to warm up
Don't get any kind of regular fluorescent tubes either, as they also contain mercury. They do have options of L.E.D fluorescent tubes for fixtures. My man can't stand too much in the way of white L.E.D's because he gets tunnel vision.
Great video. I abandoned CFLs from the start. Immediately saw that the incandescents in my home lasted longer. And I hate the color of CFLs, not to mention the mercury threat. Great expose you did, Unfortunately, as with most things political, facts will not change things. There's so much money involved for big business and the power companies. The lies will continue.
To all the people that seem to be focusing on Camille washing her hands rather than the information about light bulbs, please note that the primary mission here is to measure the amount of time that the light is on. Also note that in this case, the camera is near the sink - there is no sink in the room with the toilet.
Bravo Paul! This is one of the most in depth scientific documentaries I've ever seen on your channel. You provide real 'helpful' data here that helps us all. The only issue concerning light bulbs that you didn't get into was the "planned obsolescence" built into all light bulbs. (and yes, the clothing sequence was my favorite part.)
Yes!! PO for the majority of our products (phones and other electronic devices, cars, fast fashion). If this was all about saving the environment, the powers that be should ban companies from mass producing plastic crap and new phones/computers that come out every year/season.
Why in the world would "They" actually outlaw incandescents? WTF? The energy diff between LED and Incandescents is almost nonexistant. So why do they take away your ability to choose? There was nothing wrong with the old style bulbs. And if somethings not broke, dont fix it. I dont think the new lights are healthy for us. I love the reg old light bulbs. The ones they make today dont last as long as they used to. I think this is on purpose so we'll think their "new" kind of light bulbs are better when they aren't. We are always being manipulated into buying crap we don't need and tricked into buying shit. I get tired of it.
The electronics in CFL & LED usually crap out prematurely, on another note I hate LCD widescreen TVs & CD audio, I'm all for the great inventions from Tom Edison the light bulb, record players, tube TV
The incandescent light bulb looks nice they give of a Nice warm colour and the clear glass looks nice better then the ugly led bulbs there plastic and give a horrible blue/white colour it feels like your sitting in a hospital under those bulbs
I have an outdoor light that gets turned on once a month or so. My primary light is a single 40 watt bulb. Everything else I just turn on when I need it and turn off when I don't need it.
I got my CFC's about 2 1/2 years ago and they are only on for about 1-2 hours a day. There is about 25% of the original bulbs still working and the others have been replaced. I am in Missouri on Touchstone electric with surges and blackouts 2-5 times a year usually due to ice and tornados. They ( the cfc's) (Not the storms) have not lasted near as long as I was told and the incandescent bulbs that were in my shop are always on and they were in there years ago and are still working. The same on the security light which comes on every night and off every morning. They last about 5-7 years. Wish I could buy more of the old bulbs that are new.
The discount CFL's I've purchased at Home Depot die fast. I have euro CFL's purchased from Ikea in Philadelphia over eight years ago. I've used them daily for hours on end and they have survived the moves from Philly PA, to Pennington NJ, to Tucson AZ, to Vancouver WA, to Hillsboro OR, to Corvallis OR and then to Portland, I still use them every day. I'd say the good ones I have are far more efficient than any incandescent I have ever used.
Thank you...nice to find some people with common sense and speaking against the LED nonsense. I am quite saddened that the incandescent bulbs are almost nowhere to be found anymore, except the dollar store and Amazon. I wonder if there are still people making them 'underground.' I dread the day my bulbs burn out and I have no other options.
LEDs are better than incandescents, for the environment and for your electricity bill as well, they literally draw 30x less than an incandescent... Come on.. Wake up...
@@_-noxxon-_ I'm guessing you didn't watch his video-his experiments show they clearly aren't, and the dirty electricity they create, as well as the harmful and disruptive blue light, are very concerning. If people are that concerned about 'the environment,' then companies should be prevented from cranking out new phones/computers/cars/etc. every season and make things that last. That's planned obsolescence for ya, and it's all about profit.
@@RS54321 No the video was about CFLs being bad which I agree too, but LEDs are the best technology we have... If you seriously care about blue light, go live under a rock or something, Don't use your phone, computer and stuff... Imagine making a flashlight using incandescents, your Lithium Ion batteries will die very fast and you're not gonna reach a bright flashlight anyways.. There is no point in using incandescent bulbs anymore because why would you want some glowing shit that wastes 99% of the energy? Tell me one reason why would they harm you or do anything to you!
@@RS54321 yes, dirty electricity is a thing.. But if you use 300W of that dirty energy instead of few Watts of it, it's gonna make a significant difference!
Imma quote something that if you look up, will pop as the literal first result alright? "Unlike the compact fluorescent lights which have 4 to 5 milligrams of mercury present in each of them, LED lights are free of any chemical which can be hazardous for the environment or public health."
Being an educated consumer is being an educated voter. Be informed. Watch this. Thank you for spending the energy to create this much need and very useful information! This is a great and worthy service. Keep it up!
I have written a lot about this at permies.com. In a nutshell: I spend $8 per year on electricity for lights. I think solving energy problems is going to be by focusing on aspects other than lights. Further, look inside the LED and look inside the incandescent. Which one simply looks less toxic to you? Which light feels better? In the wintertime, which light warms you with efficient radiant heat?
I really like the 30 second insight! great video. Doing the math on your energy usage, $8/yr divided by an average cost of $0.10/kWh, you get 80kWh/yr, you further divide that by 365 days in a year and you get 219 Wh/day. Assuming you use one incandescent bulb that consumes 60W, you get to use it for 3.65 hours (3h39min). I would venture that you don't have a lot of outdoor lighting...
I think there is an hour long podcast to just fully respond to your post. Just a quick response to the last question: I think the key is to look at smart lighting rather than different bulbs. You get more light from a single 100 watt bulb than from two 50 watt bulbs. Plus, find ways to move the light closer to where you need the light. And finally, the average new yorker uses half the energy of the average american - I think this has to do with their smaller living spaces.
Most of my CFL's fry out quick... I have full fledged florescent lights in my garage with the same bulbs that have been there for 30+ years. I have always thought it was cheap ballasts in the CFL that crap out, but I am not certain... LED's seem like the way to go if forced off of incandescent. (Especially if you are off grid.) Excellent video.
Nicely done I have been telling people for years that these bulbs are not all that they are said to be. I am not one for government mandates and the fact that this will be the only type of bulb you can buy before long scares me. Just the health risks involved are bad enough but the eventual cost (they will be expensive when subsides go away) in production and clean up is going to be extremely high. Think about all the mercury from these bulbs being accumulated in the landfills
Thanks for sharing this video. You have done a great job of comparing the two bulbs and you are absolutely right in regards to the use of other measures to save energy.
