GE Launches Incandescent-Shaped CFL Bulb
Do you like the environmental friendliness of CFL bulbs but also enjoy the shape of incandescent bulbs? GE has a solution — the world’s first incandescent-shaped CFL bulb. The 8,000-hour CFL is guaranteed for 5 years based on 4 hours of daily use.
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The CFL bulb is placed inside of a typical incandescent bulb glass which will be frosted in the final product.
GE will debut the 9 and 20 watt versions of the bulb at Ace Hardware and Target in January. The bulb will be released widely in the Spring, and a 100 watt version should be available in 2010.
Photo Credit: GE
My problem with CFLs is not their packaging or their shape, but in the minute amounts of mercury that at some point get disposed of along with the rest of the bulb- even if that is in 5 years because of the longer life. Very few people will go to the proper lengths required to safely dispose of the bulb. Most of them will get tossed into the trash, crushed somewhere along the line, and release their mercury into the landfill (if you’re lucky). A few people will break them in their home, and learn the thrills of paying at least a couple of grand for a mercury removal technician to clean it up.
Of course, incandescent light bulbs aren’t efficient for 21st century standards - their basic design hasn’t changed since Edison invented them. My personal hope is that more advances are made in LED light bulb technology - no mercury, miniscule energy consumption, a better quality of light (no fluorescent flicker) and customizable to any color you want.
GE makes CFLs in cardboard boxes that are almost identical to the cardboard boxes that incandescent bulbs typically come in, I just bought a 4 pack of them at WalMart recently.
This new bulb is really cool, it will certainly help move the old timers who thing a light bulb has to look like an incandescent.
This would be great if not for one very very important thing….. GE refuses to publish the color temperature for it’s florescent lamps. With all that technical expertise at GE, these N.T.A.-clowns refuse to put down this simple data on the box. Fluorescents very in color from manufacture. Buyer beware! GE appears to have real sloppy manufacturing processes. They don’t post the color temp on the box so they are not held responsible ( liable ) when you come home from the store with a new lamp, and it has a real yellow cast; but the one next to it that you bought a few months ago, has a blue cast. GE doesn’t have good QC. I have tried over 10 different manufactures lamps, and i have come to the conclusion that Sylvania compact florescent lamps match regular incandescent bulbs. They also have a true daylight, and a stark white lamps, great for bathroom and workshop/hobby room. They post the actual color temp on each box. With the exception of my fridge/freezer, stove, and clothes dryer, my whole house is florescent. (The water/ice dispenser has an LED wet-surface bulb). I save a bunch $$$$$ on electricity, and these things don’t put out a bunch of heat. The most important thing, is that the color of the lamps matches.
Great job GE. Please step up to the plate.
Not a new idea. I bought a whole bunch of CFL’s with the outer bulb covering that looks like a normal incandescent close to 10 years ago at Ikea. As for efficiency, a cover can actually help depending on the lossyness of the system. Light output from the phosphors in CFL’s increases with temperature. It’s why they slowly get brighter after you turn them on. The newest ones aren’t quite as bad as the old ones but still show the effect to some degree.
Article is untrue. There are products already available with covered incandescent design CFL bulbs. You can find them at Walmart and Home Depot.
The sooner this CFL technology is replaced by LED the better. The only thing CFL is helping is the tremendous use of electricity used in our cities that has been putting a strain on our nations energy grids. The CFL offers no less environmental hazard than incandescent, and contains small amounts of mercury.
How is that news? These are available for 2+ years (if I remember correctly), you might want to check megaman.de for other types:
http://www.megaman.de/megamanenergiesparlampen/klassischegluehlampenform/index.html
(german only, too lazy to search for an english site)
Does anyone have any comments on my earlier posts? Does using dimmers equal or better a CFL (if both are 40 W) - as I said, most have lasted close to a year on dimmers.
I guess no one cares about the excessive packaging—however, it is so hypocritical to me that it blows my mind that all the talk of conservation never deals with the blatant waste.
I still can’t/won’t replace most of my incandescents for the following reasons:
1. I live in Minnesota, USA where the temperature is 14 below zero Fahrenheit at the moment. CFLs either will not light or take a very long time to produce any usable light.
2. In most of my lighting fixtures they don’t last any longer than regular incandescents, I have kept track. Add in the cost of disposal and it just isn’t worth the effort.
3. Harsh light spectrum. Very few bulbs have a decent color spectrum.
4. They look like crap in open lighting fixtures, i.e. chandeliers.
5. Mercury, no matter how minuscule it is still too much in my book.
6. EMI, the interference is noticeable on most of my radios and all my TVs.
7. Size availability. They don’t make them with the correct base for any recently manufactured ceiling fan fixture.
LEDs?? Cautiously very optimistic.
J
I bought one of these at Ikea over a year ago. Shaped like a regular bulb and the CFL is covered in silicon, so that it’s only warm to the touch and won’t burn fingertips. And it won’t break if dropped, which is what I’d imagine would happen to this GE bulb, regardless of frosting.
The purpose of the outer envelope is to contain the UV light that is produced by the bulbs.
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Compact_Fluorescent_Lighting_%28CFL%29_Downsides