Promising to relieve consumers of the tedium involved in choosing between energy savings and precise dimming features, the latest generation of GE Energy Smart and Reveal compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) feature smooth dimming capabilities. Compared to currently available CFLs, the GE components dim down to 5% of light output whereas most CFLs dim down to just 20%. They also offer a longer life, in the realm of 10-times longer than comparable incandescent bulbs.
Compared to most CFL’s that can dim down to just 20% [left], GE’s Energy Smart and Reveal CFLs feature dimming capabilities down to 5% [right].
Over the life of a bulb, GE's dimmable CFLs also forecast energy savings from $44 to $81 compared to standard incandescent bulbs. They provide warm color tones and instantly bright technology, eliminating the warm-up-to-full-brightness times we’ve all come to know and hate about common CFLs.
In addition to soft white, the CFL dimmable bulbs include Reveal bulbs, a technology that allegedly enhances ambient colors. Offerings include 14W and 26W Energy Smart soft-white and Reveal Spiral bulbs that replace 60W and 100W incandescent bulbs, respectively. Both specify a lifespan of 10,000 hours, about 10-times longer than comparable incandescent bulbs. Also available are 15W Energy Smart soft-white and Reveal R30 reflector bulbs with rated life spans up to 8,000 hours, four-times longer than comparable incandescent bulbs, and 26W Energy Smart soft-white and Reveal R40 reflector bulbs, also lasting up to 8,000 hours.
With all the hypes and hopes of the lighting industry lately, one wonders how these CFLs stack up against LED-based tubes that mimic CFLs at on the psycho-visual level. We’ll have to just wait and see who the winner is: LED or CFL. ~MD