Great video Pual. I never bought the CFL or T8/T5 that contain Mercury, always looked for the NO Hg sticker on the box (back in the US). But here in Asia, it seems to be impossible to find, they all have Hg, which is quite disappointing. Although it seems that even the bulbs labeled as not containing Hg, actually do contain it. Led bulbs are quite expensive still, but I guess they are the only option if you don't want too much heat.
Thanks for doing this informal study. I think you are correct.. CFL's are overrated. I used them in ceiling fan lights.. at my last house because I found the vibrations from the fan were killing the incandescent bulbs in a short time 3-5 weeks, the lights were on 24/7 for safety reasons.. bad neighborhood. The CFL bulbs seemed to tolerate the vibrations better and would last about a year or so. I had to climb on a ladder to get to the bulbs.. so it was a pain to change them.
Great video. Really enjoyed it. I have spend the money to change to LED. I agree with the cfl lighting being sub par for productivity and other issues with the color and amount of light from the cfl. They just do not come even close to their claims. Thanks for putting this video up. I wish more people would watch it.
Very interesting, Paul. I especially like the comparison to a $5 clothesline...and your actress, Camille. She's a doll! I'll admit I was a little distracted from the core message when I had to rewind a scene to make sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me... ;) Thanks for the ideas. I'm looking forward to seeing how the LED compares. For lights that are on for significant amounts of time, I suggest looking into induction bulbs. 100,000 hour life claims!
So the most noteworthy part of the video, according to you, is that we filmed it someplace that was unlike your home. A place where the toilet has a light that is in a different room from the sink.
A klutz and too many CFLs broke and released gaseous mercury in my home. Our bulbs are used for under a minute or on dimmer - slow to turn on CFLs don't work. I had a seizure with fluorescent light, and CFLs upset me. Seems like LEDs should be same. I converted to soft halogens, LED (only philips $30 yellow dimmer bulb is good) and solar (lights with panels just outside window and outside) - love it!
Don't forget that in the colder climates the 95% inefficiently of incandescent light bulbs that's producing heat instead of light, is useful anyway. And that the lights are primarily used during winter as in summer it's light outside anyway, even late in the evening...
The fans did not swing wildly... But as with any rotating device there is some vibration. With lights on 24/7 as I ran them. I was replacing incandecent bulbs every month or so. Having to climb on a ladder to do that with 13ft ceilings. The CFL's I used were the 40W equivalants so they were using about 7Watts. They lasted about a year usually. That made them the most economical option. And most convenient for me. But I agree with the video. CFL's are not good in closets etc.
this was a great video. so the lesson here is that CFLs are only suitable for the type of lighting that is basically "always on" and that incandescent bulbs are better for most other types of lighting.
Good vid... I have had CFL's in most of my homes lights for a several years now. They have worked well, most last 2 years or so. However they need to be disposed of properly, I keep a bag to put old bulbs in. and most are not!
Interesting findings, but I rarely change my CFL in the last ten years, in fact I only purchase one CFL in last 3 years. Light bulbs on the other hand if my memory serves me right, I had to replace them every six to nine months.
I appreciate the effort that went into the experiment. I have been using cfl bulbs since they were introduced into the market. I have had dozens die within the past 10 years-many of which lasted less than a year and cost several dollars each. Frustrating, BUT, like most technologies, it is possible that we are going through "growing pains." I have been in the auto industry for many years and in an attempt to lower emmisions many "solutions" had poor outcomes before actual tech probs. resolved.
Nice video, also note that they are incredibly dangerous around the house. Search google for "stepping on cfl bulb" it causes great physical injury. And its not the cut itself, but the chemicals inside that make it worse.
There is no sink in there. The sink is to the left of the door on this side of the door. She washes her hands after writing down the results because she is trying to measure the time that the light is on.
CFL are obviously more energy efficient by design. But how they preform it is situational in many cases, ie, the closet or bathroom being not good for them, while living spaces are good. I have CFL in all my living spaces and have not had to replace any of them yet, 8 months and counting at 6-7 hours a day. I do find I have headaches around the large tube lights, but not the CFLs
don't know about the ones you are using, but here in australia the CFLs outlast the old incandescents by far. could be the electricity. 240V 10A ....but i'd rather an LED none the less
I have a off the grid system with solar panels connected to a battery bank and 12 vdc 700 watt modified inverter. The inverter has a surge protection of 1400 watts. I had five 18 watts CFL light bulbs on one wall switch. When I would turn on the wall switch, the overload protection on the inverter would trip. That would mean the start up pulse for five 18 watt bulbs which I thought is 90 watts was really well over either the 700 watts or 1400 watts depending on the duration of the spike.
Interesting fact to think of: a 20W cfl that supposed to give out 1200 lm is dimmer than 60W regular incadescent with 710 lm output. Also manufacture of semiconductors (cfl's has a lot of it) uses water and hazardous chemicals, so the cfl has much larger impact to the enviroment than it is made to believe.
Paul, GREAT video. It seems to be even worse than THAT though....I tested a bunch of the "power company subsidized" CFLs (I would say at least 5 brands, many many different wattages) and not a single one of them used less than 2 times the amount of electricity stated on the label. Many were closer to 3 times. The 2 LED bulbs I tested were just as bad, as far as actual vs labelled electricity usage.
Great video, it really makes sense and not always LED and Fluorescents Lamps save energy because some of them have a low power factor that may waste energy. Incandescents bulbs have a power factor PF=1.
Also I use incandescent light bulbs for lights that do not stay on long. This video makes me rethink about using CFL's. I also like the light from CFL's
There are now "instant bright" CFLs with a halogen bulb inside them to make up for how long it takes the fluorescent bulb to warm up... which means if the bulb in only going to be on for a short time, you should just forget the CFL and use a plain halogen bulb. p.s. How much water did you waste flushing the toilet all those times for the video?
The very first CFL I had, was a huge bulky bastard of a thing from OSRAM, this was back in 1992 and it was bigger than an apple. It lasted 12 years, in an outdoor lamp. It's not that they can't be made to last, it's that the newer ones are designed to only last for a short time. It's called Planned Obsolence, and is looked into in the Lightbulb Conspiracy documentary. At least theyre finally getting around to making LED lamps, now we just need TFT/LCD glow strips and we'll be in business.
