The Completely Pointless Thread

[LKTraz]

0

I've no idea. It's one of those spiral-y looking things that replaces regular incandescent bulbs. Matt says it's a florescent light and that's why it takes awhile to warm up and ignite. Seems to me that would take more energy to warm the thing up.

Fucker is full of mercury too so you have to recycle them. We shall see how long they last - they're supposed to last like a year.

I've been using them for about 10 years now. I have some that are 5 or more years old and still working. They are indeed fluorescent bulbs. They are actually classed as CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lights). The reason they have a delay is due to the current having to excite the gas to produce light. Incandescent (normal) bulbs actually have a delay too but it's only microseconds.

They are cheaper to use because once the gas is excited it takes very little current to keep it in that state as opposed to the tungsten element in incandescent bulbs. A CFL which gives light equal to a 60 watt incandescent only draws 13 watts on average.

I saw a sizable change in my electricity bill when I started using them. Now the only places I have traditional bulbs is outdoors (CFLs do not do well in the cold).

I use them for green reasons.......I keep more green in my pocket and give less to the electric company!

BTW......the mercury thing is alarmist bullshit. There's more mercury in an old tooth filling than in a CFL.