Commentary: Green Irene has been carrying covered CFLs of various types at SHOPGREENIRENE. In addition, Green Irene’s CFLs have the lowest amount of mercury possible, are high-quality (so they will not fail until at least the end of their lifetime), and have high luminosity and colors for lighting quality, all while saving you money. You can learn more about them by contacting a Local Eco-Consultant or you can shop directly at SHOPGREENIRENE.

Valley retailers are offering new compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) that get around one of the biggest obstacles – ugliness – for consumers to install the low-power devices.

The new covered bulbs look like traditional lightbulbs but offer the energy efficiency of the curvy, pigtail-like bulbs that sometimes raise shoppers’ eyebrows.

Some of the other drawbacks remain, including the mercury inside that requires special disposal and the fact that shoppers have to pay a little more attention to buy the proper light for the job.

Although CFLs still are more expensive than traditional incandescent bulbs, using one of the 13-watt CFLs saves about $35 in electricity costs compared with a 60-watt traditional bulb, and they’re designed to last longer so they don’t need to be replaced as often, utility officials said. Most homes have about 35 lightbulbs, but utility officials said customers can save a lot without replacing all of them.

And the new covered bulbs do that without looking eccentric.

“It looks like a regular bulb, but has a CFL inside,” said Debbie Kimberly, SRP’s energy-efficiency manager. “If you are an energy geek like myself, you can walk down the aisle and notice they have made tremendous advances in the way the bulbs look as well as their performance.”

Another common complaint from people who switch to CFLs is the lighting quality.

Hines and Kimberly said when switching to CFLs, customers need to learn to buy bulbs based on the lighting output measured in lumens and make sure to buy the proper type of bulb for recessed lights or other specialty sockets.

“Look for the light output that you want first, and the smallest number of watts to get that,” Hines said. “If a CFL light is too dark, go up to the next wattage. You’re still going to save a ton of energy.”

Article excerpted from AZ Central.

Rosamaria Caballero Stafford
Co-Founder and the Original Green Irene