*Fluorescent Lighting*
By: Warlord
25 February 2004

PaleHorse went out today to pick up some things we didn't think we'd have time to get before TSHTF with this stupid terrorism stuff... Plywood, 2x4's, Locks, Fluorescent Light bulbs... "What??? Fluorescent Light Bulbs???"

Yeah, Fluorescent Light bulbs. Wally World has em for like 10 bux for a pack of 2 called "6 year bulbs" (but they are only warrantied for 1 year, read the small print).

I did some research on Fluorescent bulbs and the technology has come a LONG way since the last time you've checked into Fluorescent lighting I'd bet, even if that was only a year ago. This aint yer daddy's old tube bulbs.

Fluorescent Bulbs can now be easily and reliably placed in packages as small (or smaller) then conventional incandescent bulbs. That's including the built-in "starter". There's no waiting while a flickering bulb comes on, no harsh glare, no buzz, no shadow inder the base.. You just screw it in and it works.

The ones we bought claim to have the lumens of a 60 watt bulb for 15 watts.. that's not true, I tested it.

It actually provides 51 Watts worth of lumens (checked with a light meter) for 14.2 watts... Which works out to about the same as 15 for 60 ... Still that's impressive!

This means my battery banks now only have to supply 1.19 amps for the lumens of a 51 Watt bulb, when I was using 3.33 amps for a 40 watt bulb! This means my battery bank can supply more light now for almost 3 times longer than it could before.

That frees up a LOT of Watts when you change over all the lights on your alternate grid... and in the summer your house will be cooler and you save more money since your air-conditioning doesn't have to run as much to combat the heating done by conventional light bulbs (It's actually more heat per bulb than a human puts off)

.. I know what you're thinking... "But my heating bill goes up in the winter from not having that extra bulb heat".. Uhhh NO No it doesn't, cause yer already using less electricity by using the Fluorescent bulbs! Using light bulbs to heat your house is a VERY expensive way to get heat.. your furnace is cheaper per BTU, I promise!

I know I know, 5 bux per bulb....

So I started tracking how much my light bulbs cost using three of the fixtures that I intended to replace with these Fluorescent bulbs.

4 incandescent bulbs cost me about 2 bux... In these 3 fixtures they lasted about 1.5 months each (We use these a LOT)... That's 8 bulbs per year or about 4 bux.. if these Fluorescent bulbs only last a year, I have only spent 1 dollar more per year per bulb on them. But what did I save in energy? (You do the math)

So instead of adding more batteries or Solar panels to your banks for lighting purposes, think about changing what you use electricity for.
Warlord