
Why Efficient Light Bulbs Fail to Thrive (2009) - jseliger
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/why-efficient-light-bulbs-fail-to-thrive/
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lutusp
A quote from the article: "The next big [issue] is dimming. Many fluorescents
that are available do not dim well. Incandescent lamps dim very nicely. They
dim all the way from 100 percent light all the way to 0 percent light. They do
it very smoothly and very predictably. Consumers are used to that kind of
smooth dimming.

Typically when you dim a compact fluorescent it can flicker, it can buzz, it
can create all kinds of what I call “unintended consequences” that disturb the
consumer. So the consumer is left with a less-than-satisfied level with this
kind of technology."

That's really annoying and surprising to hear. I designed dimmable flourescent
power sources for the Space Shuttle in the early 1970s, those dimmers worked
very well, so it's not as though the technology doesn't exist.

This may not matter very much, because it seems high-efficiency LED-based
lights will likely replace compact flourescents before the latter become truly
acceptable replacements for incandescents. The linked article doesn't mention
this, even though the change has already begun.

