Loading ...Well, not really. But it is the first purchase made in my quest to green up. A few weeks ago, we had our dropped ceiling replaced with cement board and had recessed lighting installed. I had to go get new lightbulbs, so I figured this would be a great opportunity to make my first step in my quest.
I went to Home Depot and checked for the little Energy Star label on bulbs. Right now, they stock N:Vision bulbs. They’re fluorescent. It’s a 14 Watt floodlight, the equivalent to a 50W bulb. I paid about $5/bulb, which is high. However, it’s supposed to last 3 times longer than standard bulbs and the electricity usage is so much lower. While the up front cost is higher, in the long run it is more cost efficient.
But what about the quality? First thing, we have the kitchen lights set in a dimmer. These particular bulbs don’t dim. I’ve read that there are some N:Vision bulbs that do, I just don’t have them yet. Without that dimmer, the bulbs are wayyyyy too bright and stark. We got the ’soft white’ bulbs, but it’s still pretty harsh and it has that cold white fluorescent light that I associate with offices. Not the warm, yellow light that I connect to a cozy home.
I’m going to try to find the dimming light bulbs and I’ll give them a shot. Another complaint I’ve heard is that some of their bulbs come in very odd shapes and may not fit standard casings.
Some interesting links I came across while exploring this…
18Seconds.org
Wikipedia
Paul Stamatiou
4 responses so far ↓
1 Lisa L // Jun 30, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Becareful….
Not all n:vision bulbs that save on the attage are energy star approved.
I have been looking for weeks for more efficient light bulbs that are the “candelabra” size. Home Depot has them, but they are not enery star approved.
2 Jim H // Jul 3, 2007 at 10:50 pm
I don’t understand the energy saving claim. At 10 cents a KWH
A Standard 60 Watt bulb at 3 hrs per day uses 65KW or $6.5 a Year.
The NVision CFL bulb at 3 Hrs per day Uses 15KW or $1.50 a year.
Yet NVision claims at 3 hours a day it saves over $40.00 !!
3 Robert Wuhrman // Aug 24, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Hi Jim,
Perhaps the logic behind the savings is that that 1 CFL will last up to 8 years longer. Thus your $5/year savings x 8 years = $40. Seems to make sense if you look at that way. Cheers.
4 Kristina Richardson // Sep 19, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Energy Savings Formula: life expectancy of bulb x energy costs per Kwh x wattage + cost of bulb(s) = total cost of ownership
1000
Examples:
Traditional Bulb: 750 hours x $0.10 per Kwh x 100W + $0.75 x 13-1/3 bulbs = $110
1000
Springlamp: 10,000 hours x $0.10 per Kwh x 23W + $5.00 x 1 bulb = $28
1000
Difference:
$82 in savings over the life of the bulb
I got this information directly from the n:vision website: http://www.nvisioncfl.com
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