Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs are being touted as one of the top ways to conserve electricity in the home and office. A CFL bulb lasts 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, uses two-thirds less energy, and gives off 70% less heat. It’s, as the name implies, compact and low-impact.

However, these figures work only under certain conditions, sort of like the fuel efficiency of your car. Some things that can lower the life span of a CFL are extreme temperatures and frequent on/off cycling. They are not recommended for use outside if the bulb is uncovered, or in closets or areas in the home where the light is only ever needed briefly, or in low air flow areas like recessed lighting, where heat can build up in the socket.
Another downside to CFL bulbs is that they contain mercury, and must be disposed of at hazardous waste facilities.

My question is: are CFLs actually good for the environment? It depends on what we’re trying to achieve.

If we’re trying to achieve energy savings, in the form of electricity conservation and reduced electric bills, a CFL under perfect conditions saves you over 500 kWh of electricity compared to a 60-watt incandescent bulb. If you place your bulb in a closet in the summer’s stifling heat, the savings are less. How much less? It takes a CFL bulb between 30 seconds to three minutes to heat up to the temperature at which it becomes efficient. Until it reaches its optimum temperature, it uses the same amount of energy as an incandescent bulb.

If we’re trying to achieve waste reduction, CFLs cost more to recycle and are a bigger threat to the environment once they burn out and turn into hazardous waste. We want to reduce hazardous waste, not promote it. To create the proverbial trade-off equation: is the CFL energy savings equal to the cost of its hazardous waste?

Clearly, the problem is the problem. We’re trying to reduce our energy consumption. Bringing it back to the complexity in problem solving issue which I posted about last week and now seem to see everywhere, should we solve our electricity consumption problem by requiring ourselves to buy incandescent bulbs for closets, outdoor lights, and quick-use lights, then buy CFL bulbs for heavy use lights like living rooms and kitchens, then recycle the bulbs in two different ways – one to normal recycling and one to a hazardous waste facility, when a much simpler option would be to turn off lights and use them less?

Efficiency is definitely desirable in all aspects of life right now, and most importantly in energy consumption. It’s my opinion that we can achieve substantial energy savings by re-evaluating how we treat our existing electricity use, rather than creating mountains of hazardous waste in order to circumvent such evaluation.