ENERGY SAVING

Fluorescent light bulbs (including compact fluorescents) are more energy-efficient than regular bulbs because of the different method they use to produce light. Regular bulbs (also known as incandescent bulbs) create light by heating a filament inside the bulb; the heat makes the filament white-hot, producing the light that you see. A lot of the energy used to create the heat that lights an incandescent bulb is wasted. A fluorescent bulb, on the other hand, contains a gas that produces invisible ultraviolet light (UV) when the gas is excited by electricity. The UV light hits the white coating inside the fluorescent bulb and the coating changes it into light you can see. Because fluorescent bulbs don't use heat to create light, they are far more energy-efficient than regular incandescent bulbs.



While a regular (incandescent) light bulb uses heat to produce light, a fluorescent bulb creates light using an entirely different method that is far more energy-efficient - in fact, 4-6 times more efficient. This means that you can buy a 15-watt compact fluorescent bulb that produces the same amount of light as a 60-watt regular incandescent bulb. Plus fluorescent light bulbs last up to 13 times longer and use 2/3 to 3/4 less electricity than incandescent bulbs with similar lumen ratings.



Here are the watts needed by regular incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs to produce the same amount of light.



20 watts incandescent = 5 watts compact fluorescent

28 watts incandescent = 7 watts compact fluorescent

36 watts incandescent = 9 watts compact fluorescent

40 watts incandescent = 10 watts compact fluorescent

52 watts incandescent = 13 watts compact fluorescent

60 watts incandescent = 15 watts compact fluorescent

75 watts incandescent = 20 watts compact fluorescent

100 watts incandescent = 26-29 watts compact fluorescent

150 watts incandescent = 38-42 watts compact fluorescent

250-300 watts incandescent = 55 watts compact fluorescent