And Kathleen Said, "Let there be Light!"
Today's post is on lighting, and my lack of proper thereof. I blame Wired for the latest obsession – that and faltering eyesight. Lately when I'm indoors, I can't see anything unless the lights are blazing full-on. And that's the big overheads, not the lamps. We're a mix of CFL and the old style incandescent bulbs. As an environmentally friendly wannabe, I like CFL's, but darnit, I can't read under those things.
Effective today, (September 1), Europe has banned the manufacture and importing of all 60 watt incandescent light bulbs. Next January, the government starts mandating efficiencies in lighting. To be fair, I had thought the government was banning incandescent bulbs. Apparently I have learned that is not the case. Incandescents will still be around, but now we'll have "Halogen incandescent" which produce the same quality of light, but are more energy efficient. GE, Sylvania and Phillips all are making the new models, but I haven't tested them out to compare.
Ah, the bullllllbbbbb....
This month, Wired has an article talking about the next generation of lighting — LED bulbs, and the problems with CFL's and why people aren't happy with them. Apparently the human eye wants to see fire-like colors. A regular incandescent bulb is like "a burning filament that casts the glow of a flame." With a CFL bulb, there is no *flame* only cold light and I thought – I'm not getting old, it's our lighting!! The warmth of a light is measured in Kelvins. A standard incandescent light burns at 3500 Kelvins. A standard CFL bulb burns at 2700 Kelvins. The higher the number, the warmer and more comfortable the light.
There are other problems with our home lighting environment. All our lamps do not exactly point at the surface that need illumination. They just give off this *glow* which makes a room nice to look at, but it doesn't light up the work surface. Aha, I thought after reading the article. I should get a better lamp. So, beneath the light of my sucky bulb, I scurried over to Amazon and found this lamp:
My New Lamp!
It's a full-spectrum lighting lamp, outputting 1800 lumens, requiring 27 watts to power and burns at a firey, 6500 Kelvins! Note that a regular 100 watt bulb outputs 1710 lumens and takes, yes, you guessed it, 100 watts to power. A comparable CFL bulb delivers 1750 lumens and takes 26 watts to power. If this baby can't make me see better and be happier, then I might as well become a subterranean mole!
And while I was buying a better lamp, I also bought a better chair. Both are scheduled to be delivered today, so I'll have a full lighting (and butt-comfort) report tomorrow.
I hope you have found today's post *illuminating*. What's your thoughts on light bulbs? Do you hate the CFL's? Are you stock piling incandescents? Is your lighting working for you?
Share this:
