Calculating Incandescent Equivalents For Cfl Bulbs

What compact fluorescent light bulb do I buy to replace a 60-,75-,100-or 150-watt regular bulb? How are the watts calculated?

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. Don't worry about the math,though — we make it easy for you to figure out which compact fluorescent bulb to buy by displaying the equivalent regular watts you're used to prominently on the package.

• 60 Watts incandescent = 15 W compact fluorescent.
• 75 W incandescent = 20 W compact fluorescent.
• 100 W incandescent = 26 - 29 W compact fluorescent.
• 150 W incandescent = 38 - 42 W compact fluorescent.
• 250 - 300 W incandescent = 55 W compact fluorescent.

 

What makes compact fluorescent and fluorescent bulbs more energy-efficient than regular bulbs?

Fluorescent light bulbs (including compact fluorescents)are more energy-efficient than regular bulbs because of the different methods 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 - in fact about 90% of the energy they emit is in the form of heat (Also called Infrared radiation).
A fluorescent bulb, on the other hand, contains a gas that, when excited by electricity, hits a coating inside the fluorescent bulb and emits light. Because fluorescent bulbs don't use heat to create light, they are far more energy-efficient than regular incandescent bulbs. The fluorescent bulbs used in your home emit only about 30% of their energy in heat, making them far cooler as well !

Do light bulbs (such as compact fluorescent bulbs)give off hazardous amounts of ultraviolet(UV)light?

Regular fluorescent light bulbs used in your home and office do not produce a hazardous amount of ultraviolet light (UV).The UV produced by fluorescent light bulbs is far less than the amount produced by natural daylight.

Also, here's a great video introducing CFL Bulbs put together by CommonCraft: