I know that incandescent light bulbs use far more power than cfl's but that excess energy is converted into heat so wouldn't it be the greener thing to do by using those bulbs in the winter until our existing supply of the old bulbs are used since we would not be spending energy to cool the heat coming from the bulbs in the winter?

I had this thought a few days ago because of all the hype of lets throw all the stuff we have away and be green by buying new cars, appliances, light bulbs, everything instead of using an item until it's lifespan is over and then replacing it.

I did however replace all the bulbs in my house after I bought it with CFL's, now I've got 40 old bulbs that still work fine, it just seems to make sense that from a energy standpoint I'd not be wasting it by using these bulbs in the winter

 

One of my "long life" CFL's failed tonight.
It's been less than a year since I installed it. It's the second one to go bad.

Guess I gotta call the hazmat team out to dispose of the old CFL bulb now.

 

if you work for a big company you could always smuggle it into their hazardous waste

 

I'm going to buy me some Mercury
Going to buy me some Mercury
Going to buy me some Mercury
Cruise, cruise up and down this road
Up and down this road.

Lyrics changed to skirt ASCAP litigation

 

I hate those curly-q bulbs. LED's will be the light bulb of the future. Meantime, I'm stock piling incandescents.

 

Why do you hate them?

 

Yes Sir!
Great call.
LEDs will be the future,

 

I've installed CFL's everywhere I can that doesn't involve reading-I just haven't found one that provides yellow enough light to suit me. They DO save on the utility bill.

Back to your question:

Using incandescent bulbs as a heating source is terribly inefficient. All of the random energy emitted by the bulb is absorbed by whatever it shines on. It will then be subject to convection release-it will just rise to the highest point in the volume (room). I'm pretty sure you would save money by using CFL's everywhere you can and relying on your central heating system to keep warm. If you do go this route, ceiling fans would help-but they use electricity too and I don't know how much savings you would see.

BTW-I think LED lighting is by far more efficient than even CFL (a much higher percentage of the energy is emitted as visible light) , but the cost of LED medium-base bulbs is shockingly high. Check out the prices at www.1000bulbs.com and other vendors.
Be sitting down when you look. I would love to do LED's throughout the house, but we're talking pro-sports star kind of money!

Just my opinion, you understand?

 

......I'm with you. Hoarding light bulbs and .45 ammunition. I'll be fine.

 

I'm not planning on using the light bulbs for heat. My heat source is a heat pump. My point was that the old bulbs are supposed to be 90 percent effcient at producing light the other 10 percent is the light, so to use all of their lifespan would it not be best to use them in the winter.

as far as the heat rising to the ceiling the heat from the air ducts will be doing the same thing and they also heat objects in the room and that heat slowly rises to the ceiling. I would not be doing this every winter only until I used all the light bulbs that I have left over.

 

so why are you guys hoarding light bulbs?

 

Zombie Apocolypse

 

I was sold on the new bulbs but when I installed them I found that they get dimmer as they age, something like myself, so I ended up replacing them before they burnt out.
I got fed up with doing that and have returned to the incandescent bulbs. I have a stock of CFL's that I will use when I cannot buy the incandescents. I am not too sure that the CFL's are cheaper in the long run as they cost a lot more to start with.