It’s not like they’re re-inventing the light bulb. Or are they??? Any time the technology behind a product type changes, the way we think of those products has to change. Place yourself 100 years ago – the automobile was a radical departure from horse transportation. And yet, we’ve adapted and embraced the automobile to a HUGE degree.
Light bulbs are undergoing a similar sort of shift. The technology is changing, and therefore the way we think about lighting has to change.
In years past it was all about the watts. A watt is essentially the product of 1) amperage that’s “pulled” by the light, and 2) the voltage (think 0.5 amp light bulb x 120 volts = 60 watts). With the historical incandescent bulbs, the higher the wattage the bulb, the more light that was produced.
Switch gears to CFLs. They don’t have tungsten filaments (the curly wire inside incandescent bulbs). They use a combination of inert gas, phosphor coating, and electricity to create light. This new way of creating light is more efficient than the older incandescent bulbs. So how do you figure out which type of CFL is equivalent to your old incandescents? LUMENS!!!
A lumen is a measure of the brightness of a light bulb. That 60 watt incandescent gives off about 800 lumens. A new 13 watt CFL gives off about 800 lumens. And that is how CFLs get their rep for energy efficiency. They give a similar amount of light with less wattage. Or, in homeowner terms, CFLs use less electricity.
So, in summary, this is the enginerd way to think about CFLs (and LEDs for that matter): It’s all about how many lumens you get for the wattage. It’s all about how much light you get for the electricity you pay for. It’s all about how much juice you get for the squeeze!
EnerDigs 