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1. What is CFL? 2. How does it work? 3. What is the advantage so using CFL over incandescent bulb?
1. A compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), also called compact fluorescent light.

2.  Fluorescence is the conversion of ultraviolet (UV) light to visible light. Electrons flow through the fluorescent lamp and collide with mercury atoms, causing photons of UV light to be released. The UV light is then converted into visible light as it passes through the phosphor coating on the inside of the glass tube.

This two-stage conversion process is much more efficient than incandescent lamp process, resulting in 25% of the total energy consumed used to generate light, lower lamp temperatures (40° C) and longer lifetime (10,000 hours). The lamp load itself is resistive, but the electronic ballast that is connected between the AC line voltage and the lamp for controlling the lamp current is a capacitive load. The complete CFL includes the Edison screwbase and plastic housing, the electronic ballast, and the fluorescent lamp formed into a compact spiral shape.

3. Save Money: An incandescent bulb that uses 75 watts can be replaced with a CFL bulb that only uses 20 watts. The average cost of a kilowatt is 8 cents, and the average CFL bulb lasts 8000 hours. Over 8000 hours, a 75-watt incandescent bulb costs $48.00 to run, while a 20 watt CFL (putting out the same amount of light) comes in at nearly a quarter of the cost at $12.80! That is a savings of $35.00 over the life of the light bulb.

Less Energy: Replacing one incandescent bulb with one CFL bulb keeps 450 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere over the life of the bulb. If everyone in America used energy-efficient lighting, we could retire 90 average-sized power plants, reducing CO2 emissions, sulfur oxide, and high-level nuclear waste.

Less Frequent Changes: The average lifetime of an incandescent light bulb is less then a year. The average lifetime of a CFL is 8 to 10 years.

Environmental Benefits

Each CFL over the course of its life saves 450 pounds of carbon from being produced. This is a powerful savings considering that the average home has between 30-50 sockets, according to the EPA. If only thirty sockets were replaced with CFLs that would be a savings of 13,500 pounds or 6.75 tons of carbon. The average small car uses 3.55 tons of carbon per year, changing your light bulbs would be like almost taking two small cars off the road for a year.


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