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Seven best CFL bulbs

By Lori Bongiorno

Posted Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:25am PST

More from The Conscious Consumer blog

It's hardly a secret that switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs saves energy and money. A lesser-known fact is that their quality can vary greatly.

And, while more and more of us are willing to give them a try, it's not always easy to figure out which CFL to buy.

A new report by Environmental Working Group (EWG) is an excellent resource for consumers looking to make informed lighting decisions. The report rates CFLs based on three factors: mercury levels, energy efficiency, and average life span.

Here are EWG's top picks. The following bulbs have the lowest mercury levels on the market, are highly energy efficient, and last a long time:

Calculate your potential savings using EWG's lighting calculator. Simply plug in the number of incandescent bulbs you're replacing, whether they are 60 or 100 watts, hours used each day, and the state you live in to determine how much money you'll save each year.

In general, a single CFL can save you about $80 in operating costs over its lifetime. It will also prevent about 450 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Of course, there are other changes you can make at home that will have more of an impact, but every little bit helps.

In its lighting guide, EWG offers some valuable tips on how to wisely use CFLs. Here are some of the environmental non-profit's suggestions:

Considerstarting with the light fixtures you use most, but avoid in places where breakage is likely to occur. You're better off choosing CFLs for ceiling fixtures than for table lamps in high-traffic areas, for example.
Don't use CFL bulbs in places where mercury exposure would be especially problematic (in children's rooms) or clean-up would be difficult (near valuable rugs).
It takes about 10 to 15 minutes for CFLs reach their optimum light and energy efficiency so avoid using them in spots that you light for only a few minutes (such as closets) or in places that need to be well lit immediately for safety reasons (such as stairways).

Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com.

