CFL Light Bulb Shapes

Here's a cool article on compact fluorescent light bulbs and the shapes that are currently available.
Peggy

ASK INHABITAT: What are the greenest lightbulb options?

Here are some chandelier bulbs from Bulbs.com!

How 'bout THAT! Ask and ye shall receive!

Peggy

Should Government BAN Incandescent Light Bulbs?

No questions lately so a semi-rant:

I have been recommending that my clients select 100% fluorescent lighting for their kitchens for the last twelve years or so. Ever since I attended a seminar by Randall Whitehead, a renowned San Francisco lighting designer, back in the 90's. Randall convinced me that fluorescent was the sensible choice for kitchen lighting back then, when we HAD a choice. Fluorescents consume far less energy, burn cooler and last way longer than their incandescent forbears. Compact fluorescent lights have even recently come down in price and become available in various shapes like spots and floods. Hooray!

Before the 90's I was already recommending fluorescent general lighting in kitchens in conformance with California's Title 24 Energy Code. I started small, with fluorescent general lighting (preferably indirect) and incandescent recessed cans for task lighting; mixing the few available colors of fluorescent with the warmer incandescent light to get a satisfactory overall result. Then, as compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) came into being and became available in better colors of light produced, I began to recommend using fluorescent recessed can lights as well. All this while my peers, and the general public, were avoiding fluorescent like the plague and dallying with super-hot halogens (You know, those lights in torchieres that set so many dorm rooms on fire before the colleges banned them).

In the intervening years fluorescents have been made available in a much wider range of colors that can be utilized with the full range of colors we find in today's kitchens. So, while incandescents are only available in a warm golden color of light that does horrible things to some colors, fluorescents are being continually improved.
Nowadays I am even more strident in my recommendations, with California's energy crisis behind us and global warming staring us in the face.

Recently I have noticed a number of nations (Australia, for example, with an outright ban) and States, including California, are discussing a total ban on incandescent bulbs, with some exceptions, such as appliance bulbs. Is It Time to Ban the Bulb?

Radical that I am: I think it IS time to ban the energy hogging incandescent, until such time as technology has improved its performance to match that of fluorescent. Such a move would go a long way toward cutting our dependence on scarce resources and stretching the energy we produce farther. Fluorescent is the 21st Century way of lighting our environments; especially the kitchen.

Peggy

"AHOY FROM THE SISTERS"
Come join us at The Hammer Museum
Thursday, March 29, 8:00pm
An evening of radio, readings, special guests and some LA hidden kitchens cooking.
A free event.
For details visit our website at www.kitchensisters.org

We’re still collecting LA hidden kitchen stories. Got one? Who’s cooking on your street corner,in your family? Who glues your community together through food? What LA cooking traditions do we need to know about? The event is the 29th, so point us towards your unusual, little known and clandestine kitchens soon. E-mail us at kitchen@kitchensisters.org.