Not the brightest bulb in the lamp

Although I'm not saving any rain forests or putting a stop to global warming, I do try to recycle when possible. I try to combine errands in an effort to conserve gas. I try to shut off lights when no one is in the room to conserve energy.

It's this last category which is really throwing me for a loop because of the introduction of a new type of light bulb.

Although Thomas Edison is probably rolling over in his grave, the standard incandescent light bulbs is on line to join eight-track tapes and typewriters.

There is a push to replace the old light bulbs with compact florescent light bulbs or CF bulbs. In simplistic terms, they are like the long and skinny florescent light bulbs that likely light all the offices where you work and all the stores where you shop. Only, they have been reduced to the size of a standard light bulb.

The promises of the CF bulbs are nothing short of extraordinary and have actually prompted me to try them a few times.

One short item I neglected to mention: CF bulbs cost three or four times the price of old light bulbs.

But CF bulbs are supposed to last longer. They are supposed to use less energy. They are supposed to give off more light and less heat.

While those are all grand ideas, I haven't become a convert to CF bulbs just yet.

For starters, the CF bulbs take a little longer to turn on.

Anyone who is around standard florescent light bulbs knows what I'm talking about. They flicker a little bit and then finally flicker on. Same thing with the CF bulbs. There  seems to be a one or two-second delay when the light switch is flipped.

While that may seem like a ticky-tacky problem, it poses a dilemma when you are entering a child's room, whose occupant doesn't pick up their stuffed backpack from the night before and you stub your toe in the process.

And, the actual lighting emitted is just a little bit different. Ask anyone who has tried something on in a department store's dressing room at some point in the past 30 years. Not only do the stores install mirrors which are usually reserved for the circus or a fun house, but they compound the problem by using florescent bulbs. Those bulbs can make a person who lives part of the year in the Bahamas look pasty-white. Let's not even talk about the cellulite which multiplies in that lighting.

But my biggest problem is that they don't seem to last in my house. While the packaging claims the bulbs will last for years, usually around six or seven, I've replaced the CF bulbs after months, if not a few weeks.

I should note that all the electrical wiring in my house is fairly new, less than five years old, so I'm running with the assumption that it's not faulty wiring.

When you can buy 12 or 13 standard bulbs for the price of 1 CF bulb, it's a little hard to make the switch, especially if the CF bulb burns out quickly.

Will I make a complete switch to CF bulbs in an effort to save energy and money? That depends. It depends if manufacturers quit making the old standard bulbs. It depends if they make more reliable CF bulbs. And it depends if they can make the CF bulbs make the cellulite disappear.