Three bulbs, one easy answer
For most of the last century, buying a bulb meant one choice: incandescent. Then came the CFL, the curly bulb that promised to save energy. Now there is the LED. Here is the honest comparison, and where each one belongs today.
The incandescent
The classic. A current heats a thin filament until it glows. Beautiful, warm, instant light, and wildly inefficient: about 90% of the energy it uses becomes heat, not light. It lasts around 1,000 hours, and U.S. efficiency standards have now phased the everyday incandescent out. Specialty and rough-service incandescent bulbs are still made for the sockets that need them, but for general lighting, its era is over.
The CFL (compact fluorescent)
The in-between bulb. A current excites mercury vapor inside a tube, which makes a phosphor coating glow. A CFL uses about 70% less energy than an incandescent and lasts several times longer, which made it a real step forward in its day.
But CFLs have real drawbacks: they are slow to reach full brightness, their light quality is often flat, and every one contains a small amount of mercury (under 5 mg). That mercury is why a burned-out CFL should never go in the trash. Like the incandescent, the CFL is now being retired in favor of LED.
The LED
The answer. An LED makes light by passing current through a semiconductor, with almost no wasted heat. Compared to an incandescent, a quality LED uses about 90% less energy and lasts up to 25,000 hours. It lights instantly, comes in any color temperature you want, contains no mercury, and holds its color for years.
What to do with your old bulbs
Because CFLs contain mercury, they should never go in the trash. The good news: GoodBulb has a whole recycling program built for exactly this. We will point you to the right way to retire your old bulbs, especially mercury-filled CFLs and fluorescents, so they stay out of the landfill and out of the soil and water.
See GoodBulb recycling →
Old incandescents can go in the regular trash. And when it is time to switch, keep the swap simple: match the brightness in lumens, not watts, and pick the color temperature you like (2700K for warm, 5000K for daylight).
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The bottom line
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If a bulb in your home is an incandescent or a CFL, an LED will save you energy, outlast it many times over, and give you better light. GoodBulb builds exactly that bulb, and our everyday A19 is made in America, engineered to last 25,000 hours. Better light, a fraction of the energy, and no mercury to worry about.
Not sure what to get? Ask a Lumen Master →
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