Compact Fluorescent Lamps
CFL
Questions and Answers
Compact fluorescent lamps can be the best things to happen to your home because
CFLs save energy, last a long time, are environmentally friendly and have a cool
operating temperature so they don't heat your house. Unfortunately, many people
are discouraged from buying CFLs due to price, color, appearance, brightness,
flicker, hum, or a dozen other reasons. With the improvement in CFL technology
over the past few years, these problems can be easily avoided. The Lighting Systems
Research Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory answers all the key questions
about CFL's:
http://eande.lbl.gov/BTP/CFLQ&A.html
Longer-lasting Subcompact Fluorescent
Lamps (CFLs) Available for $4.95
Introducing energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) into your home,
business, or energy-efficiency program just got easier. A group of lighting manufacturers
are offering sub-compact fluorescent lamps (sub-CFLs) through a U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) program designed to bring new and shorter lamps to market. The
sub-CFLs are energy-efficient and long lasting, plus they fit into most incandescent
fixtures!
Now they can be ordered directly
from the manufacturer at very competitive prices. To stimulate the market for
sub-CFLs, suppliers are selling the lamps at specially arranged prices directly
to volume buyers such as multi-family building owners/operators, universities,
public housing authorities, hotel/motel companies, federal agencies, and lighting
product resellers.
The suppliers are offering 15-
to 26-watt sub-CFLs for as low as $4.95 for volume purchases, including delivery.
Smaller orders may cost slightly more. Suppliers will deliver a minimum order
of six lamps to locations in the United States and U.S. Territories. (The sub-CFLs
carry an unconditional one-year warranty among the best in the industry).
The bulbs are available as a result
of a technology procurement organized by DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
(PNNL) for the Office of Building Technology, State and Community Programs. (Technology
procurement is a method for speeding the market introduction of new technologies
using competitive solicitations backed by large volume purchases.)
In cooperation with the volume
purchasers, DOE/PNNL has developed a complete and detailed set of technical specifications
for the lamps. PNNL signed agreements with companies that submitted the most attractive
offers in an open competition to supply sub-CFLs for the program. Participating
companies include JKRL USA, Lights of America, and Sunpark Electronics.
Specifications include:
- Maximum overall length (MOL) 4.7
in. 119 mm to 5.8 in. 147 mm
- Maximum overall width (MOW) 2.28
in. 57 mm to 2.64 in. 67.0 mm
- Medium screw-base, self-ballast
- 8,000 to 10,000 hours rated life
both mid-power factor (>0.5) and high power factor (>0.9)/low total
- Harmonic distortion (33% maximum)
lamps
- Minimum 60 lumens per Watt efficacy
- Minimum starting temperature of
not higher than -20°F (-29°C)
- Correlated color temperature between
2,700 and 3,000K
- Minimum color rendering index
of 82 instant (<1 second) "on"
What Is Different About These Sub-CFLs?
The lower-cost, shorter sub-CFLs
screw into conventional sockets and fit inside most existing fixtures. In addition,
these CFLs:
- Produce enough light to replace
standard 60- to 100-watt incandescent light bulbs
- Use one-fourth to one-third as
much energy
- Last 8 to 10 times longer than
incandescent light bulbs
- Save more than $15 per year on
average per retrofitted applications (used 12 hours per day), and
- Pay back their cost in 6 months.
For additional information, or
to comment about this program, contact Kathi Ruiz of the U.S. Department of Energy's
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) at (503) 417-7551. |
