As an environmentalist, and more importantly, as a concerned citizen of this planet, it is my duty to go forth and spread the message of compact fluorescent light bulbs [CFLs]. I have done this but not without a large dose of guilt as up until recently, I have not been practicing what I preach. And I *know* that I am not alone.

It pains me to admit that I have been in a room with others of my ilk, where we have talked about the benefits of these bulbs, the urgent need for people to replace their bulbs and how we could persuade them to make that switch. Having visited each other’s homes, we could not have failed to notice that many of our apartments lacked CFL bulbs and so, in the room amongst us, a large fluorescent elephant has stood.

There are various reasons why people don’t change over to CFLs, some with more merit than others, though none valid enough in my opinion. I would like to address the one issue that I have come across most often and, not surprisingly the issue that stopped me from making the switch long ago: the color of the light.

Until recently, every CFL bulb I purchased turned my lovely warmly lit cozy living room into a CTU interrogation unit. Instead of relaxing as I walked through the door, my anxiety level would crank up a notch, and I would find myself fighting the desire to turn around and run right back out.

There are those out there who say these bulbs are much closer to natural light but to tell you the truth, I found the bulbs emit light that is way too blue for my constitution and which always resulted in an immediate and long lasting case of the blues.

The ever increasing hypocrisy of my situation got the better of me and I finally decided to open the closet door and shed some light on my incandescent skeletons. Fortunately for me, Chris Neidl from Solar One enlightened me on the subject:

“The key number you need to focus on when purchasing bulbs (beyond wattage and lumens) is the color temp number measured in Kelvin. The magic number is 2700 - that gives you a warm, yellowish light.
Some people prefer a whiter light, but in my experience they are in the minority. “Full Spectrum” lighting, which has long been promoted by many in the environmental community because it produces ‘natural light’ closest to sun light, turns out to not deliver the type of ‘incandescent-like light that most people prefer.”

Thanks to Chris, I am no longer burdened with this shameful secret. My elephant has left the room, my electric bill has dropped and I come home to a warm welcoming glow.

One word of advice: I’ve found that not all 2700 emit the exact same quality of light so you want to try and purchase the same size and manufacturer’s bulbs for a given room. Some are warmer in light than others. As CFLs cost a bit more, I recommend at least initially finding a store that displays them ‘plugged in’ so you can see the light before you make your purchase.

Here’s to a bright future!