Jefferson County officials aren’t likely to follow California into banning incandescent light bulbs, but residents seem to be switching to more energy-efficient lighting on their own.
Area hardware stores report more demand for compact fluorescent light bulbs, oddly shaped lights that replace standard bulbs in home light fixtures.
Craig Sarensen, assistant manager at Meyer Hardware in Golden, said customers buy individual fluorescent to test the light quality.
“It kind of just started six weeks ago,” he said.
At Meyer, compact fluorescents cost $4.49 to $4.99 each, significantly more than a four-pack of incandescent bulbs for $1.79. However, the bulbs are designed to last longer; they last about 10,000 hours, or about 14 months of continuous use, compared to 750 hours for a standard bulb.
Although the price between the two even out, fluorescent supporters says the real savings and environmental benefits are in reduced energy usage. The bulbs use about 25 percent of the energy to produce a similar level of light to an incandescent bulb. Over the long run, consumers could see significant savings.
The national energy savings of a switch to fluorescent could be large. Federal energy officials estimate that if every U.S. household switched out one light bulb, it would save enough electricity to light 2.5 million homes for a year. They equate the attached energy savings to removing 800,000 cars from U.S. highways.
The energy advantages are driving governments and corporations to push the bulbs. Australia is phasing out incandescent bulbs throughout the country, and Wal-Mart recently launched a major marketing push for the bulbs, replacing millions of in-store lamp bulbs with compact fluorescent.
Legislators in California, Rhode Island, North Carolina and other states have proposed bans on incandescent bulbs, saying their time is up after 125 years.
Not so fast, say some fluorescent skeptics. The bulbs are heavier and more complicated than incandescent, meaning they cost more energy to create and are harder to properly dispose of, particularly the small amounts of mercury in each bulb.
Homeowners are also skeptical about the switch, arguing the lights take longer to reach full brightness and never match the output of traditional bulbs. Both problems have been largely overcome, but even retailers who push them may not use them at home.
Jason Huddleston, store manager of Jordan’s Building Center in Wheat Ridge, said he likes the bulbs, but many customers continue shying away from the bulbs because of the lack of brightness.
“We sell them here and there,” he said, noting the store has not seen a large increase in recent weeks.
Anthony Fox, electrical buyer for Green Mountain Ace Hardware, said demand shot up after a November 2005 episode of “Oprah” that promoted the new bulbs. Though interest diminished for a while, it has recently picked up again.
“We had a big run on them then,” he said. “Then in the last four weeks or so, there’s a lot of people coming back and buying a lot more.”
Fox said most customers are happy with the brightness levels. The only drawback is shortening the expected lifespan by switching a light on and off regularly.
“That’s shortening the life of the bulb, and you’re paying a lot more for the bulb upfront,” he said.
Incandescent Compact Fluorescent
Rated lamp life, in hours 750 10,000
Number of bulbs used in 10,000 hours 13 1
Cost per bulb 45¢ $4.99
Bulb cost per 10,000 hours $5.85 $4.99
Watts consumed 75 20
Energy used over 10,000 hours 750 kWh 200 kWh
Cost per kWh 7¢ 7¢
Electricity cost per 10,000 hours $52.50 $14.00
Total life-cycle cost $58.35 $18.99
Source: City of Longmont Power and Communications, www.swenergy.org and Meyer Hardware