How many politicians does It take to change a light bulb?

2009-04-07T18:19:00.000-04:00

Like it or not, the 60 watt incandescent bulb is doomed. The rising cost of electricity, the big cooperate lobbyist and the global warming movement have put pressure on congress and the standard bulb is to be phased out.

I'm not saying that they should not go. The old style bulbs are very inefficient and do not last very long, although the short lifespan was made up for with the cheap price. When more of the new energy efficient bulbs are in use, the reduced demand on our power plants will allow for new technology like the electric car to become more commonplace without the immediate need to build more power plants.

The CFL or compact fluorescent light bulb is the next generation and has been available for a few years now. Easy to spot by the spiral design or disguised inside of a glass envelope, they are used all over from industrial buildings to homes. The energy used is much lower due to the higher efficiency over the old incandescent bulb. The price is not outragous when the life span is taken into account.

Most packaging for the new lamps make claims about equivalency to a standard bulb in light output. For example the box for a 22 watt bulb would say "same light as a 75 watt incandescent. That is the case when the bulb is new, but they have about a 35% loss in output at one half of their service life. The CFL bulbs can also be slow to achieve full output when first turned on after being left off for a few hours. This seems to vary with manufacture and is a more common occurrence after the midpoint of the service life has past.

The unfortunate problems with these bulbs also include the price, most are not dimmer compatible and they contain a small amount of mercury, just like there older brother the fluorescent tube lamp. There are specific cleanup procedures for disposing of and cleaning up after a broken bulb.

The future of lighting includes the LED, or light emitting diode, technology. They are even more efficient and have a long service life when driven with a high quality transformer. The LEDs in or on the bulbs themselves can last 50,000 hours but the transformer and circuits inside the bulb will probably fail long before the LEDs do.

LED lights consume a lot less power than the standard incandescent bulb and produce less heat as well. The LED technology will continue to improve and will become more efficient as time goes by, this will lead to lower costs in the future. The current price of these bulbs, in order to get an acceptable amount of light, can cost from 30 to 130 dollars depending on lamp style and number of individual LED's built in. This has to improve before we begin purchasing them as standard inventory but we can get them as a special order part. Most LED lights are not compatible with dimmers at this time.

Welcome From Morningstar Electric LLC

2009-03-28T23:50:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our new forum, "Electrical wiring in the home"

We wanted to give you another resource for the ownership of your home. If you need electrical advice but it is not an emergency type of issue. We can help you here.

If you are having an electrical issue that needs immediate attention, and are in Hillsborough County, FL call 813-892-4582 for an electrician to be dispatched.
We have a 24 hour service available. We are here when you need us.

Outside of Hillsborough county? Please contact an electrician in your area, don't take a chance when it comes to wiring. If you are not absolutely sure it's safe, call someone who does.

On this forum, we will give you the best answer we can, without seeing your property with our own eyes. We can help you determine if you should have a professional electrician dispatched to take a look, just in case. We can answer your questions about lighting, indoors and out.

As owner and CEO of Morningstar Electric, I am a Licensed Electrical Contractor, which is Florida's way of saying Master Electrician. As a master, we are instructed and held accountable for safety above everything else. At Morningstar Electric, we believe in safety so much we put it in our slogan, "Power is our passion. Your safety is our priority'. We also perform background checks on our technicians to ensure a safe and pleasant experience for you.

There are things that you, as a homeowner, can do to be safe with the use of electricity in the home. You can also learn to spot the early warning signs of trouble. Most expensive repairs can be avoided with proper routine maintenance every few years and watching for indicators of trouble. You can learn about new safety products as we see them become available.

Again on behalf of all of us at Morningstar Electric, WELCOME, and feel free to ask us questions.
Don't forget to visit www.MorningstarElectricLLC.com and qet more information about our services at our corporate website.

If you would prefer to get your questions answered privately you can send us an Email at MorningstarElectricLLC@msn.com

Safe and Cost Effective Electrical Power and Lighting.

How many politicians does It take to change a light bulb?

Welcome From Morningstar Electric LLC