Incandescent? Flourescent?

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Tonight I made the big switch in my basement cove from flourescent lighting to incandescent lighting.

I was lying in my bed with pillow over eyes moaning to myself from the incredible eye strain the flourescent lights in my room produce when it dawned on me that some of the left overs from the rummage sale were a bunch of clamp lights.

I wasted no time in getting them and setting them up. I'm much happier now

I can't STAND flourescent lighting. Bothers me to bits.

I'm just switching the house over to compact fluoros. Normally I hate fluoros, but compacts aren't as oppressive. I hate electricity bills too and the heat off incadescents in summer. So far the compacts seem a bit blue, a cold light, so I'm experimenting with warm colour lampshades.

I usually prefer incandescent, as the flickering from fluorescent lights drives me insane, triggers headaches etc. However the small energy saving fluorescent bulbs don't seem to have this problem, its just a matter of the light colour as Postperson mentioned. Most of ours are 'yellow' like incandescents rather than blue, but I don't like the blueish ones much.

For my study and my bedroom I use Daylight Corrected Tungsten (incandescent) light bulbs. I like these as the yellowish light from non daylight corrected ones makes me want to go to sleep. I use Halogen lights for my kitchen, bathroom and living room.

Some florescent tubes really annoy me. The poorly maintained fluorescents they had at school that flickered really annoyed me. The trouble is that people just by the cheapest tube they can find. However if they are well maintained and have a tube like a Chroma 50 or a Colour 94 (neutral colour appearance of lamp and daylight corrected) it gives me no trouble at all.

If a room it too bright I find that it also gives me a head ache no matter what the lighting is

I can't stand fluorescent either...

Flickers...

Only flourescent light in our house is above the sink in the kitchen, everywhere else we use incandescent and it's much better. Flourescent hurts my eyes easily.

I use compact flourescents here. One thing that I do like about them is that they take a couple of minutes to reach full intensity, something appreciated if I have to get up in the middle of the night.

OTOH, I do consider CFs to be a transitional technology, in that they do have several real issues:
-They produce UV radiation (needed to 'excite' the phosphorus inside the tube). It's not anywhere near the UV level of sunlight, of course, but it does have a long-tern fading effect on things like pictures, etc;
-They contain elemental mercury, resulting in a haz-mat disposal issue;
-They are NOT the most energy-efficient mode.

Although CFs are much more efficient that incandescents (about 90% of the energy used by incandescents is wasted as heat, with only about 10% becoming usefull light compared to about a 25/75 ratio with CFs), they are not nearly as efficient as light-emitting diodes (LEDs, which produce virtually no heat). Once white LEDs come down a bit more in price, look for them to quickly supplant CFs. LEDs have already replaced most incandescents used in signalling applications and with a lower price can quickly take over the decorative lighting market, too.

BTW, the 'flicker' issue with both CFs and LEDs can be addressed with a proper ballast that cycles at a high enough frequency.

Mike

Naturals best.

Second best is the glow from my computer screen in the dark.

Ditto on Natural Light. That is the most preferred. And then, for me, candlelight would be a close second. Especially for a good writing mood when I get into it.

I like flourescent.

[burnheretic] I think it is a rather comfortable expereince to read in flourescent light, and in fact my bedroom is lit by floursecent. The occasional flicker dosen't seem to bother me too much.[/burnheretic]

My vote is for fluorescent. Sometimes I get strain when I'm in a room lit with incandescents - don't know why. Fluo gives a nice, even diffusion, plus I like the higher color temperature that makes whites look white and not yellow.

speaking of fluorescent, check out these Darwin Award nominees..

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/05 ... cnn_latest

Seen it.

You can only win a Darwin award if you die, or otherwise ensure you won't have any descendants.

Well i heard the guy had