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Big returns at the CFL Savings & Loan
Big returns at the CFL Savings & LoanI recently experienced a ‘run in the bank.’ Yes, in the bank, not on the bank.
Literally. There was literally a line of people depositing money in order to receive a promotional interest rate on CD’s — I think it was 4.25 percent or 4.5 percent, but I forget. I was impressed, though, with the activity spurred on by raising an interest rate a tiny bit.
What if that bank had offered an insured rate of 10 percent? I’m sure there would be line out the door. A rate of 15 percent — that line would snake around the block. Twenty percent and the regulators would be standing in front of the line, prepared to shut it down for fraudulent activity.
Then I walked around the corner to the hardware store, and visited Aisle 5 — the “CFL Savings & Loan” offering return rates of up to 4,800 percent.
No lines, no regulators, no clamoring crowds. Just a few shoppers realizing the same thing that our family realized two years ago — that Thomas A. Edison’s incandescent light bulb, invented way back in 1878, was history.
(Edison did not actually invent the light bulb. He really just improved on it and came up with a long-lasting filament.)
Tom, it was a good run, but there are lighting technologies out there today that are running circles around your incandescent light bulbs, and they offer rates of return that are positively gorgeous.
Many of us are familiar with the CFL or Compact Fluorescent Light — the ‘twisty light bulbs’. But not everyone uses them.
And, I confess, even in our home, we still use a few incandescent bulbs. But I want to change that.
So I took a trip last Thursday to one branch of the “CFL Savings and Loan,” The Home Depot in Warrenton.
There I was impressed to find more than 30 different types of CFL’s. One package of everyday 60-watt CFL’s trumpeted savings of up to $46 over the life of the bulb. That's not bad for a bulb that cost only $.96. That's a 4,800 percent return on my $.96 investment.
CFL’s can offer those sorts of return rates compared to antiquated incandescent bulbs because they use about 75 percent less electricity to generate the same amount of light. Plus, if used properly, a typical CFL’s life is seven to 15 times longer than an incandescent's.
Marketing skeptic that I am, even if I cut that reported savings in half, in half again and then half again to about a 10th of the advertised savings, I am still looking at a return of about $5 — 500 percent —on my $.96 investment.
During my visit to The Home Depot, I bumped into John DePerro, a resident of Vint Hill. He promotes energy-efficient furnaces and AC units for The Home Depot and also fields the occasional question on CFL’s, as they share the same aisle.
With these rates of return, why isn’t everyone buying these?
“Many are," he said, "but people still think greenish-yellow office lighting when they hear ‘fluorescent.' That’s not the case anymore. CFL’s now produce the same exact pleasing white light as an incandescent light bulb. They are impossible to tell apart."
Light color was the number-one reason why people wouldn’t try CFL’s, he said, but that problem has been solved. Then there was the cost, but some CFL’s are less than a buck now.
Well what about special applications? Do CFL’s work with variable dimmer switches, in outdoor applications, in chandeliers?
“Solved. Solved. Solved," DePerro said. "CFL’s come in so many shapes and sizes today that it’s hard to find a lighting application that a CFL can’t tackle.”
Manager Mac Kolar added that the newer CFL’s contain much less mercury than even a CFL manufactured a year ago — about 2.5mg. And The Home Depot just started a free recycling program. Bring your old bulbs in, and they'll recycle them properly for free. CFL’s can also be re-cycled for free at the Fauquier landfill in Warrenton.
Even if the dollar savings do not jazz you, there are other benefits to a CFL:
• You don’t have to change light bulbs as often;
• 98 percent of the electricity used to light an incandescent bulb is converted into heat. Each 100-watt bulb is like a mini 98-watt space heater that your AC has to battle in the summer;
• A CFL saves 2,000 times its weight in CO2, helping the environment;
• Saving electricity reduces the overall demand on power plants and power lines.
Four and a half percent? How about 4,000 percent plus instead?
The U.S. government likes those savings and has mandated a two-year gradual phase-out of incandescent lights, starting in 2012.
Try a CFL today. A 4-pack of 60-watt bulbs is $3.90, making this a really inexpensive experiment.
Gumino is an independent marketing consultant residing in Marshall. E-mail Joe@fauquiergreen.com
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