I can definitely understand why CFLs would cause some people to have health-related issues with them. I mean, they are technically turning on and off at a very fast frequency. Old florescent bulbs flicker at 60Hz. Molten metal can’t practically do that. I hate LED Christmas lights that flicker at 60Hz. If I ever have any problems, it’s probably cause I spend too much time in front of the screen. ^^; I don’t mind LEDs via constant DC current though. And fortunately when I typically use CFLs, they’re on for a lot longer than 30 seconds, usually several minutes or even a few hours. At least none of this is technically a conspiracy since all the information is there, unlike the first time: th-cam.com/video/vfbbF3oxf-E/w-d-xo.html But it certainly shines light on the moral corruption that goes into selling things just to make repeated bucks off the backs and to the demise of others. Of course the latest publically known scandal I’d say are “smart” meters. About $4,000,000,000 that cost more, reduce (US) employment, need a database backed service (that you also obviously pay for), have been installed improperly in many places resulting in a number of fires, (and some deaths), emit a great deal of RF, and are a cause for privacy concerns. It’s truly nothing short of detestable.
I have read on the site the question about LEDs updated to 2022. I agree with most of your points. Can I ask you what do you think about halogen light bulbs? Are they worthy or not? I mean their bulb is made of quartz instead of glass therefore they leak a little UV rays, not as much as CFL but maybe you know more so what's your point of view about halogen? Is it better than normal incandescent or good and okay in general?
A good 90% of the times when you used the bulbs for "30 seconds or less" - opening closets, etc - we wouldn't even bother turning a light on at all. Make what claims you want about the life of CFLs, but in our house each CFL lasts a good year or more in the same light sockets that were going through an incandescent bulb per month before. Last time I bought lightbulbs for my four bedroom house was over a year ago.
Australian here. You use about $8 of electricity for lighting per year? That might be nice where you live. I wonder how much your electricity rate is charged at? In Australia where I live we pay $0.26 per kWh excluding service costs. This was raised to about $0.29 briefly from my provider, but they revoked this raise after the local government backlashed. Your video focused on short-term lighting areas. What about long term lighting areas? Do you live and work in darkness? Loungeroom / study?
Check out Derrick Jensens article called "forget shorter showers" in the online version of Orion magazine. He writes about how little effect changing lightbulbs and shorter showers have on the overall consumption. A question @paulwheaton12 though: did you also consider trying halogen light bulbs? They use 60% of energy and otherwise are very similar to traditional incandescent bulbs. Also, what do you think of rather improving lights with reflectors instead of using stronger bulbs?
I own a restaurant and I switched all my lights to cfl's and I can assure you they save money big time and they seem to last about a year or so but like you said mine are on all day long and I am using appx 24 bulbs at once for 12 to 16 hrs a day. I would like to say though, incandesent bulbs have a nicer more romantic feel and incandesent bulbs dont strain your eyes as much. As for pollution no disagreements here.
I assume CFL's put out UV rays light any florescent light bulb. Is this bad for you? I know we had a lamp shade covered with the original clear plastic wrap a few years back. About a year after we put in a CFL, we had to replace it. The inside of the wrap that was exposed directly to the CFL light crumbled in my hands. The onside plastic wrap was still flexible and strong, so I suspect it was UV damage from exposure to the CFL bulb. I should add that the plastic was fine for years before with regular incandescent bulbs.
How are we suppose to get around using CFL Bulbs ? especially from what I heard that incandescent bulbs being outlawed ? Is it a true fact incandescent bulbs are being fazed out / outlawed & if so where do we go from there ? Thanks ,
My man can't stand the CFLs, not only do they contain mercury but take time to warm up in colder environment as well, and is also toxic for the environment! L.E.D lighting are good for some things, but not all. My man uses L.E.D's in many of his projects, but he can't stand many of the white type or some of the true blue colors because they give him migraine headaches. In fact some new L.E.D Christmas lights have that true blue color, and it drives him up the wall. He would love to take every blue led out of the string, and flatten them with a hammer. Lol. Not only that he also says that the blue color is also hard as hell on his eyes, and he gets a bad case of tunnel vision. We have NO led type of lights in our home, all incandescent bulbs but nothing higher then 40watts though. We don't use anything higher then that. Red color L.E.D's is actually the easiest on his eyes, especially around 660nm in the red wavelenith of the spectrum.
Most people don't realize that mercury is in a cfl bulb. Its the vaporized mercury that creates the pathway for electricty to flow causing the bulb to florence. Because we use alternating current it causes the flicker at 60 flickes per second.
Well i appriciate your test and information. I however live in a 5th Wheel so the majority of my lights are DC. my Two AC wall sconces that I have I use led bulbs in the lighting works fine for reading. I will be sharing this awesome video.
Economic lamps are good for public areas like shops or hallways where they must be kept on continuously, even during summer. At home, I switch lights on and off all the time and CFLs can't take that, the heating filaments evaporate, the bulb turns black and soon goes out of order. Incandescent in the toilet, fridge and oven lasts forever. LEDs might be good in locations where the lamp is shaken by slammed doors, which causes the hot filament to break. Or where the fixture is limited by heat (downward facing ceiling lamps, table lamps, closets) and where more light is needed. But not everywhere. Cheapest discount CFLs and LEDs usually have terrible build quality and short lifespan, as most mass market plastic electronics. It seems wrong to buy disposable, buzzing power supplies and throw them in the trash. Here in Europe basic incandescents cost around E0.50. The prices I hear about seem elevated, or are of a fancier glass shape with a reflector. Halogens are around E1.50 at poor quality, where the unpressurized glass shell may break off. I don't get why many people today seem wooed by any new technology, and accept and promote it by default.
Obviously there's the whole safety issue but I'd be interested in the results of a long term study of TCO of an light bulb vs a candle or kerosene lamp.
I had 2 IKEA 40watt CFLs die after two months when they are only on a few minutes a week - while my incandescent in same basement and use is two years old and still great.
Also some of the LED bulbs have the LED's mounted in the base of the bulb pointing light straight out, not to the sides. Other bulbs have a stick inside of the bulb which has the LEDs mounted on the sides of the stick. This why there are so many types of LED bulbs, different uses, there are a one bulb for all uses. But the energy savings will out weigh the replacement costs. If you are thinking of being off the grid, LED's are the best way to go. Candles and olive oil lamps are great too.
Great information! Way to lengthy in parts. I know I almost stopped watching when it took the girl two minutes to walk around turning on and off lights. You really shed light on a lot I didn't know. But as a photographer and graphic artist I deal with short attention spans. At school we were taught that a Great photo only gets an 8second view If you could shorten explanations and get it to maybe 6 or even 5 min long you could reach way more people.
