Tonight is the night we turn our clocks back – a.k.a…daylight savings that will add one extra glorious hour of light to the winter days ahead.
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Earlier this week I learned first hand how hard living without light – the electrical kind was. I found I took being able to turn on a light at the flick of a switch for granted when we lost power due to Hurricane Sandy. A simple light to read, cook, work, and play by was what I missed.
I have also learned through years of helping people decorate their homes that many of us overlook the importance of light. With the winter months upon us and the need for electric light more important as the days get shorter – the wrong type bulb or wattage or even incorrect placement in a room can negatively impact our mood and throw off even magazine-worthy decorated rooms.
With these two events and my lighting knowledge, I thought today would be the perfect day to tell you about a little lighting experiment I have been doing over the past month. As part of the Home Depot Celebration of Service Blogger Network I was given a few energy efficient CFL and LED light bulbs to try out.
When I received them I was a bit skeptical, since I admit – I am quite fussy about how my home is lit. The first CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) bulbs that came out on the market many years ago produced a harsh cast and frequently made rooms look I saw them used in look downright dismal. I stayed away from using them and happily used soft or bright white incandescent bulbs.
When I was told that these standard incandescent light bulbs are being phased out by the government to make way for more energy efficient bulbs, I knew I would have to do some testing to find if any of the bulbs I was given would be up to par with my high quality of light standard.
I tested 3 different types of bulbs to see the quality of light each one produced. I used 60 watt EcoSmart CLF’s daylight bulbs in my family room lamps, the soft white in my bedroom.
I put a funky looking yellow Philips LED dimmable, in the lamp on my studioffice desk.
The first night I put them in, I was a negative Nancy and thought that I would still dislike the light they emitted, but I could see immediately that these bulbs have come a long way since their initial introduction into the market. I was pleasantly surprised.
I have switched the bulbs around from room to room each week to see how a room’s wall color would affect the light emitted. The overall winner – I like the light the Philips LED produces. Of course it is the most expensive and funkiest looking, but the light looks the most like an incandescent soft white bulb.
One of the features of this bulb is that it is fully dimmable. Yes! This is huge for me as almost every light switch in my house has a dimmer switch installed. Dimmers give you instant light flexibility when you need light, but not at full power when watching TV, taking a bath, or eating by candlelight. Dimmers give the room atmosphere – in an instant.
Another feature of CFL’s and LED lights are that they are both remarkably more energy efficient and will save you money in the long run. A CFL bulb lasts 9 years – that is 10 times longer than a standard incandescent bulb and uses 75% less energy than the incandescent. A four pack of CFL’s cost about $6.
The dimmable LED bulb that I liked best – costs $25, but lasts for over 20 years and will save you over $130 in energy costs over the life of the bulb. It is a yellow bulb, but becomes white when lit.
CFL’s and LED’s also come in flood, spot, and down lights – cost and energy efficiency for every room in and outside your home.
So tonight when you turn back the clocks, take a detailed look around your house and the light in each of your rooms and consider how upping or lowering the wattage or type of bulb will make make not only your décor look better, but save energy and money, too.
What are you going to do with your extra hour of daylight tomorrow? Enjoy it!
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I have partnered with the Home Depot for their Celebration of Service Blog Network. As part of this program, we received compensation for our involvement. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about any product mentioned in these posts. The Home Depot believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. The Home Depot’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.
I’ve had to change my CFL bulbs much more often than I used to with incandescent. They never last as long as was promised. Am I the only one? I can’t wait for LED’s to come down in price so I can change to those. Daylight Saving Time was initially to give farmers more daylight to get their crops in–not really more daylight, just more at the end of the day for the summer months. Dark winter days are hard no matter what time the clock says!
An extra hour? It gets dark at 6 now instead of 7…wow.
It gets dark here, too – but we do get an extra hour on that first day of fall back.
They still contain MERCURY! If one breaks it is costly to get a crew in to decontaminate the room. A friend had one break and it was about $2,000 for clean-up. So if you factor that into the cost, plus any health issues you could have from the leak makes it so it might not be so cheap after all.
Carol: LED’s do NOT contain Mercury. That’s one of the may things in their favor and that is why they are working away from CFL’s.
Okay, I’m confused. I live in Texas and when we move our clocks back we lose a glorious hour of light that we gained when we switched to Daylight Savings Time. Maybe it is different where you live but here the days are shorter and after the switch, it gets dark at 5:30 PM rather than 6:30 PM. Is it different in other places. Maybe I’m just not looking at things correctly.
I’m old enough to remember back when we had the energy crisis during Jimmy Carter’s presidency and the oil flow from the middle east was shut off, he extended Daylight Savings Time because it saved energy. Unfortunately it didn’t work because the school kids were standing at the bus stop in the pitch black dark during the winter and they had to rethink the extension. I love Daylight Savings Time and hate it when we “fall forward” but I think of the children and their safey and know that losing that extra light at the end of the day makes them safer.
