Eye On Your Money - Light Bulbs

Light bulbs have been around for 130 years and they're still burning. But how can you keep them f...  More »

Light bulbs have been around for 130 years and they're still burning. But how can you keep them from burning a hole in your pocket? We'll tell you how in today's Eye On Your Money... Buying a light bulb, believe it or not, is not as simple as you'd think anymore. You can find a four pack of regular incandescent bulbs for 99 cents or a four of pack fluorescent bulbs for $8.99. Quite a price difference - so what makes the fluorescent bulb so different? (Al Woiwode/ Menards Electrical Manager) 14:48 - One of the things about the flourescent light bulb that helps them with the energy consumption and also longevity is they use a ballace system versus fillament system. The ballace system stays cooler than the fillament system, using less energy, which means less electricity. (Al Woiwode/ Menards Electrical Manager) 15:31 Another thing the ballace does in these kind of bulbs is it is called a slow glow ballace. It's instantly on but feeds bulb more energy to give brightness. So you may have to wait a bit for the light to warm to full brightness, but the fluorescent bulb can last up to eight times longer than a regular incandescent bulb, using one-quarter of the energy. What other features might they have? (Al Woiwode/ Menards Electrical Manager) 16:26 one of the features this bulb has is they do make a dimmable fluorescent light bulb that can be dimmed. If it doesn't say dimmable on the bulb itself, then it cannot be dimmed. And a dimmable fluorescent bulb does not have the range of dimming as a regular incandescent bulb, but again, it will save you energy. (Al Woiwode/ Menards Electrical Manager) 18:04 These have zero degree rating, they are not rated to work below zero degrees. Meaning they are not recommended outdoors in North Dakota. So there are situations where the traditional incandescent, may work better than a fluorescent bulb. (Al Woiwode/ Menards Electrical Manager) 18:32 Those are some of the features that make this light bulb get the energy star rating, also a feature that makes people want to come in and buy these cause want to save money. So if you do use these throughout whole house, they say you can save up to $20 a month on electricity bills if you use fluorescent bulbs in every situation. It comes down to saving now, or saving later. (Al Woiwode/ Menards Electrical Manager) 24:58 Nothing right now will beat cost of incandescent gas, that is lowest priced light bulb on market. I'ts the most wasteful light on the market, energy wise and has the shortest life expectancy of any light bulb on the market right now.They say within two years if you pay 10 cents a kilowatt hour, you will get money back from fluorescent bulb within two years. By changing over to fluorescent, you will save some green in the wallet, and you'll be going green by saving energy where you can. But the best way to save, simply turn the lights off. With Your Eye On Money, I'm Alysia Huck, KXNews. Another up and coming light saver is the LED light. This type of light can be quite expensive for the home and office. However, the quality is improving and experts expect better performance and lower cost in the next three to five years.  « Less