Do fluorescent tube lamps, as used in commercial buildings, have the same health effect as CFL's from merely being around them? Most schools and other commercial buildings use fluorescent tube lamps and I was wondering if they have the same health side effect as the CFL.
This is the video that got me into watching your channel, Paul! Great research and great explanations of your work were an eye-opener. Previously, I believed that CFL's were a worthwhile way to save energy with a trade-off that we had to be careful of how they were disposed. Now I know and understand that incandescent bulbs are perfect and ideal for most situations. I'm curious to learn the environmental/mfgr cost of LED bulbs....
Thanks, man. Good points! I'll keep them in mind. I'm mostly interested in big energy savings through having an energy efficient house via simple things like thermal mass, insulation, graywater systems, etc.
Actually I always wash my hands with the lights on. Your extremely profound information is interesting on the lifespan of the CFL when used on a short term basis as demonstrated, personally I always preferred high intensity LED bulbs or halogen when used in a cold environment such as where I live (reaches -30 F in winter).
What about in southern regions where residual heat will cause additional power drain to AC for your house. I despise CFL but did go heavy on LED due to cost. CA prorated power cost forced that upon me. Above the basic use of about 200 kWh the prices was 32 cents per kWh. Every kWh that the incandescent did not expend to heat was 2 kWh I did not use to cool the house. Plus I have never head a LED fail! I have no idea how long they will last because none have died in 5 years. My son did kill one:)
the only problem is were running low on tungsten, the metal the filament used in incandescent bulbs is made out of. the cost of a CFL isn't really the bulb itself... in a conventional fluorescent lamp you have two parts, a bulb and a ballast.. in these the ballast converts the incoming power to the right conditions for the bulbs. in CFLs the ballast is actually in the base of the bulb so the package can fit in a standard socket and the ballast was what probably died after being cycled so much
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Great presentation, I really enjoyed this, finally someone took the time to expose the CFL nonsense.
I remember replacing all the incandescent light bulbs in my parents kitchen light fan, 5 bulbs in total, with CFL's. My mom had her sewing machine in the kitchen and was trying to sew with these new lights, but after 1/2 an hour she said she can't handle these CFL's; to be honest she was almost in tears. And I know what she meant, instead of a nice strong solid yellow light that the incandescent bulbs gave off, the CFL's were giving off a low intensity flickering pinkish light that made you feel like you had motion sickness. I replaced them back to the incandescent light bulbs and my mom was very happy. As for the CFL's we put them in low usage areas such as the laundry room or hallways, but still, they are one crappy light bulb. This video does a great job of showing why it doesn't always pay to just simply adopt new technology to replace older technology, because it's new technology.
A lot of people in the green movement don't want to know the truth about the shortcomings of the new technologies, they just want to replace old technologies and think they are saving the world in the process. And some politicians unfortunately don't care about the economics, technology, or the science either, they just want to cater to the green lobby groups, and thus we have the end of maybe one of the best products ever created - the incandescent light bulb.
I completely agree. I am on the same page. It seem so funny to me that the powers that be push a lightbulb that supposedly has a longer lifespan when almost every product out there is made to breakdown quickly. All of this is about profit, and I'm glad the video speaks into all of this. Seems the general population just wants to believe what they're told.
My mom just recently had to get a new fridge and stove because her 40-year-old ones ultimately broke down. She hates the new ones (which she was told will probably only last 5 years, 10 if she's lucky) b/c the fridge has cheap plastic shelving (her old one had solid metal wire shelving and a butter tray) and the fridge emits emf from some chip (which affects her tv viewing b/c of constant static...emf toxicity is a whole other topic), and a stovetop that she has to baby as it's prone to scratches and is much flimsier than her old stove. It's all pretty sad.
How are you dealing the current lightbulb ban (it is illegal for stores to sell them.)?
They can have my incandescents when they pry them from my dead, but beautifully, warmly lighted hands.
Love it !!!!!
it kinda sounds like me “LOL”
Bruh
Amen! 💡💡💡
I get headaches, nausea, and blurred vision from florescent, and LED lights. I also hear a high pitched sound. No dimmer switch problem.
Incandescent light resolves all of these problems.
Look into temperature Kelvin and light. Incandassent light bulb are at a hotter Kelvin temperature so they look and feel like light during sunrise. Nice and warm.
Flourasent and led light Kelvin give off a light that would feel like at a colder and later part in the day, or maybe planet Neptune during midday. Flourasent is probably the worse.
Led and flourasent light , imo, may lead to depression anxiety, and lead to mental health problems. Because these lights are not the type our eyes used to looking at. So the brain is not functioning properly.
The bulbs don't last aslong, and the fact that they dont light up to full luminosity right away, well dugh they'll use less energy. You can do.that with old light bulb, just put in a lower watt bulb and run it dimmer. Scam
So many douchebags and so little time to take em to trash.
The only cfl I have ever bought that failed prematurely was part of a 2 pack. Both cfls were in the same light fixture. They were suppose to last 10,000 hours or at least 8 years. One popped after about 5 years, the other one still works after 9 years. I even tried to get the other one to fail by turning the lights off when I knew I would be back in the room soon, but it just wouldn't. It is now in a table lamp
On point. I have recently replaced all bulbs in my houses with incandescents and halogens. Everything looks better, more comfortable and the infrared they emit is great for health, mood and energy. Keep in mind we had warm white leds before, not even the terrible cool white led or cfls. The difference incandescents and halogens make is incredible.
Incandescent lights are all I use. I’d sooner use an oil lamp than fluorescent or LED lights. Light shouldn’t feel cold and make your eyes hurt. Warmth is everything.
The first CFL I ever used in my apartment lasted longer than the package claimed. I bought it in 2001 before there was really a cfl craze. I was at the store and was purposely looking for a light bulb that would produce less heat than a regular 60 or 40 watt light bulb for my plastic desklight that I clipped onto my cheap computer desk and aim up to light up the room. It outlasted the 2 years/3000 hours the package said at 4 hours a day. Lasted 3 years and easily more than 4 hours each day.
Good point. In the winter here in SD I don't worry too much about leaving incandescents on; it's basically resistive heat and reduces the load on my other forms of heating. Things like this are not usually considered in the simplistic analysis that CFL proponents use. I'm sure it's mostly about money; the ones who stand to make money on CFLs are pushing them on us. LEDs might make sense but those wear out too and are not very tolerant to heat buildup.
thing is, they don't need to be heat tolerant, also if you buy a good bulb, it will last a long time (don't buy the cheap ones, they are gonna burn out, that's what's bad about them, they use a literal resistor in series, the normal good ones use a proper driverk
I like standard incandescent bulbs more because the light is warmer. Your brain reacts to light changes by releasing feel-good chemicals. CFLs put out highly efficient but weak blue-ish light, which is probably less like sunlight, which makes people happier.
