Soon enough though there should be fluorescent light bulbs in almost every home in America. As soon as people realize the savings that can be had by just switching the light bulbs they use, they should become very popular.



A light bulb is also known as an incandescent light bulb. It makes use of a thin filament made of tungsten. Electricity when passed through the filament, heats it up till it becomes white hot. This whiteness is the light produced. Along with the light generated, the light bulb also produces a lot of heat. This is considered as a waste of energy. The attempt to harness this energy has given way to the fluorescent lamp. They are energy efficient bulbs that do not use tungsten to generate light.



Fluorescent light bulbs use a different method to produce light. They make use of electrodes at both ends of a fluorescent tube. Argon gas and mercury vapor is inside the tube. A stream of electrons flows through the gas from one electrode to the other. These electrons bump into the mercury atoms and excite them. As the mercury atoms move from the excited state back to the unexcited state, they give off ultraviolet photons. These photons hit the phosphor coating the inside of the fluorescent tube. The phosphor creates visible light. This makes fluorescent light bulbs four to six times more than incandescent bulbs. A 15-watt fluorescent light bulb produces the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb.

A fluorescent light bulb generates a smaller amount of heat. It can produce between 50 and 100 lumens, per watt. Many homes in America and around the world have resorted to using fluorescent light bulbs. It provides white light and consumes less energy. They are available in grocery shops with a guarantee of 3 months. It can be bought in different lumens. The unique thing about fluorescent light bulbs is the starter. A light bulb will not start until there is a functional starter in place, to complete the electrical connection.

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

Probably the biggest user of electricity in your house is your refrigerator because it runs almost all the time. But close behind are all the light bulbs both inside and outside your house. How would you like to shave 20% to 30% off your electric bill each month? Well you have an excellent chance to do just that by using Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFL).

These babies use 75% less power than a standard light bulb. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and give off light that mimics the light from a standard bulb and they last about eight times as long as a regular bulb. And if you want to think globally for a moment, can you imagine how ticked off OPEC would be if everyone on Earth started using these things? Did I mention they use one quarter of the energy of a regular bulb. That means that oil fired electrical plants would be selling a lot less electricity and our use of fossil fuels could drop dramatically.

A single bulb in every American home would reduce the harmful gases released into the environment equivalent to the amount emitted by 800,000 cars. This is the reason that many governments are offering subsidies or even giving away these bulbs.

So why doesn't everyone have them? They cost more than standard bulbs. They cost more but they last longer and they use less power. In the long run they save significant money. You do the math.

When you're buying these things there are a couple of items you want to check to make sure you get what you want. You definitely want the replacement bulb to be as close to the amount and color of the light as the standard bulb. To do this, you want to compare two things, Lumens and Kelvin ratings. Lumens are the amount of light given off. If you are changing a 75 Watt bulb, find out how many lumens it gives off and match that to the CFL which will probably be a 25 Watt bulb. Light has different colors or Kelvin rating and again you want to match up the standard bulb rating with the CFL. You can get this info off the package each comes in.

The one downside that CFLs have is disposal. These bulbs have a tiny amount of mercury in them. This is what makes them so efficient but it also the reason you can't simply toss them in the trash. These bulbs are considered hazardous and need to be disposed of like you would any other hazardous material like paint, electrical appliances or chemicals.

Switching out to Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs just makes sense on so many levels. Give it a shot, save some money and save the environment as well.