Hi Lou Ann – You just took me on a trip down memory lane. I too, remember the energy crisis and standing in the pitch black for the school bus when daylight savings was extended. That was crazy and COLD here in PA. No matter how you look at it – in the winter – life is like living in a tunnel until the days start getting longer again. Fall equinox and the summer solstice do change how long the sun shines on us. We fall back and spring ahead and on those days we kind of get and lose one hour on those days. It is nice to think of getting an extra hour for a day, even if it is just for getting to sleep in for one more hour.
ps. I have NEVER had a bad Phillips!
I am so excited to see you address this, Diane. Ever since the CFL’s have come out I have been on a campaign to talk about the new lighting wherever I could cram it in the conversation! You can imagine how delighted I was about the LED’s, even to the point of giving them as gifts! We have been replacing all the bulbs in our house with LEDs on the basis of how much they get used, and have (honestly!) watched our electricty bill go down and down. My favorite is the (“funky”) Phillips – it’s a beauty, and our local electric company has subsidized them on an occasional basis.
Every once in a while I’ll get a ‘stinker’, but it goes right back to the store. They are probably really timely for the folks that right now are just looking for a bit of light from a generator.
I love my CFL lights. I love the bright white for my bathrooms, so as I put on my make up, I know what I look like out in the natural sun. And yes, dimmer switches are wonderful. I like them in the dining room and my bedroom. Don’t have one YET in my bath room because I just pull my shower curtain closed outside the tub and that makes it somewhat dim. I have yet to try the LED’s and will be checking prices for next time. Oh the most important part of my liking them is in the heat of Florida’s Spring, Summer & Fall. They don’t put out heat like incandescent bulbs.
Am I understanding that the LED light bulbs use even less electricity than the CFL?? I even use the CFL outside on my front porch and my side carport.
If you like CFL you’ll LOVE LED, once you invest in them.
Thanks so much Diane. I never knew these bulbs lasted that long. I believe I’ ve fully switched over to these for a while now and I’ve noticed they last much longer .
Oh, and JP….LIGHTEN UP!!!!
Thank Diane for some great info on the LED’s I don’t believe they are toxic like the CFL’s which also cast a creepy color of light into a room. I had a neighbor who switched out and I hated looking out the window to her house at night…what an awful glow the CFL’s emitted.
I hope that the gov’t changes the policy for incandescent bulbs. All these new ones are way too expensive….especially for low income families or those out of work.
I have several lamps where the shade clamps directly on the bulb. Will I be able to do that with the LED bulb?
Hi Diane – That is a very good question and one that many people will ask. I just tested a clip-on lampshade with each type of bulb- the swirly CFL and the dimmable LED. They do not work – the shade is crooked and there is nothing worse than a crooked shade. Hopefully someone will come up with a fix for that. Light bulb engineers and designers must not have clip-on shades in their homes :)
Thanks for checking it out for me. No one wants a crooked shade!! Me especially. :D
Thanks for doing the research for us. Very interesting. I know I’ll be making the switch.
Taking a bath in dim light. I like that. Never thought to put a dinner in the bathroom.
The only thing I don’t like about going back to standard time is having to explain it to my beagle. She insists on eating breakfast at 6 a.m., which means she’ll start whimpering at 5 a.m. until I can get her adjusted.
We are changing over to LED bulbs in our home, a few at a time, and have happily noted that the price is dropping. When replacing the bulbs in matching bedside lamps, I did a quick experiment. I replaced one with an LED and left the other with a standard bulb. No doubt, the light of the LED was more pleasing and somehow seemed more balanced. My husband loves the $avings and I love I can leave on lots of lamps with less guilt!
We have changed almost all the bulbs in our home, and are seeing a savings of $15 a MONTH! That may not seem like much, but that is $180 a year. That is just in one year. If they last even 5 years, the total savings on the electric bill will be $900. That is certainly worth the investment for the bulbs. The light quality is worth it also.
The original idea, proposed by George Hudson, was to give people more sunlight in the summer.
Of course, it’s important to note that changing a clock doesn’t actually make more sunlight – that’s not how physics works.
But, by moving the clocks forward an hour, compared to all other human activity, the sun will seem to both rise and set later.
The time when the clocks are moved forward is called Daylight Saving Time and the rest of the year is called Standard Time.
You said: “daylight savings that will add one extra glorious hour of light to the winter days ahead.”
What?! I don’t think you correctly understand DST.
Here is daylight saving time as explained at http://blog.cgpgrey.com/daylight-saving-time-explained/
This switch effectively gives people more time to enjoy the sunshine and nice summer weather after work.
When winter is coming the clocks move back, presumably because people won’t want to go outside anymore.