It is now day 442 and three lightbulbs are still going.
Not sure if anyone else has posted this here, but an even more important consideration in northern climates is the fact that during the seasons when you are heating your home incandescent bulbs are the most efficient available. It is true that they only convert about 5% of the energy they use into light, but the rest is released as heat which is not wasted in many places in the world for much of the year.
Really? I think I made a video with extremely profound information and this is your comment? You cannot fathom the idea of a bathroom with a light in it where there is no sink - combined with the idea that we are attempting to measure the amount of time that that light is on. Handwashing occurs after the light is turned off. To keep the video short, I edited out the part where she washed her hands. So this response is for you and the other 75 people that have written something similar.
The LED, the long life incandescent, and one cfl (i seriously wonder if bad guys are sneaking into my house and replacing the cfl bulbs).
I changed all mine about seven years ago and they started burning out after about four months on average. They spew out toxic fumes when they burn-out too.
These were also on for long periods of time, one was used as a night light in the kitchen and left on 24/7.
I just bought some Krypton bulbs from Feit Electric on Amazon, less than $10 for four bulbs rated for 25,000 hours of service. I'm making life-time buys on the bulbs for my stove and refrigerator (where a CFL will not work).
Wow. I doubt I'll see this on CNN. Good work.
not completely agreed with the conclusion but i really adore the effects put in the experiment, analysis etc... good work :)
Awesome video! I replaced all of my 'energy saving' cfl bulbs back to incandescants as soon as I found out that there is mercury in the cfls. I've since replaced the incandescants except for the one in the bathroom with warm white leds, they are great! I didn't like the cfls anyway, horrible things with awful light that take forever to warm up
Don't get any kind of regular fluorescent tubes either, as they also contain mercury. They do have options of L.E.D fluorescent tubes for fixtures. My man can't stand too much in the way of white L.E.D's because he gets tunnel vision.
Great video. I abandoned CFLs from the start. Immediately saw that the incandescents in my home lasted longer. And I hate the color of CFLs, not to mention the mercury threat. Great expose you did, Unfortunately, as with most things political, facts will not change things. There's so much money involved for big business and the power companies. The lies will continue.
To all the people that seem to be focusing on Camille washing her hands rather than the information about light bulbs, please note that the primary mission here is to measure the amount of time that the light is on. Also note that in this case, the camera is near the sink - there is no sink in the room with the toilet.
Bravo Paul! This is one of the most in depth scientific documentaries I've ever seen on your channel. You provide real 'helpful' data here that helps us all. The only issue concerning light bulbs that you didn't get into was the "planned obsolescence" built into all light bulbs.
(and yes, the clothing sequence was my favorite part.)
Yes!! PO for the majority of our products (phones and other electronic devices, cars, fast fashion). If this was all about saving the environment, the powers that be should ban companies from mass producing plastic crap and new phones/computers that come out every year/season.
during the summer, I use daylight. During the winter, when it gets dark, I use a single 40 watt light bulb for most o the evening.
Why in the world would "They" actually outlaw incandescents? WTF? The energy diff between LED and Incandescents is almost nonexistant. So why do they take away your ability to choose? There was nothing wrong with the old style bulbs. And if somethings not broke, dont fix it. I dont think the new lights are healthy for us. I love the reg old light bulbs. The ones they make today dont last as long as they used to. I think this is on purpose so we'll think their "new" kind of light bulbs are better when they aren't. We are always being manipulated into buying crap we don't need and tricked into buying shit. I get tired of it.
The difference is actually quite noticeable.
@@ΣωτήρηςΠούτνης ....no, really no difference
The electronics in CFL & LED usually crap out prematurely, on another note I hate LCD widescreen TVs & CD audio, I'm all for the great inventions from Tom Edison the light bulb, record players, tube TV
Alexandria Summers ... i like incandescent light bulbs... led and clf isn’t even good there bad for “thoughts i wouldn’t share”
The incandescent light bulb looks nice they give of a Nice warm colour and the clear glass looks nice better then the ugly led bulbs there plastic and give a horrible blue/white colour it feels like your sitting in a hospital under those bulbs
I have an outdoor light that gets turned on once a month or so. My primary light is a single 40 watt bulb. Everything else I just turn on when I need it and turn off when I don't need it.
I got my CFC's about 2 1/2 years ago and they are only on for about 1-2 hours a day. There is about 25% of the original bulbs still working and the others have been replaced. I am in Missouri on Touchstone electric with surges and blackouts 2-5 times a year usually due to ice and tornados. They ( the cfc's) (Not the storms) have not lasted near as long as I was told and the incandescent bulbs that were in my shop are always on and they were in there years ago and are still working. The same on the security light which comes on every night and off every morning. They last about 5-7 years. Wish I could buy more of the old bulbs that are new.
The discount CFL's I've purchased at Home Depot die fast. I have euro CFL's purchased from Ikea in Philadelphia over eight years ago. I've used them daily for hours on end and they have survived the moves from Philly PA, to Pennington NJ, to Tucson AZ, to Vancouver WA, to Hillsboro OR, to Corvallis OR and then to Portland, I still use them every day. I'd say the good ones I have are far more efficient than any incandescent I have ever used.
Thank you...nice to find some people with common sense and speaking against the LED nonsense. I am quite saddened that the incandescent bulbs are almost nowhere to be found anymore, except the dollar store and Amazon. I wonder if there are still people making them 'underground.' I dread the day my bulbs burn out and I have no other options.
LEDs are better than incandescents, for the environment and for your electricity bill as well, they literally draw 30x less than an incandescent... Come on.. Wake up...
@@_-noxxon-_ I'm guessing you didn't watch his video-his experiments show they clearly aren't, and the dirty electricity they create, as well as the harmful and disruptive blue light, are very concerning. If people are that concerned about 'the environment,' then companies should be prevented from cranking out new phones/computers/cars/etc. every season and make things that last. That's planned obsolescence for ya, and it's all about profit.
@@RS54321 No the video was about CFLs being bad which I agree too, but LEDs are the best technology we have... If you seriously care about blue light, go live under a rock or something, Don't use your phone, computer and stuff... Imagine making a flashlight using incandescents, your Lithium Ion batteries will die very fast and you're not gonna reach a bright flashlight anyways.. There is no point in using incandescent bulbs anymore because why would you want some glowing shit that wastes 99% of the energy? Tell me one reason why would they harm you or do anything to you!
