re: #1137 lostlakehiker

CF’s are a bit slow to reach full brightness. You could have up-powered the bulbs to 100-equivalents where you used 60’s, and still been using less electricity. To round out the equation, try keeping a few conventional bulbs in places where you want instant full brightness.

I use CF’s throughout my house and though it can be dim for the first 30 seconds, it’s nicely lit after that. We don’t need to run the AC as much in summer, and that’s a nice side effect.

We recently switched to the fancy bulbs at my house, and I agree with everything you’ve said — I’m particularly excited that that they’ll save me on electricity over time, since I am a skinflint — but I’ve never heard that they help with the AC…. How so? Just less heat emanating from the bulbs themselves? If so I can’t imagine that’s more than marginal, really…