[Prev][Next][Index]
Re: Light electronics
>I am informed (meaning I hope the person who told me this knew what he was
>doing - he had just replaced all of the lights in his store with T-8
bulbs,
>no ballast change, just the bulbs, on advice of his Power Company) that
T-8
>bulbs ALL give more light per watt of electricity than T-12 bulbs. This is
>supposed to be because the arc inside the bulb is CLOSER TO the phosphor
>coating, hence the phosphor glows brighter with the same amount of
>electricity in the arc. I know the store is considerably brighter with
the
>T-8 bulbs, as compared to identical wattage T-12 bulbs.
I wonder if your pal got his advice right from the power company. Using T8s
with the wrong ballasts can actually increase energy consumption and
shorten the life of the lamps. Both spell more money rather than less.
Also, as far as the amount of light is concerned, all fluorescents burn
brighter in their first 100 hours (the so-called burn-in period), plus
they're probably cleaner than his older lamps. However, to compare light
output, he would have to look at the lumens produced by each lamp compared
to the old ones. Yes, T8s produce more light per watt--they're more
energy-efficient, but the same size lamp uses fewer watts so the total
lumen output _may_ be less.
---------------------------------------------------
Greg. Tong
gtong at sirius_com (delivered by Cyberdog)
San Francisco, CA, USA
"Every infinity is composed of only two halves."