Q: What are my options if I don’t like CFL bulbs?
A: It’s still a whole year till the federal ban dims the light on incandescent bulbs, and already sales of Edison’s dinosaurs are swift.
News stories report shoppers in BC piling their carts high with old-fashioned bulbs (that province’s ban started last month), and one doc is publicly alerting those with autoimmune disorders to do the same.
Let’s just say this isn’t the reaction enviros were hoping for. Natural Resources Canada expected to get Canadians off the wasteful century-old invention with less resistance and move us wholeheartedly toward compact fluorescents that use 75 per cent less energy.
And, yeah, most Canadians have twisted in a few, eager to save, as NRCan says, up to $200 in electricity per year.
But not everyone’s embracing the trend. Again last week, the cybersphere was abuzz with recycled reports that CFLs are bad for people with autoimmune disorders like lupus, due to their UV-emissions. As I said last year, if you sit at least a foot away and put a shade on ’em, they shouldn’t bother most of you.
Regardless, the good news for all you trepidatious folk is that LEDs are coming on stronger. Just last week, Home Depot finally introduced an LED bulb by Philips equivalent to a 60 watt bulb. That’s major news in the lighting world, where LEDs have been infamous for their dim wattage.
The beauty of it is that LEDs use even less energy than compact fluorescents (80 per cent less than incandescents, while CFLs use 75 per cent less), most are dimmable, and they’re instant, so there’s no delay or warm-up time. And they don’t contain any mercury – not 1 gram.
And over the last month alone, the availability of shapes and strengths has really improved. My fave’s the new dimmable chandelier LED bulb you just can’t find dimmable compact fluorescents that actually look like real chandelier bulbs.
There are still kinks in the system. Philips’s new 60-watter looks weirdly yellow when off but is actually a soft white when on and will run you – wait for it – $40 per bulb. The 40-watt models are a normal white hue and $25 (way better than $40 for Sylvania’s version at Canadian Tire), globe-shaped ones are $20 and the chandelier bulbs are slightly more accessible at $15. Also, at this point, availability is pretty store-specific. Philips is putting its eggs in the Home Depot basket. Canadian Tire is offering a smaller selection of Sylvania LEDs.
What else is out there? Halogen bulbs are often a lot cheaper and still a little more energy-efficient than incandescents, though not nearly as efficient as LEDs and CFLs. Plus they only last, say, 2,500 to 3,000 hours versus 25,000 for LEDs and CFLs. Regardless, they’ll still be sold under the new ban, and GE and others just started pitching halogens as replacements for standard incandescents, with lines of doppelgängers that look exactly like the old lights you’re used to.
Canadian Tire has some by Noma for around $5. They’re only up to 22 per cent more efficient than a regular incandescent, so I wouldn’t stick to them as my sole lighting source, but since they’re really just a “refinement” of incandescent technology, CFL haters should love them.
By the way (hoarders, take note), the ban on incandescents will be phased in gradually. In year one, 100 watt and 75 watt bulbs will disappear from shelves 60- and 40-watters won’t get the flick-off till 2013. But I hope to see you moving away from them way before then.
Got a question?
Send your green queries to ecoholic@nowtoronto.com
