Lighting efficiency

“After more than eight months of intense deliberations between Congress and bulb manufacturers, environmental groups and other parties, a law that requires light bulbs to become more energy efficient became part of the energy bill that President Bush signed into law on Dec. 19.

Over a three-year period beginning in 2012, all new bulbs will have to use 25 percent to 30 percent less energy for the same light output as today’s typical incandescent bulbs. Given that the vast majority of bulbs now on the market that meet those standards are compact fluorescents, which use 70 percent less energy and last 6 to 10 times longer than incandescents, Americans may have little choice but to accept them as part of the future.”

Any Other Bright Ideas? (NYT 10 Jan 2008)

I’m using CFL at all of my properties for a variety of reasons. The lower energy cost is obviously attractive and I can provide more light with less energy. On interior hallways I’m replacing 60w sconces with two 15w CFL and adding motion detectors for those wee hours of the night when not a creature is stirring. The most important benefit is that service teams do not spend one afternoon per week replacing light bulbs. A full afternoon for ‘make work’ more than offsets the expense of the initial light purchase.