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Box Claims |
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Are the claims made on the CFL boxes accurate? |
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The CFLs’
packaging made claims about the following: life length of the bulb,
luminescence of the bulbs, savings over the life of
the bulb and energy consumption of the bulb. The following tests were done on
the bulbs to prove if the box claims were accurate. Note: Life length was not
tested because it would take too long and switching cycles could not be
taken into account. Therefore for further calculations the claims on the packaging
were accepted as accurate. Bulb Luminescence Test Method 1)
A lux
meter was placed one metre from the bulb in a completely dark area so that
the bottom of the bulb faced directly into the receiver on the lux meter,
shown below.
2)
The bulb was
switched on for five minutes and lux readings were taken every 10 seconds
over this time period. 3)
The test was
repeated for three of each brand/type of bulb being studied. 4)
Results were averaged
and compared in a graph. Energy Consumption Test Method 1)
The bulb was connected in a circuit to a 230V power
supply with an ammeter in the circuit. 2)
After running the bulb for two minutes an amp
reading was taken. 3)
The test was
repeated for three of each brand/type of bulb being studied. 4)
The results
were averaged and compared. Money Savings Calculation The cost to buy and run each bulb
for its life length was compared to the cost to buy and run the 100W
incandescent bulb for the same length of time. The calculations were done
using the following standard information: *The average cost of power quoted
by the bulb boxes is 20c/kWhr ($0.2/kWhr) (you pay 20c per hour for every kW
of power you use) *A CFL uses 0.02kW of power. The cost to run a bulb over
its life length is calculated by: ($0.2 x 0.02kW x bulb
life length x bulb purchase price) Results Bulb Luminescence
This shows that although CFLs
have a similar light output to 100W incandescents
they can take as long as two minutes to reach full brightness. This is a disadvantage if you need light immediately,
e.g. on a stairwell, where injury could result from a lack of light. Box Claims - Luminescence
Energry
Consumption
Money Savings
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