*Was that misheard lyric from Ramona the Pest or my own childhood?
Here's another great product I got to try in exchange for a review: Sylvania’s new halogen Super Saver light bulbs. I had never tried any energy-saving light bulbs before, and I'd never bought halogen either. Indeed, I've been using the same old incandescent light bulbs that have been around forever. So here's the stats:
These 43-watt halogen bulbs replace standard 60-watt incandescent bulbs, which is a 28% energy savings. They produce nearly the same amount of light (785 lumens versus 850 lumens, whatever that means). And they're also mercury free, unlike compact fluorescent lights, so disposal is not an issue.
They're a little smaller than incandescent bulbs, but the base is the same, so they can still screw into all your existing fixtures:
As far as the light goes, I honestly couldn't tell the difference between these and my usual 60-watt bulbs. These photos aren't that great, but here's my bathroom with my old incandescent bulb on the left and the new halogen bulb on the right:
And here's my office light, with all incandescents except for the second from the left, which is halogen:
These photos aren't really doing the trick, are they? Well, anyhow, I assure you that I can't distinguish between the two. What is even more interesting is that I didn't notice a change in color. You see, years ago I switched from regular "yellow light" incandescent bulbs to GE Reveal, which are pinkish and give a more "white light," which I prefer. (You can see in the top photo that the incandescent bulb on the left looks slightly pinkish.) But these new ones don't seem terribly yellow. Indeed, the package touts their "vivid color," and from a little Googling I learned that halogen bulbs emit the "whitest" light because they produce light of a higher color temperature than incandescents. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but they do seem "whiter" than the old "yellow" incandescents I used to use years ago.
Anyhow, incandescent bulbs are being phased out over the next few years in accordance with the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Specifically, this bill requires roughly 25% greater efficiency for light bulbs between 2012 and 2014 and roughly 200% greater efficiency for light bulbs by 2020. So incandescent bulbs are pretty much history, which leaves the door wide open for these new halogens and compact fluorescent lights. As I mentioned above, being mercury-free is a big plus for halogen. I was unable to find any information that directly compares the lifetime cost (purchase + energy use) for incandescent, halogen, and fluorescent bulbs, but I do think that this must be at least a small, good step in the right direction to "going green."
I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign
by Mom Central on behalf of SYLVANIA and received products
necessary to facilitate my candid review. In addition, I received
a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.
That halogen color of roughly 2900K is why I switched almost my entire house to similar halogens a while back. I found I could replace 100-watt incandescents with 60-watt halogens and be happy with the amount of light and much happier with the color of the light.
These Sylvania SuperSaver bulbs are only rated for 1000 hours (according to their spec sheet), which is shockingly low for halogens. Both the GE and Philips halogens I've bought recently are rated for 3000 hours.
Posted by: Michael | March 26, 2010 at 11:24 AM
My mother, the political reactionary, is buying up all the standard bulbs she can, because she claims to despise the look of energy-efficient ones. I just think she despises being told by the government which bulbs she should be buying.
Posted by: pam | March 26, 2010 at 12:31 PM