CFL lamps refer to Compact Fluorescent lights lamps. These lighting systems are increasingly getting popular across the world for its high quality and cost effectiveness. Previously, these CFL lights were more into the commercial sector due to their high costs and large sizes. However, with improvements in technology, CFL lighting systems are now available at lower costs and in smaller sizes, which can be used easily and conveniently in residential locations.
CFL lights are entirely different from the traditional incandescent bulbs since they do not use filament to emit light. Instead, they produce light with the help of the mixture of three phosphors. When this mixture is exposed to ultraviolet light from mercury atoms, they emit light. The light produced from the CFL bulbs is more diffuse than incandescent bulbs and hence, used for area lighting purposes.
There are several advantages of using CFL lighting systems and therefore they are getting popular. They are not only energy efficient but also produce less heat, are environment friendly. Frankly speaking, CFL bulbs use about 1/4th of the energy used by an incandescent bulb that produces same amount of light. In fact, you can replace a 60-watt incandescent bulb with 15-watt CFL bulb. Moreover, lower wattage means low usage of energy and lesser heat generated.
For the convenience of the consumers, manufacturers often give a conversion table on the labels of the CFL bulbs. Using this information, users can easily calculate the wattage of CFL lamps they need.
Benefits of the CFL bulbs
More than 1/4th of the electricity bill of a household is spent over lighting inefficient light bulbs. You can replace these inefficient incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights. These bulbs use exactly the same technology to produce the light as used by fluorescent lights. They can be screwed straight into the light fitting.
CFL light bulbs are 4 times more efficient than traditional bulbs and lifetime is 10 times more. You can save more amount of electricity consumed for having same amount of light as produced by traditional bulb. For instance, if you use 18 watt CFL to replace 75-watt incandescent bulb, you will save over 500Kw over its lifetime that is much more than the original cost of CFL. In addition, it saves atmosphere also from that extra CO2 released from power stations.