Have you ever calculated what the incandescent tungsten coil based lamps cost you and your community in terms of electricity usage and their contribution to global warming.

For each house using say 10 incandescent lamps for say an average of 5 hours everyday at 100W each. Their contribution to the utility bill at Rs. 6 per unit(1KWh)usage turns out to be Rs. (30x5x100x10)/1000 or Rs. 150/- per month.
So for a capital expenditure of Rs. 120, consumers bear an operational expenditure of Rs.150/month.

Compared to equivalent 16W CFL where the capital expenditure of Rs. 1600/-(at Rs.160 per CFL, almost same price or actually cheaper than the long 40W fluorescent lamp also called tubelight) results in an operational expenditure of a mere Rs. 24/- per month.

So the capital expenditure of Rs 1600/- is amortized in about 18 months(including some interest that could have been earned with that money in the bank). Whereas the lifetime of a typical CFL is more than five and half years.

Not only do these incandescent lamps consume more electricity contributing to higher fuel usage at the power plants but also their in-efficiency in producing light means that the remaining electricity is converted to heat.

Haryana might actually be able to get rid of power outages and load shedding in the state by shifting over to CFL. Although its been quite a while since the switchover to CFL campaign started in Haryana but until the government forced the people ( by having the utility company officials raid homes )to switchover the people hadn't bothered to look at the better solution for lighting homes and offices.

Now I know why I have always hated yellow lighting in hotels at a subliminal level.