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Posted by avgjoedaddy Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:59pm PST
I agree that this article isn't all that helpful. What about the quality of light?
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Posted by Hushyanoizna Mon Jan 19, 2009 2:04pm PST
The use and production of CFLs are unfortunately WAY ahead of recycling efforts. These are not a good thing for the environment. Until there is in place good recycling program across the country, these should not be pushed into use. Lowes, HD, WalMart should be the front lines of recycling efforts.
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Posted by mams99 Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:08pm PST
I was just home depot this evening and they had recycling for these bulbs. While we have several of these, it's a real HUGE nuisance that they don't light up quickly. Besides the kitchen, living/family room and dining room, where do we sit for 10-15 minutes or longer? For bedrooms it can be a pain if you are planning on reading. Bathrooms? laundry rooms? Storage rooms? Closets? Entryway? I think of all the places we use light and need light, but where waiting for it to get light enough to really see is not something people will wait for. People will either leave the light on to avoid this 'warm up' period (which totally is opposite of what behavior we are all trying to encourage" or people need an alternative that is better than an incandescent, but better the CFLs.
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Posted by stormy34@sbcglobal.net Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:58pm PST
CFL bulbs contain MERCURY.Ifyou break one,open windows and doors and evacuate home.The spot in carpet has to be replaced.Do not throw thrm in trash,this is hazordous material and has to be disposed of accordingly.
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Posted by Hello Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:04pm PST
Those are the three WRONG ways to judge a CFL! It should be: The closest light quality to incandescent, fastest startup time, and how many months before it starts to lose brightess(tube darkening). I find the loss of brightness to be the most irritating. They may say it will last five years but by the third year they are almost half as bright.
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Posted by That Guy Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:48pm PST
stormy34 - overreact much? Mercury is present in a lot of things and doesn't require that you evacuate the home... it's a liquid metal, not an airborne contagion. If you have any dental fillings, you likely already have more mercury in your mouth than in a CFL. I'm surprised you didn't freak out about lead paint while you were at it.
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Posted by JamesF Mon Jan 19, 2009 5:46pm PST
Also agree that the advice is next to useless. The quality of light and initial brightness vary hugely with these bulbs. I've had to replace some whose light quality we just couldn't live with. Regarding dimming: our entertainment room has dim-able CFLs and did not require a special/expensive switch. The CFLs themselves were more expensive. It has been almost a year since we installed mostly CFLs. Our electric usage is down 20% which makes the monthly bills about the same since electric rates went up 18% last July!
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Posted by kannelb Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:14pm PST
What!?! There's lead in paint?!? jk
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Posted by S Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:43pm PST
This article barely scratches the surface of CFL's. With legislation banning incandescents just a couple years off, OSHA requirements for disposal of bulbs containing hazardous material (yes, it is a minute amount but they contain mercury all the same and OSHA doesn't differentiate), and the fact that they need to be on 10-15 minutes to achieve full brightness, what makes these all that much better. Secondly, are ANY of them currently being manufacture in the US? All it takes is a look at the news to find out how "good" the quality of product(s) coming from the predominate country manufacturing these lamps. I think all these so called "green" efforts need to look at the big picture to see what the affect is for the future and not just the right now.
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Posted by MarkG Mon Jan 19, 2009 11:18pm PST
EWG these nuts. I have them through out my house & they dont take that long to warm up. I like the yellow light ones better than the ugly white ones they have. Once you flick the switch one you can start counting diz nuts right away.
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Posted by aaronteverett Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:03pm PST
when incandescent lights are outlawed...what are we suppose to use in high traffic and safety areas???? for instance, stairwells. Building codes require fast starting light for emergency escape routes...which are often closer to outdoor ambient than to indoor heated ambient. CFLs start slower as the temp gets lower. think Michigan this last week or so...-30F? Even in my semi-heated toolshed, the lights start VERY slow and take 3-4 minutes to reach full brightness. In the pumphouse the soon to be outlawed incandescent lights provide enough heat to keep the well house above freezing therefore saving my pipes for a 100W of light outlay. pennies...a heater in the same instance is $30-$100 AND consumes much more power than NEEDED to keep the VERY well insulated well house from freezing. So tell me where the savings will be? Ptui
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Posted by solarsector Tue Jan 20, 2009 5:32pm PST
The majority of cfl bulbs I've bought have failed much faster than a normal light bulb ever did. I keep spending money on them, and not one has saved me anywhere near 80 bucks for using it, more like costing me 5 bucks instead of 50 cents. I want to use them, but I want them to WORK. Mfg's state they last 10 years, the reality is some of them don't last ten days.
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Posted by AJ Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:49am PST
4 years ago I received an electric bill for $350 dollars. I decided then to change my home over to all energy saving devices. The CFL bulb was the 1st change I made. They are the same light that is in all commercial buildings including resturants tha we are in each day. I noticed a $35 dollar a month drop in my electric bill at once. Last month with all of my energy devices in place my electric bill was $88 dollars and only 70 dollars the month before (Nov.). I am very pleased with what I have done. I find no imposition with the CFL in any form. I have no incandescent, nor have had for 4 years now, in the house. I am now changing over to LED that use far less than the CFL. I encourage all to make energy saving changes to your homes and enjoy the extra money each month doing other things that you would like to do. The energy saving devices are a tax deduction also. I loved that also. I am still using my CFL bulbs without replacement 4 years later. I have now changed all of my family over to these devices also and they are also enjoying the comparable savings. The CFL is a good place t start.
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Posted by Keith B Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:06am PST
Yeppers!! Home Depot recycles CFL bulbs, and those large rechargables from your power tools...not those ones pervs!
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Posted by Kal Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:12pm PST
This article is useless. EWG is a group of environmental crackpots. They have no competence to judge light bulbs. Modern CFLs bulbs have very small levels of mercury — not enough to panic over even when the bulb breaks. Many other hazards in modern life are more dangerous. There are differences in CFL brands - light output, reliability, color spectrum, suitability for inverted operation, and operation in enclosed spaces. Too bad this article does not address these issues, and instead obsesses over the mercury canard. Incidentally, for many purposes a halogen lamp is better than a CFL. A halogen lamp has ~10% better efficiency than an ordinary incandescent lamp, better light spectrum, is dimmable, and can be used in any orientation.
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