light bulbs

A couple of weeks ago as we were experiencing warmer than normal weather here in the northeastern U.S., I finally went out and did something that has been on my To Do list for a few months. I went out and bought those spiral florescent bulbs. These are the bulbs that have been in the news as one of the simple things that everyone can do to try to counter the effects of global warming.

I first heard about these bulbs a few years ago. The owner of a small local hardware store, Joe, told me about these bulbs. We had just purchased our house and I was frustrated that the 60 watt bulbs that we had to use to light the study in our finished basement did not provide the lighting that my partner needed. Our light fixtures were rated for a maximum of 60 watt light bulbs, and using 100 watt bulbs comes with a risk of overloading the wiring and causing a fire. I have lived through fires, and have no desire to tempt fate again. So, we stayed with the 60 watt lightbulbs.

I happened to mention this to Joe at the hardware store one day while I was picking up one some item needed by all new homeowners. He mentioned these spiral bulbs, which I had heard about. He told me that these bulbs use less wattage than normal bulbs. So, we could put a spiral bulb that produced about 100 watts of output, but would use only 25 watts of electricity. In addition, the life of the bulb was far longer than the ordinary light bulb. So, in the summer of 2001, we went and purchased 4 100-watt output spiral bulbs at about $10 per bulb. The only drawback was that these bulbs were much larger than the normal bulb. Fortunately, they fit in the two ceiling fixtures in the basement. Five years later, only one bulb burned out, that we just replaced.

I never dealt with getting the spiral bulbs for our other light fixtures until last week, and feeling terrible for continuing to use ordinary bulbs. I was at my local pharmacy last week and saw that they were having a sale on the spiral bulbs. And they now have mini spiral bulbs that actually fit in our smaller fixtures and floor lamps. The even make mini three-way bulbs, but these seem to be hard to find.

We have thirty lightbulbs in various lighting on the main floor of our ranch-style house, because many of our light fixtures have three or four light bulbs. And I am only counting the lighting that will accomodate the mini-spirals. So far, I have replaced four. And I have eight bulbs that I can put in other fixtures. I am starting with the lighting that gets the most use.

Of course, now that I have written about how simple it is to use the spiral bulbs, it is time for me take the action and use the eight sprials that I have in my closet. And purchase some more.