Light Up - It's All in the Timing

We have been living with energy efficient lighting for a number of years now and it's safe to say that this has been enough time for us to become suitably acquainted with its pros and cons. If you surf the interweb, which I'm sure you do, otherwise you wouldn't be here, then you will find a wide number of internet blogs and forums touching upon this issue. Our good friend the compact fluorescent has become somewhat of a benchmark in terms of energy efficient lighting, both in positive and negative terms. For while the compact fluorescent boasted so many promises it also brought with it plenty to complain about. And that is precisely what we have done, complained. And rightly so!

But one of the oft made complaints about the compact fluorescent has been that they take a long time to light up between someone hitting the switch and the bulb actually coming on. I for one have many a time stridden confidently into a room after hitting the light switch, only to be, for a moment, alarmed by the wall of darkness that greets me for a couple of seconds. It's not a huge problem, admittedly, and perhaps we can live with it, but in my opinion when people spend as much money as they do on energy saving bulbs they expect something that meets the functionality of a traditional bulb, if not better.

So why do compact fluorescents take so long to actually light up? Well here is a little explanation of how a compact fluorescent works.

Compact fluorescents utilize the same technology as standard fluorescent tube lights. Those are the rather ugly looking strip lights that flicker before they come on. Unlike regular incandescent bulbs they do not use a filament in order to produce light, but rather work by using a Mercury Vapour that emits an ultraviolet light when ionized. This ultra violet light in turn creates particles that coat the inside of the tube. These then glow or fluoresce producing the light which you see. It is this step by step process that prevents a lot of compact fluorescents from reaching full brightness instantaneously.

In our experience LED Lights do not share this same shortcoming. LED Lights guarantee instantaneous illumination for the entirety of their lifespan. Like any normal incandescent bulb, LED lights light up instantaneously while also offering better energy saving capability than compact fluorescents.