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Old 02-05-2008, 12:00 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elhigh View Post
I've been in the facility maintenance gig for a while now, and I can tell you this: on and off kills the bulb. Incandescent or fluorescent, the cycling will destroy it faster. There's no way around it.
No doubt about that but I'm also a firm believer that it is the heat that actually kills a bulb, this I speak from experience as I have noticed time and again the lower the bulb's wattage the longer it lasts.

It's not even the heat per se, maybe a little, but it's the cooling off and warming up that causes expansion and contraction in the materials of the bulb that does it.

So not only does a lower wattage bulb save energy, it also lasts longer.
With CFL's it's the same thing thou with a CFL's actual usage it makes little sense to flicker them, once on leave it on for a bit and don't turn it on for no good reason.

btw all households should be lighted 100% with cfl's by now.
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