And God said, Let there be light: and there was light...

[Racer X]

Bill in NC wrote:
Heat - CFL or LED helps when heat's a problem.

Upstairs bathroom was miserable until I replaced the 6 bulbs above the vanity with LEDs.

Exactly. Each light bulb is a tiny room heater.

One reason businesses went to flourescent in the first place was for each watt of light output, you need a watt of cooling power to cancel out the heat. Think of how many KwH a tall office building goes through to light up and cool down a building at the same time?

I went from 3 100w incandescents in my office to 3 23w daylight CFLs to help with the heat. Also leaves 200 watts free for that circuit for my computer gear.

[mrlynn]

Racer X wrote:
[quote=Bill in NC]
Heat - CFL or LED helps when heat's a problem.

Upstairs bathroom was miserable until I replaced the 6 bulbs above the vanity with LEDs.

Exactly. Each light bulb is a tiny room heater.

One reason businesses went to flourescent in the first place was for each watt of light output, you need a watt of cooling power to cancel out the heat. Think of how many KwH a tall office building goes through to light up and cool down a building at the same time?

I went from 3 100w incandescents in my office to 3 23w daylight CFLs to help with the heat. Also leaves 200 watts free for that circuit for my computer gear.
The only time I notice the heat from our incandescents is in the few weeks of hot weather we get here in Eastern Massachusetts, and even then it doesn't bother me. The rest of the time I postively welcome it. Got to be helping reduce the heat bill a little.

/Mr Lynn

[parsaplenty]

The two areas I have changed over to LED's so far are in our master bath and seven recessed fixtures in our kitchen. Heat generation is a big problem in both rooms. I just purchased these units for the cans in the kitchen: http://genet.gelighting.com/LightProduct...ERSPECPAGE&PRODUCTCODE=95394 I used some Feit 40's from Costco in the bath which are pretty nice and definitely brighter than the standard 40's that I replaced. Payback?, when? who knows, but it will be a little more comfortable.

[sekker]

One huge advantage of CFLs and LEDs is that you can get more light out of fixtures that were previously limited by the heat from incandescents.

Plenty of '60 W' maximum fixtures can take a 100W light equivalent CFL.

[Racer X]

sekker wrote:
One huge advantage of CFLs and LEDs is that you can get more light out of fixtures that were previously limited by the heat from incandescents.

Plenty of '60 W' maximum fixtures can take a 100W light equivalent CFL.

deffinately. My kitchen fixture 3x60w. I have 3 cool white 4100k 75W equivalent CFLs in there and it is great. Good color when filtered through the alabaster glass dome.

[Acer]

The color I'm most concerned about is green--the color of the money I save when I choose the lowest wattage bulb available.

The move from incandescent to CFL is a no-brainer. When you go from 100W to 25W, even a CFL that burns out well before its time saves money, though I will admit that the power company purchase subsidy we have here gives the math a boost.

The move from CFL to LED is not so clear cut. The wattage is not that much different, and I'm still wary of the performance and longevity claims. The LED just aren't cheap enough to make it the sure thing like incandescent-to-CFL.

[Chakravartin]

Acer wrote:
The move from CFL to LED is not so clear cut. The wattage is not that much different, and I'm still wary of the performance and longevity claims. The LED just aren't cheap enough to make it the sure thing like incandescent-to-CFL.

The wattage is the *same* for the bulbs that I've got.

11w for 60w-equivalent.

CFLs burn out so quickly on me that my hopes are pinned entirely on LEDs.

Saw a sale at Target this week that had some LEDs priced below CFLs.

[Black]

I'm a little baffled by all the claims that LEDs have inferior light quality to incandescents. Have these people maybe not tried them in a few years?

[RAMd®d]

The wattage is the *same* for the bulbs that I've got.

What is the light output in lm for LED vs CFL of the (assumed) same wattage?

CFLs don't last nearly as long as they should, for me, and on average not as long as the incandescents they replace. The only reason I still use some is the PG&E subsidy that allows me to buy them as cheaply as incandescents. Back when CVS was Longs Drugs, there were some crazy sale prices. Now, not that often and not that crazy.

I want to go to LEDs. I have a Costco trip planned for next week, so I'll look for a 100WEQ LED and give it a try. But the last 60WEQ bulb I got there was way too warm. So this time I'll try one instead of two.

[RAMd®d]

…are the 100W bulbs dimmable?