Instapundit has recently been looking into those curly fluorescent lightbulbs which fit into the fixtures designed for standard incandescent bulbs.
I like the things, I've had them for a little over a year, now, and I have a pair of them burning nonstop in my basement (it reduces the population of unfriendlies). I have them in all my major fixtures throughout my house, and am waiting anxiously to finish the job, when the companies which produce them come out with replacements for my remaining two light fixtures: the candelabra-style lamp and the light by the plant stand in the bathroom.
I don't really need fluorescent curls in the candelabra lamp. That's a tacky little feature, anyway, with the "touch-sensitive" switch and the hideous generic Indian in the Sioux headdress silkscreened on the panels of the glass shade. I can get by, using 15- to 25-watt "flame" bulbs without burning a hole in the checkbook. But I would like some fluorescent plant-grow-lightbulbs, to help my geraniums take over the world (or, at least, my throom of ba).
In fact, I'd like to be able to fit curlicue fluorescent grow-lights in my basement... if only I didn't have to worry about what the local cops might think. That dank, depressing place below my main floor could use a little jungle life to replace the toxic mold colony I've been clearing out.
As it is, plant lights usually have to be either incandescent bulbs (which, in my experience, are costly and short-lived... my last three bulbs lasted approximately 500 hours each. Not a stellar performance), or fluorescent tubes of varying lengths. And those need their own special fixtures, with reflectors and stuff.
I wanna grow my termaters and aigplant and such early, somewhere indoors, at a reasonable cost. If somebody at the lightbulb factory would start making grow-lights in this style, I'd be closer to becoming a happy person.
Or, at least, my garden would be happier.
2 comments:
We've slowly been making the move, too, in the Eclectic Household. Some observations:
Sometime in the past coupla days, I saw some curlies with a small chandelier base.
I haven't had much luck with flourescents and touch lamps/switches/thingamajigs.
El cheapo flourescent fixtures that plug into an outlet and have a pull chain and reflectors (sort of) are dirt cheap at our home depot. Take a look next time you're there -- they might pay for themselves in a year or two.
You know the saying, "too many chiefs, not enough Indians"? In my house, it's "too many lights, not enough outlets." I have light fixtures in every room, but my bathroom and two other rooms lack electrical outlets -- same as my entire basement.
I used those adaptors, the kind which screw into a light socket and have a two-prong socket for cords, in the basement, when the plumber or the furnace guy comes, but otherwise, they get undone because those are a fire hazard I don't need.
Someday I'll have a real, modern, properly outfitted house. sigh.
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