Compact fluorescent light bulbs, also known as CFLs, seem to have truly arrived.
Local utilities such as the Snohomish County PUD have been promoting the energy-efficient light bulbs for many years, but environmental advocates such as Al Gore and Oprah Winfrey have turned the spiraled white wonders into the ultimate eco-friendly icons, beacons of hope, salvation, almost, for global-warming-weary consumers.
Fortunately, CFL technology and style has advanced along with the their social status.
Not only do they cost much less and come in smaller, more manageable sizes and shapes, including vanity globes, but they also – and this is the really great part – won’t turn your skin a bluish-green if you select the right bulbs.
“Fluorescents have come a tremendously long way from when I first started in the business 20 years ago,” said Tammy McArthur at Seattle Lighting in Everett. “They have warmer colors now.”
There is such a varied range of color that Seattle Lighting has installed a light box with many styles of bulbs, simultaneously casting their glows over blue, red and beige carpet samples in different chambers.
It’s an easy way to illustrate color temperature, which is the type of light each bulb emits.
Color temperature, measured in Kelvin or K, is printed on the base of an increasing number of CFL bulbs, McArthur said.
Bulbs with lower Kelvin numbers such as 2,700K and 3,000K cast relatively warm light similar to that of traditional or incandescent light bulbs.
They work well in residential settings and typically enhance warmer colors such as reds, yellows and oranges. They’re often sold as “soft white” bulbs. In the light box at Seattle Lighting, they flatter the red carpet and wash out the blue.
Higher Kelvin numbers such as 4,100K, 5,000K, 6,000K cast a cooler, bluish-white light that enhances blues, greens and violets.
Higher Kelvin bulbs are often sold as “bright white,” “natural,” “full spectrum” or “daylight” bulbs. Such labels, however, can be confusing because many people associate “daylight” with the warm light of a sunny day when it’s actually the opposite, more like the blue-gray light of a dreary Northwest day.
McArthur recommends 3,500K CFLs because they fall right in the middle of the Kelvin continuum. She says her true test of a fluorescent light is how it looks on her skin.
“This is a sunshiny day to me,” she said, putting her hand in a chamber of the light box with a 3,500K bulb. “I like something that’s going to enhance both spectrums.”
Janet and Dennis Reese recently converted their household to a variety of CFL light bulbs when they downsized from a 2,600-square-foot home in Marysville to 1,300-square-foot home in Arlington.
“It seemed like the logical thing to do,” Dennis Reese, 64, said of the bulbs. “It’s one of the few things an individual can do to lower your carbon footprint.”
Prices have come down and quality has gone up drastically since the last time they tried the bulbs.
Janet Reese, 61, remembers being frustrated with a CFL bulb they had purchased years ago for about $15. It buzzed and cast a poor quality of light.
“It would turn on and sputter and flicker. It was really irritating,” she said. “I stuck it away in a box.”
Today, the Reeses’ whole house is aglow with a variety of newer CFLs.
“This new generation seems to be a whole different thing. I really don’t notice any difference in the light value of the CFLs that we’ve installed versus the incandescent bulbs that they replaced,” Dennis Reese said, adding that they even found appropriate replacement CFLs for a trendy, exposed-bulb fixture in their recently remodeled bathroom. “They look just like regular bulbs.”
But the bulbs aren’t perfect.
Though they illuminate instantly, some take their time to get up to full brightness, Dennis Reese said, usually about a minute.
“When you first turn them on, the light level isn’t very high,” he said. “Over time, you can see them brightening.”
One other drawback to CFLs is that many of them don’t work with dimmer switches, said Lori Thompson, an assistant manager at Seattle Lighting in Everett.
That can be a huge problem if you’re big into variable or ambience lighting, she said, adding, “I don’t have a light in my house that I don’t dim.”
Because Seattle Lighting doesn’t carry a huge selection of residential bulbs in its showroom, staff members there often send customers to Fred Meyer in Everett, which has devoted nearly a third of its long bulb aisle to CFLs.
GE, Lights of America, Greenlite and other manufacturers have introduced a variety of dimmable CFLs, but they are only now trickling into local stores, mostly in the form of indoor spotlights typically used for can or recessed lighting.
McArthur expects CFLs to really take off when dimmable bulbs become more common.
“It’s something they know they need to do,” she said of bulb manufacturers. “Once they start with those, I’ll be more of a fluorescent advocate. I like to be able to dim it down. I like to create atmosphere.”
Despite such hurdles facing CFLs, not to mention their somewhat difficult disposal requirements (see the sidebar with this story), CFLs are probably going to be around for a while, McArthur said.
Some lighting manufacturers are producing fixtures that run exclusively on specialty fluorescent bulbs.
Residential homebuilders in Washington, meanwhile, are now required to install high-efficiency bulbs such as fluorescent lights or motion-activated lights for exterior-mounted fixtures because of changes in Washington State Energy Code that became effective July 1.
Though it’s a small change, inspired by California’s energy code, it will mean big changes at Seattle Lighting in Everett, which serves residential customers as well as homebuilders.
“We have quite a few fixtures that are designed specifically with fluorescent lamps in them. We’re just having to purchase more of them – for outside and inside,” McArthur said. “It’s going to have a huge impact on what we stock.”
Reporter Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037 or sjackson@ heraldnet.com.
Compact fluorescent lights do have a major ecological downside: You can’t – shouldn’t, really – throw them in the trash when they eventually burn out.
CFLs contain small amounts of mercury, a toxic metal that is essential for efficiency but harmful to the environment when released from broken bulbs.
When storing or transporting fluorescent bulbs, wrap them carefully and put them in zip-close plastic bags.
If you accidentally break one, open a window and leave the room for at least 15 minutes, then visit www.energystar.gov and search for “broken CFL” or call 888-782-7937 for proper disposal instructions.
Many lighting and hardware stores will recycle small quantities of bulbs free, in exchange for the purchase of a new bulb, or for a small fee (typically less than $1 per bulb).
Seattle Lighting: 1811 Hewitt Ave., Everett; 425-252-4154; www.seattlelighting.com; will recycle bulbs from residential customers for 50 cents per bulb.
IKEA, 600 SW 43rd St., Renton; 425-656-2980; www.ikea-usa.com; accepts any brand of CFL bulbs free for recycling. Look for drop-off points. Tube fluorescent lights are not accepted.
Snohomish County Solid Waste accepts fluorescent tubes and CFLs from residents free at the Household Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Station, 3434 McDougall Ave., Everett, one block east of Broadway; 425-388-6050.
Residents can recycle up to 12 bulbs at a time at the county’s recycling and transfer stations in Everett, Arlington and Mountlake Terrace and at drop boxes in Oso, Gold Bar, Granite Falls, Snohomish and Sultan. Go to www1.co.snohomish.wa.us/Departments/Public_Works/ and click on “solid waste” for more information.
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