@@RS54321 yes, dirty electricity is a thing.. But if you use 300W of that dirty energy instead of few Watts of it, it's gonna make a significant difference!
Imma quote something that if you look up, will pop as the literal first result alright?
"Unlike the compact fluorescent lights which have 4 to 5 milligrams of mercury present in each of them, LED lights are free of any chemical which can be hazardous for the environment or public health."
I went and bought several boxes of incandescent light bulbs after watching your video. Thanks for the info
Being an educated consumer is being an educated voter. Be informed. Watch this. Thank you for spending the energy to create this much need and very useful information! This is a great and worthy service. Keep it up!
I have written a lot about this at permies.com. In a nutshell: I spend $8 per year on electricity for lights. I think solving energy problems is going to be by focusing on aspects other than lights. Further, look inside the LED and look inside the incandescent. Which one simply looks less toxic to you? Which light feels better? In the wintertime, which light warms you with efficient radiant heat?
I really like the 30 second insight! great video. Doing the math on your energy usage, $8/yr divided by an average cost of $0.10/kWh, you get 80kWh/yr, you further divide that by 365 days in a year and you get 219 Wh/day. Assuming you use one incandescent bulb that consumes 60W, you get to use it for 3.65 hours (3h39min). I would venture that you don't have a lot of outdoor lighting...
I think there is an hour long podcast to just fully respond to your post. Just a quick response to the last question: I think the key is to look at smart lighting rather than different bulbs. You get more light from a single 100 watt bulb than from two 50 watt bulbs. Plus, find ways to move the light closer to where you need the light. And finally, the average new yorker uses half the energy of the average american - I think this has to do with their smaller living spaces.
Most of my CFL's fry out quick... I have full fledged florescent lights in my garage with the same bulbs that have been there for 30+ years. I have always thought it was cheap ballasts in the CFL that crap out, but I am not certain... LED's seem like the way to go if forced off of incandescent. (Especially if you are off grid.)
Excellent video.
I have seen CFLs with crapped out ballast I took a good ballast, out of a crapped out CFL and made a good one out of 2
Nicely done I have been telling people for years that these bulbs are not all that they are said to be. I am not one for government mandates and the fact that this will be the only type of bulb you can buy before long scares me. Just the health risks involved are bad enough but the eventual cost (they will be expensive when subsides go away) in production and clean up is going to be extremely high. Think about all the mercury from these bulbs being accumulated in the landfills
Thanks for sharing this video. You have done a great job of comparing the two bulbs and you are absolutely right in regards to the use of other measures to save energy.
Great video Pual. I never bought the CFL or T8/T5 that contain Mercury, always looked for the NO Hg sticker on the box (back in the US). But here in Asia, it seems to be impossible to find, they all have Hg, which is quite disappointing. Although it seems that even the bulbs labeled as not containing Hg, actually do contain it. Led bulbs are quite expensive still, but I guess they are the only option if you don't want too much heat.
Thanks for doing this informal study. I think you are correct.. CFL's are overrated. I used them in ceiling fan lights.. at my last house because I found the vibrations from the fan were killing the incandescent bulbs in a short time 3-5 weeks, the lights were on 24/7 for safety reasons.. bad neighborhood. The CFL bulbs seemed to tolerate the vibrations better and would last about a year or so. I had to climb on a ladder to get to the bulbs.. so it was a pain to change them.
Great video. Really enjoyed it. I have spend the money to change to LED. I agree with the cfl lighting being sub par for productivity and other issues with the color and amount of light from the cfl. They just do not come even close to their claims. Thanks for putting this video up. I wish more people would watch it.
Very interesting, Paul. I especially like the comparison to a $5 clothesline...and your actress, Camille. She's a doll! I'll admit I was a little distracted from the core message when I had to rewind a scene to make sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me... ;) Thanks for the ideas. I'm looking forward to seeing how the LED compares. For lights that are on for significant amounts of time, I suggest looking into induction bulbs. 100,000 hour life claims!
So the most noteworthy part of the video, according to you, is that we filmed it someplace that was unlike your home. A place where the toilet has a light that is in a different room from the sink.
OK Can we see the results of the light bulb longevity test?
Where can I get a hotty scientists like that to time my light usage? Wow. I give her a solid 8 out of a possible 10.
A klutz and too many CFLs broke and released gaseous mercury in my home. Our bulbs are used for under a minute or on dimmer - slow to turn on CFLs don't work. I had a seizure with fluorescent light, and CFLs upset me. Seems like LEDs should be same. I converted to soft halogens, LED (only philips $30 yellow dimmer bulb is good) and solar (lights with panels just outside window and outside) - love it!
Don't forget that in the colder climates the 95% inefficiently of incandescent light bulbs that's producing heat instead of light, is useful anyway. And that the lights are primarily used during winter as in summer it's light outside anyway, even late in the evening...
The fans did not swing wildly... But as with any rotating device there is some vibration. With lights on 24/7 as I ran them. I was replacing incandecent bulbs every month or so. Having to climb on a ladder to do that with 13ft ceilings. The CFL's I used were the 40W equivalants so they were using about 7Watts. They lasted about a year usually. That made them the most economical option. And most convenient for me. But I agree with the video. CFL's are not good in closets etc.
this was a great video. so the lesson here is that CFLs are only suitable for the type of lighting that is basically "always on" and that incandescent bulbs are better for most other types of lighting.
Good vid... I have had CFL's in most of my homes lights for a several years now. They have worked well, most last 2 years or so.
However they need to be disposed of properly, I keep a bag to put old bulbs in. and most are not!
Interesting findings, but I rarely change my CFL in the last ten years, in fact I only purchase one CFL in last 3 years. Light bulbs on the other hand if my memory serves me right, I had to replace them every six to nine months.
I have two clotheslines. I paid for them myself. No help from the power company.
I appreciate the effort that went into the experiment. I have been using cfl bulbs since they were introduced into the market. I have had dozens die within the past 10 years-many of which lasted less than a year and cost several dollars each. Frustrating, BUT, like most technologies, it is possible that we are going through "growing pains." I have been in the auto industry for many years and in an attempt to lower emmisions many "solutions" had poor outcomes before actual tech probs. resolved.
Camille is incredible.
Nice video, also note that they are incredibly dangerous around the house. Search google for "stepping on cfl bulb" it causes great physical injury. And its not the cut itself, but the chemicals inside that make it worse.
I hope you are doing well, Paul. After 7 years.
i produced a dozen dvds and wrote a book! I think I'm doing pretty good!
