I am not really a “lets save the world” type of guy but I don’t mind helping out by using less energy as long as it isn’t a hassle for me. With not enough electricity in Kuwait for everyone its even more important to try and save energy just so we don’t end up stuck in a 50 degree heat wave with no AC. Thats why I decided to finally try energy saving light bulbs. I used to hate them because I thought they all emitted white light which I don’t like but I just recently found out their are versions that emit warm colored light which matches regular light bulbs we are all used to. So, I passed by Ace Hardware today and picked up two 20w bulbs to try out. At KD1.050 a pop they are around 10 times more expensive than regular bulbs but they last 6 times longer and use around 4 times less energy. A 20watt energy saving light bulb is equivalent to an 85w Tungsten bulb.
First thing I did was try them out to see if the color of the light is fine and it is. It matches the color of regular light bulbs so I am now going to go back to Ace and buy a whole a bunch of these so I could start replacing all the bulbs in my house. If you’ve held back on buying these light bulbs there really isn’t a reason not to get them anymore unless its because of the price. But even the price shouldn’t be a factor, seriously how many bulbs do you have around the house? 10?
29 replies on “Saving Energy”
welcome to the green world!
My objection used to be they were MASSIVE… now you can get the smaller coiled ones and they are much better.
thanks for the post Mark 🙂 … i hope it gets into many readers.
Holy smokes! It can’t be…Can it? It is! The new and improved GREEN Mark….Somehow, I have a problem with that image, given your love of fast cars and jeeps. But all credit to you, man. Keep it up.
Well done Mark 🙂
I almost converted all the house to energy saving bulbs. When you pay about 30 KD electricity bill monthly you have to do the conversion! But you are doing it for the love of it, and that’s great.
All I buy is SYLVANIA energy saving light bulbs, they last forever!
I believe Kuwait subsidizes the price of regular light bulbs.
They are definitely not that cheap in the rest of the world.
Therefore the CPF bulbs in Kuwait will be more expensive than the regular ones.
Caution with those bulbs, energy-saving light bulbs are dangerous if they fall to the floor and break or just break while putting it. There is toxic mercury in it. In another study too, they found that they are a threat to epileptics.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-506347/An-energy-saving-bulb-gone–evacuate-room-now.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-463911/Energy-saving-light-bulbs-threat-epileptics.html
Mark… some contain mercury….. True, they save money on electricity, but at what cost?
Think of it this way… when you dispose those bulbs which contains mercury… What is worse??? saving energy, or having mercury in the landfills?
We have energy saving light bulbs too and when I asked my dad, he said they are not the dangerous type! So I dont know which ones you bought!!
Please be careful if one of your light bulbs breaks! Mercury is really dangerous! Mercury spill is a bitch and needs professional cleaning… I know that because when I studied in the States, the mercury lab was one of the most dangerous to work in! Special precautions, vacuum, and cleaning processes were needed!
Ansam, you have me worried now. I am using many such bulbs at home that I bought from IKEA 2-3 years back. So far none has broken and none has failed.
There is nothing mentioned on the packing to warn about their mercury content. I am using the round type and there are various ratings like Mark says.
Thanks for the info..
So people are not scared off or mislead, please take note.
ALL fluorescent lamps contain traces of mercury including those long cylinder fluorescent lamps that everyone uses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_saving_bulb#Mercury_emissions
So no need to freak out, its very common. If somehow the bulb breaks just scoop it up and throw it away. No need to lick it and rub it all over your body.
We started using the energy saving bulb in our house long time ago, and true it lasts longer ; )
speaking of mercury when I was in school me and my friends sneaked to the science lab and someone put some mercury in his hand I remember him showing us the mercury in his hand and I remember how fast it evaporated in the sun…
i have a house with 3 floor and basement and every floor have about 35-45 light bulb, so thats unpractical for me but i can use it in the main rooms.
wikipedia is not that reliable and open to collaborative editing… check this out 🙂
https://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm#whatnever
Cheers!
Ansam stop being paranoid. Every reader here has fluorescent lights in their homes and their workplace and no one has ever gotten sick from them. Even the link you provided tells you that when a fluorescent light bulb breaks nothing happens and its not dangerous! Its not a mercury spill, so please keep your paranoia to yourself.
I like the idea of saving energy, it’s gotta be global recall. There will be a great impact, if many people switch to the energy-conserving products. Regarding mercury, I suggest to provide special trash for this stuff. I think it is not practical in Q8. People throw all kinds of materials in one bag, ” screw the recycle” loool.
In the dental clinic here, we throw the disposable sharp stuff in special boxes. Because they are scary source of infections if they stick those who handle the trash bags.
This is how we should save energy
Solar-powered lighting systems :
https://www.solarpathusa.com/index.html?gclid=CNC75MnouZQCFQkrlAodVk-JUQ
or check these for your garden
https://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100401729&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=100401729&cm_mmc=1hd.com2froogle-_-product_feed-_-D27X-_-100401729
Man this is how we should save energy especially in kuwait “we have enough solar power”
check this PDF if you want to light all kuwait:
https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy01osti/28751.pdf
Free Electricity guys.. I hope some official know about that
Not trying to be a smartass, but they’re called compact fluorescent lamps.
I also can’t stand white light, but I’m still not going to use these even though it is very similar to incandescent. They need to be properly disposed of and I’m too lazy.
Moe,
I agree with you that this would be the best solution in Kuwait since we have abundant sunlight throughout most of the year.
But it seems that recently the govt. is more interested in investing in Nuclear energy (as is the UAE) since Solar energy is not a viable solution for Kuwait power needs. Can you believe that?
10 light bulbs in a house?
lol I so dont think so…I cant even count the number of bulbs we have.
But seriously, good for you Mark..we really should try to chip in.
lensman,
are you serious! so they are welling to destroy the atmosphere and paying billions of dollars just because it’s nuclear.. oh and not mention the catastrophe that might happen in one small error
that’s why we will never advance.. we never think of future consequences
Nuclear energy is the best solution and more and more countries are realizing that.
i will have to disagree with you on that Mark
You can disagree if you want but just check the environmental facts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power#Environmental_effects
Its fairly clean. Of course not as clean as solar or wind power but you can’t compare them anyways since Nuclear Power Plants produce wayyy more power.
Ok, but what about radio active waste? Where do they dump it and for how long will they keep dumping waste into some repository?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_waste
This is a lot worse than green house gases being dispersed into the air…
Not really, at least you control Nuclear Waste.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_waste#Long_term_management_of_waste
worse case you can always send the waste out to space 😉
I’m still not convinced that nuclear energy is the best solution to our power problems. There’s only so much fuel and a whole lot of waste. So I still don’t believe its the best solution.
If you want to conserve more energy, check out the new Led Bulbs. Platform in shuwaikh has a huge collection of Philips led bulbs in stock. The only downside is that they cost 3kd a pop!