How you can actually make money by purchasing compact fluorescent light bulbs (see page 102 for ordering information) Back in the "old days" say 2 to 3 years ago. light bulb companies came out with compact fluorescents. These early bulbs were fairly large and would not fit in most household light fixtures. Bulbs with magnetic ballast flickered when they were turned on and hummed while running. To get the bulbs to come on instantly, electronic ballasts were invented, but some of these were electrically noisy, [the ballast is in the base of the compact fluorescent bulb; it is the thing which energizes the gas in the fluorescent tube]. Today, all those problems are history. New compact fluorescents made by GE and Philips have electronic ballasts which are made to specifications for very’ low electrical noise, do not flicker, are no longer glaring white and fit in any light fixture. The Philips SLS 15 is the exact same size as a typical incandescent bulb. Compact fluorescents are an exciting development because for 1/4 the energy used by incandescents, you get the same amount of light from the compact fluorescent. Hence a 15 W compact fluorescent gives the same amount of light as a 60 W incandescent! In addition, the compact fluorescent will last 10 times longer than the incandescent. For a homeowner, the amount of electricity saved will pay for the cost of the compact fluorescent bulbs in 1 to 2 years. Of course, the money saved in not having to buy replacements (like you do for incandescents) actually makes the pay-back time even faster. Then the compact fluorescents last much more than 2 years under normal household use and so, that's just more money in the bank! So not only do compact fluorescents pay back the capital investment quickly, you actually make money by installing them! Also, owners of large buildings can save thousands of dollars by installing these bulbs. Often the savings of not having to pay someone to change bulbs so often can pay for the new bulbs in just a few months! To quote energy efficiency expert Amory Lovins, "This isn't a free lunch, this is a lunch you get paid to eat!" Here are some numbers: Let's suppose you have 12 incandescents that you want to replace with compact fluorescents. Each incandescent bulb uses 60 watts and each compact fluorescent uses 15 W (but they both give the same amount of light). Let's assume that you have these 12 lights on 5 hours per day.
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