There is an article in todays Washington Post concerning CFL's (compact fluorescent bulbs) and domestic tranquility. The article claims that women complain to husbands about the quality of light etc of CFL's and are thus slow to adopt their use. I've been using CFL's in my garage and basement since we built our house six years ago. Over the last couple of years we started using them in the floor lamps that we use primarily in our family room. In the last year or so, I've started replacing all the bulbs in our overhead "pots", at least those that are not dimable. Now that dimable CFL's are available we will start using those also. Most recently, I've replaced the bulbs in our bedside reading lamps with CFL's that use only 9 watts. Those bulbs really are slow to warm up, needing at least 3-4 minutes before they put out 40 watts worth of lumens. The only bulbs in our house that will not be CFL soon are the really decorative bulbs, such as those in the ceiling fans, over the bathroom mirrors etc. Eventually even the outdoor spotlights will be CFL's.
So yes, all of the CFL's can take a couple minutes to full output. They cost more for initial purchase but last a really long time. Personally I have no problem with the color of light they output because lampshades can take care of a good bit of that. I imagine we are saving a fair bit on electricity but I have no idea how much. The savings can be significant however.
It's sad that such devices are not being more rapidly accepted among Americans. We can't be bothered to save energy or the environment because of little inconveniences such as light color and slow lumen output. What a pampered group we are.
Did my wife complain? Yeah, initially. But she is surviving.
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