@@paulwheaton Hell yes, happy for you.
@@paulwheaton It is even harder to find Incandescents these days, in my region especially.
Did she even was her hands? I don't think so. It takes 30 seconds and that is not long enough to be proper.
There is no sink in there. The sink is to the left of the door on this side of the door. She washes her hands after writing down the results because she is trying to measure the time that the light is on.
Lol let's be honest here. No one spends more than a few seconds washing their hands.
@@bulmabriefs7999 Thanks to COVID-19, I think EVERYONE is spending more time washing their hands, hopefully at least 30 full seconds!
CFL are obviously more energy efficient by design. But how they preform it is situational in many cases, ie, the closet or bathroom being not good for them, while living spaces are good.
I have CFL in all my living spaces and have not had to replace any of them yet, 8 months and counting at 6-7 hours a day. I do find I have headaches around the large tube lights, but not the CFLs
don't know about the ones you are using, but here in australia the CFLs outlast the old incandescents by far. could be the electricity. 240V 10A
....but i'd rather an LED none the less
I have a off the grid system with solar panels connected to a battery bank and 12 vdc 700 watt modified inverter. The inverter has a surge protection of 1400 watts.
I had five 18 watts CFL light bulbs on one wall switch. When I would turn on the wall switch, the overload protection on the inverter would trip. That would mean the start up pulse for five 18 watt bulbs which I thought is 90 watts was really well over either the 700 watts or 1400 watts depending on the duration of the spike.
Interesting fact to think of: a 20W cfl that supposed to give out 1200 lm is dimmer than 60W regular incadescent with 710 lm output. Also manufacture of semiconductors (cfl's has a lot of it) uses water and hazardous chemicals, so the cfl has much larger impact to the enviroment than it is made to believe.
Paul, GREAT video. It seems to be even worse than THAT though....I tested a bunch of the "power company subsidized" CFLs (I would say at least 5 brands, many many different wattages) and not a single one of them used less than 2 times the amount of electricity stated on the label. Many were closer to 3 times. The 2 LED bulbs I tested were just as bad, as far as actual vs labelled electricity usage.
Great video, it really makes sense and not always LED and Fluorescents Lamps save energy because some of them have a low power factor that may waste energy. Incandescents bulbs have a power factor PF=1.
Also I use incandescent light bulbs for lights that do not stay on long.
This video makes me rethink about using CFL's. I also like the light from CFL's
There are now "instant bright" CFLs with a halogen bulb inside them to make up for how long it takes the fluorescent bulb to warm up... which means if the bulb in only going to be on for a short time, you should just forget the CFL and use a plain halogen bulb.
p.s. How much water did you waste flushing the toilet all those times for the video?
The very first CFL I had, was a huge bulky bastard of a thing from OSRAM, this was back in 1992 and it was bigger than an apple.
It lasted 12 years, in an outdoor lamp.
It's not that they can't be made to last, it's that the newer ones are designed to only last for a short time. It's called Planned Obsolence, and is looked into in the Lightbulb Conspiracy documentary.
At least theyre finally getting around to making LED lamps, now we just need TFT/LCD glow strips and we'll be in business.
The Philips ones from the 80s used a traditional ballast like a tube fluro, it went blinky blink on startup but still had that dim start
Thanks for using humor to help deal with an increasingly grim future currently being planned for us all.
I can definitely understand why CFLs would cause some people to have health-related issues with them. I mean, they are technically turning on and off at a very fast frequency. Old florescent bulbs flicker at 60Hz. Molten metal can’t practically do that. I hate LED Christmas lights that flicker at 60Hz. If I ever have any problems, it’s probably cause I spend too much time in front of the screen. ^^;
I don’t mind LEDs via constant DC current though. And fortunately when I typically use CFLs, they’re on for a lot longer than 30 seconds, usually several minutes or even a few hours. At least none of this is technically a conspiracy since all the information is there, unlike the first time: th-cam.com/video/vfbbF3oxf-E/w-d-xo.html But it certainly shines light on the moral corruption that goes into selling things just to make repeated bucks off the backs and to the demise of others.
Of course the latest publically known scandal I’d say are “smart” meters. About $4,000,000,000 that cost more, reduce (US) employment, need a database backed service (that you also obviously pay for), have been installed improperly in many places resulting in a number of fires, (and some deaths), emit a great deal of RF, and are a cause for privacy concerns. It’s truly nothing short of detestable.
I have read on the site the question about LEDs updated to 2022. I agree with most of your points. Can I ask you what do you think about halogen light bulbs? Are they worthy or not? I mean their bulb is made of quartz instead of glass therefore they leak a little UV rays, not as much as CFL but maybe you know more so what's your point of view about halogen? Is it better than normal incandescent or good and okay in general?
I think EVERY PERSON in America should see this. How about getting a copy to 20/20 and see if they'll run a show on this!
Waste? It's snowing outside. I'm not sure if I am getting free heat with my light, or free light with my heat.
A good 90% of the times when you used the bulbs for "30 seconds or less" - opening closets, etc - we wouldn't even bother turning a light on at all. Make what claims you want about the life of CFLs, but in our house each CFL lasts a good year or more in the same light sockets that were going through an incandescent bulb per month before. Last time I bought lightbulbs for my four bedroom house was over a year ago.
Australian here.
You use about $8 of electricity for lighting per year? That might be nice where you live. I wonder how much your electricity rate is charged at? In Australia where I live we pay $0.26 per kWh excluding service costs. This was raised to about $0.29 briefly from my provider, but they revoked this raise after the local government backlashed.
Your video focused on short-term lighting areas. What about long term lighting areas? Do you live and work in darkness? Loungeroom / study?
Check out Derrick Jensens article called "forget shorter showers" in the online version of Orion magazine. He writes about how little effect changing lightbulbs and shorter showers have on the overall consumption. A question @paulwheaton12 though: did you also consider trying halogen light bulbs? They use 60% of energy and otherwise are very similar to traditional incandescent bulbs. Also, what do you think of rather improving lights with reflectors instead of using stronger bulbs?
Hey Paul, This is, without a doubt, your best video ever. Thanks!
Arguably your best video to date Paul, thanks!!
I own a restaurant and I switched all my lights to cfl's and I can assure you they save money big time and they seem to last about a year or so but like you said mine are on all day long and I am using appx 24 bulbs at once for 12 to 16 hrs a day. I would like to say though, incandesent bulbs have a nicer more romantic feel and incandesent bulbs dont strain your eyes as much. As for pollution no disagreements here.
I assume CFL's put out UV rays light any florescent light bulb. Is this bad for you?
