Turn off CFLs, or leave them on?
So, should you turn off your lighting fixtures that have compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) in them when you leave the room? The thinking has been that CFLs require a boost of energy to start up, so it's best to keep them on. Well, John Mattson of Scientific American tackles this question and the answer is turn them off.
It turns out that the power surge is so brief that it only equals the energy used in a few seconds of normal operation. Another question is the wear and tear on the bulbs, definitely an issue considering that they are more expensive than regular old incandescents and also have disposal and cleanup issues. A simple rule is to turn off your CFLs if you're planning to leave the room for more than five minutes. Easy enough.
For the nitty gritty on how to dispose of burnt-out or broken CFLs, see our Green Daily article here.
[Via Green Building Elements]
It turns out that the power surge is so brief that it only equals the energy used in a few seconds of normal operation. Another question is the wear and tear on the bulbs, definitely an issue considering that they are more expensive than regular old incandescents and also have disposal and cleanup issues. A simple rule is to turn off your CFLs if you're planning to leave the room for more than five minutes. Easy enough.
For the nitty gritty on how to dispose of burnt-out or broken CFLs, see our Green Daily article here.
[Via Green Building Elements]
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