Comparing GE Bulbs for Our Family
~ Which Blub Brightness Fits Our Style? ~
As part of my partnership with GE, I received coupons for my GE light bulbs. All opinions posted about my GE Lighting experience are my own.
Most of you probably already know, but if you don‘t I am a former educator. I taught at the elementary and middle school levels for eight years. I loved teaching science lessons where we used the scientific method for doing experiments and creating projects. Sometimes the teacher in me comes out as a stay-at-home mom, where I like to be involved in my kids’ learning and teaching them new things. I was asked to try out and compare different types of bulbs from GE. I thought this would be a great opportunity for my 3rd grade daughter and kindergartener son to learn a little about the scientific method; Question, Hypothesis, Prediction, Test, and Analysis.
We first headed to Walmart to shop for some different types of GE light bulbs and materials to create a nice science project. It was interesting to see at the different bulbs they carried. There are so many options; CFL, EESW, LED, different watts to choose from, etc. See our complete shopping trip in our Google+ Album.
(Above: from the GE Site)
We decided to get a couple different types for our science project. We purchased CFL in 75 and 100 watts, as well as EESW in 75 and 100 watts. We also decided to get a few other bulb styles to see how those worked too! We’ve already made the switch over the past two years from traditional light bulbs to energy-savings bulbs. They truly last longer and save you money on your bills! We took it room by room and slowly made the transition. It’s been almost two years now and I think we’ve only had to change one bulb. Now we want to see which energy-efficient bulbs work best for our family’s style.
There is actually a quiz you can take on the GE site where you answer a few questions and it helps you figure out your “lighting style.” It was very cool. We got the “cozy style” for almost every room in our house. It was interesting. Take the quiz yourself and see your style.
Now we are going to put the bulbs to the test. We are going to try out the different ones in our home and see what we like best. First, we need to follow the scientific method.
Formulate a Question:
Which GE bulbs will fit our family’s lighting style?
Hypothesis:
My daughter believes we will like the brighter EESW bulbs.
Predictions:
- We predict that the 75 watt bulb will be too dim for our liking and that we may not be able to see in the room as well.
- We predict that some rooms may require different bulb types.
- We predict that the bulbs will look different in different fixtures.
Test:
To try out the bulbs, we decided to put them in different fixtures to see how they looked in the room. We tested the 75 vs. 100 watts and the CFL vs. EESW. Here’s a chart from the GE site to show you some comparisons for the bulbs. Here you can see the energy-efficiency of the bulbs too. And check out the savings!
Analysis:
After testing out the different bulbs in our house, here are our results:
1. The 75 watt bulbs were a lot brighter than we thought. We also noticed that we were previously using 60 watt bulbs. The 100 watts were super bright. We liked the 75 watts better, as the 100 watts was too bright for us in most rooms.
2. We did like different rooms with different lighting styles. Brighter in the kitchen and bathroom, and dimmer in our living room and bedrooms.
3. Having the different bulbs in the same fixture did make the lighting look a bit different.
4. We also threw in the GE Hybrid Technology 60 watt bulb and really liked that one too. It was a bit dimmer, but it was cool that it looked both like the CFL spiral and the EESW bulbs we tried. A nice compromise, and it’s a $39 Energy Savings per bulb.
5. The BEST buy for your money and for the environment seems to be the CFL spiral bulbs we bought. The 100 watts had a $97 Energy Savings per bulb. Those were the kind we were already using (but at a different watt level).
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It was cool to check out which energy-efficient bulbs we liked best and in which rooms we liked the the watts to be. We will use the 100 watts in the kitchen and bathroom, and the 75 watts in the living room and bedrooms. It’s great to see the money you can save from using these bulbs! We also liked the GE Hybrid Technology “Bright From the Start” bulbs!
Starting in January 2012, you want to make sure to start switching over as new legislation is between 2012 and 2014, will require standard 40-watt and 100-watt incandescent light bulbs to use 30% less energy to meet minimum efficient standards.
Don’t forget you can also check out the GE Energy Savings Calculator on the GE Site!
My daughter is asking her teacher if she can come in and share her project with her 3rd grade class for extra credit. We hope to share her presentation in the next GE post we do January, so you can look forward to that! It was very fun doing this project with my two kids and teaching them to use the scientific method. They had a blast doing our science project and deciding which bulbs are best for our family‘s style!
I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and GE Lighting #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are mine and mine alone.
What a great project they did! Super cute! We love GE lightbulbs too!!
Ok, now that is a cool science project! My boys love science, so I really should do this and have them try to figure out how much money we could save if everything we used in our house was converted to GE light bulbs. Only about half of the house is at the present. There are some lights I just can’t reach even with a stool; and others…I’m just waiting for the bulb to dye so I can replace it.
How fun! I loved these types of science projects as a kid. I was good at science until high school… I don’t know what happened after that! LOL
That is a great idea. I loved science when I was in school.
When my daughter is old enough, I want YOU to come over and do science projects with her. Great way to make learning fun!
This is just fantastic Kristen! I love how your tuned it into a learning experience for your kids. Great job! I love GE and these light bulbs. 🙂
Super fun!
Very cool project! I love that the kids were able to get involved and really learn about lighting!
Love that you involved them with this project and emphasize learning at home, too! Hoping your daughter can present her project at school! Can’t wait for that update 🙂
I did not realize how many choices in light bulbs there were. You see them at the store, but you always grab the same ones. Thanks for the lesson, I will pay better attention to what I am buying.
Great post and project for the kids.
We switched to these type light bulbs a year or so ago and I don’t think we have even had to change one since then! They last super long!
Dawn
http://www.cheapisthenewclassy.com
So excited that your daughter might be able to present this to her class! What a great project!
Such a great job on that project! I switched to ge energy efficient bulbs a few months back and am so glad I did.
What a great project!! We now use energy efficient bulbs in our house!
OMG! I love this project! Great post! Your kids are SO CUTE!!! And they learned so much too!
What a cute presentation by the kids!
I love that you turned it into a fun little project! I’m terrible at picking the right brightness in bulb for my lamps. I should really inform myself a bit better!
Fun project! We still have some bulbs we need to switch over.
Great project.
Wow – you went all out on this one. There’s too many light bulbs to choose from at HOme Depot…I get so confused. Thanks for the tips here – this will help.
AWESOME!! Love how you made it into a project to help you compare. Thank you for the results as well, I will definitely keep it in mind when choosing lightbulbs next time
What an awesome project!!! Looks like fun, too!
What a great post and a great project!!!!
This is such a good activity to involve the kids and teach them saving electricity on an early age so that they can carry over their learning until adulthood.
Very nice presentation, this a great post! Thanks also for the tips!
Just took the quiz, VERY COOL! It says my lighting style is Cozy Rec Room. I would agree! 🙂
what a great little project! I am always looking for the brightest bulb I can use, our house always seems too dark, but I love the idea of saving money!
super fun project!!!!!!!!
What a great idea for a science project! It sounds like your kids learned a lot from it and so did I. I’m going to have to look for these bulbs next time I’m out.
We love energy saving light bulbs, and it is so true that they last way longer. We moved here 2.5 years ago, and I am just now having to replace the ones that were in here when we moved in. The “regular” bulbs on the other hand, had to be replaced before the end of the first year!