I know we had a lamp shade covered with the original clear plastic wrap a few years back. About a year after we put in a CFL, we had to replace it. The inside of the wrap that was exposed directly to the CFL light crumbled in my hands.
The onside plastic wrap was still flexible and strong, so I suspect it was UV damage from exposure to the CFL bulb.
I should add that the plastic was fine for years before with regular incandescent bulbs.
How are we suppose to get around using CFL Bulbs ? especially from what I heard that incandescent bulbs being outlawed ? Is it a true fact incandescent bulbs are being fazed out / outlawed & if so where do we go from there ? Thanks ,
Paul, amazing video. So thorough and thought out.
I agree with him that incandescent bulbs are better then cfls but I say led over incandescents and the cfls are trash
permies.com/t/58990/incandescent-LED
Excellent video. incandescent bulbs are also ¨ilegal¨ here in Argentina.
My man can't stand the CFLs, not only do they contain mercury but take time to warm up in colder environment as well, and is also toxic for the environment! L.E.D lighting are good for some things, but not all. My man uses L.E.D's in many of his projects, but he can't stand many of the white type or some of the true blue colors because they give him migraine headaches. In fact some new L.E.D Christmas lights have that true blue color, and it drives him up the wall. He would love to take every blue led out of the string, and flatten them with a hammer. Lol. Not only that he also says that the blue color is also hard as hell on his eyes, and he gets a bad case of tunnel vision. We have NO led type of lights in our home, all incandescent bulbs but nothing higher then 40watts though. We don't use anything higher then that. Red color L.E.D's is actually the easiest on his eyes, especially around 660nm in the red wavelenith of the spectrum.
Most people don't realize that mercury is in a cfl bulb. Its the vaporized mercury that creates the pathway for electricty to flow causing the bulb to florence. Because we use alternating current it causes the flicker at 60 flickes per second.
CFL bulbs run at high frequency via electronic ballast only tubular ones run mains freq, my turntable strobe disc doesn't work with CFL light
Well i appriciate your test and information. I however live in a 5th Wheel so the majority of my lights are DC. my Two AC wall sconces that I have I use led bulbs in the lighting works fine for reading. I will be sharing this awesome video.
Economic lamps are good for public areas like shops or hallways where they must be kept on continuously, even during summer. At home, I switch lights on and off all the time and CFLs can't take that, the heating filaments evaporate, the bulb turns black and soon goes out of order. Incandescent in the toilet, fridge and oven lasts forever. LEDs might be good in locations where the lamp is shaken by slammed doors, which causes the hot filament to break. Or where the fixture is limited by heat (downward facing ceiling lamps, table lamps, closets) and where more light is needed. But not everywhere.
Cheapest discount CFLs and LEDs usually have terrible build quality and short lifespan, as most mass market plastic electronics. It seems wrong to buy disposable, buzzing power supplies and throw them in the trash.
Here in Europe basic incandescents cost around E0.50. The prices I hear about seem elevated, or are of a fancier glass shape with a reflector. Halogens are around E1.50 at poor quality, where the unpressurized glass shell may break off.
I don't get why many people today seem wooed by any new technology, and accept and promote it by default.
Obviously there's the whole safety issue but I'd be interested in the results of a long term study of TCO of an light bulb vs a candle or kerosene lamp.
Cool, thanks for the answer.
BTW, can you tell us what the 3 still working are?
I had 2 IKEA 40watt CFLs die after two months when they are only on a few minutes a week - while my incandescent in same basement and use is two years old and still great.
Also some of the LED bulbs have the LED's mounted in the base of the bulb pointing light straight out, not to the sides. Other bulbs have a stick inside of the bulb which has the LEDs mounted on the sides of the stick.
This why there are so many types of LED bulbs, different uses, there are a one bulb for all uses. But the energy savings will out weigh the replacement costs. If you are thinking of being off the grid, LED's are the best way to go. Candles and olive oil lamps are great too.
It would have been funny if paul came out after the bathroom scenes with a stop watch and said "12 minutes"
Very nice video. Really makes you think.... It seems like once again, a good idea, using less electricity, has become very bad in practice...
What are your thoughts on LED bulbs, the manufacturing impacts, etc?
Great information! Way to lengthy in parts. I know I almost stopped watching when it took the girl two minutes to walk around turning on and off lights.
You really shed light on a lot I didn't know. But as a photographer and graphic artist I deal with short attention spans. At school we were taught that a Great photo only gets an 8second view If you could shorten explanations and get it to maybe 6 or even 5 min long you could reach way more people.
Do fluorescent tube lamps, as used in commercial buildings, have the same health effect as CFL's from merely being around them? Most schools and other commercial buildings use fluorescent tube lamps and I was wondering if they have the same health side effect as the CFL.
This is the video that got me into watching your channel, Paul! Great research and great explanations of your work were an eye-opener. Previously, I believed that CFL's were a worthwhile way to save energy with a trade-off that we had to be careful of how they were disposed. Now I know and understand that incandescent bulbs are perfect and ideal for most situations. I'm curious to learn the environmental/mfgr cost of LED bulbs....
are krypton incandescent light bulbs as safe as incandescent light bulbs ?
they seem to be more like the neodymium incandescent light bulbs
Thanks, man. Good points! I'll keep them in mind. I'm mostly interested in big energy savings through having an energy efficient house via simple things like thermal mass, insulation, graywater systems, etc.
Actually I always wash my hands with the lights on. Your extremely profound information is interesting on the lifespan of the CFL when used on a short term basis as demonstrated, personally I always preferred high intensity LED bulbs or halogen when used in a cold environment such as where I live (reaches -30 F in winter).
What about in southern regions where residual heat will cause additional power drain to AC for your house. I despise CFL but did go heavy on LED due to cost. CA prorated power cost forced that upon me. Above the basic use of about 200 kWh the prices was 32 cents per kWh. Every kWh that the incandescent did not expend to heat was 2 kWh I did not use to cool the house. Plus I have never head a LED fail! I have no idea how long they will last because none have died in 5 years. My son did kill one:)
i love your drawing of yourself!
The problems between the long tubes and the CFLs are nearly identical.
the only problem is were running low on tungsten, the metal the filament used in incandescent bulbs is made out of. the cost of a CFL isn't really the bulb itself...
in a conventional fluorescent lamp you have two parts, a bulb and a ballast.. in these the ballast converts the incoming power to the right conditions for the bulbs. in CFLs the ballast is actually in the base of the bulb so the package can fit in a standard socket and the ballast was what probably died after being cycled so much
Great vid. Also CFLs make a MUCH more intense electromagnetic field.