Most compact fluorescent bulbs readily fit into the fixtures that were originally designed for the incandescent bulbs. Even though compact fluorescent bulbs emit the same amount of visible light as given by the incandescent bulbs, there are certain added advantages that make compact fluorescent bulbs a more preferred choice.



Compact fluorescent have a longer life span than that of the conventional incandescent bulbs and they also utilize lower amounts of energy. However, as production involves a new technology, the cost of compact fluorescent bulbs is higher than the cost of incandescent light bulbs.

The light spectrum that is radiated by compact fluorescent bulbs is also different from the light spectrum given out by incandescent bulbs. This is due to an improvement in the formula of phosphor being used in the compact fluorescent bulbs. This has resulted in the creation of a pleasing softer shade of white light as compared to the light given by incandescent light bulbs. In the 1890s, Peter Cooper Hewitt created a compact fluorescent lamp which acts as the blueprint upon which the modern compact fluorescent bulbs are built. compact fluorescent bulbs were released in the markets across the globe in the 1980s and since then they have been on an ever increasing rise in the context of popularity, acceptance and acclaim.

An important advancement in the system of fluorescent lighting was the use of electronic ballasts in the place of electromagnetic ballasts. This has helped in minimizing the level of flickering and also the slow starting up process which has always been a hindrance associated with systems of fluorescent lighting. While being compared to incandescent light bulbs, compact fluorescent bulbs often prove to be more viable because of a variety of features. For example, the lifespan of a compact fluorescent bulb is said to be between 8 to 15 times more than the lifespan of an incandescent bulb. Incandescent bulbs on an average have a lifespan of approximately 750 hours to 1000 hours. Presenting a stark contrast to this statistic, compact fluorescent bulbs are known to have a lifespan ranging between 6,000 hours to 15,000 hours. Incandescent bulbs too can be manufactured to have an increased lifespan, sometimes as high as that of 20,000 hours. However, this feature comes at the cost of a resulting poor quality and quantity of the light produced. When discussing the energy efficiency of the two categories of light bulbs, once again compact fluorescent bulbs manage to score above the incandescent light bulbs. It is recorded that compact fluorescent bulbs utilize an amount of energy which is can be one fifth to one third less than the energy that it is used up by the conventional incandescent light bulbs. Most people believe that the increased cost of compact fluorescent bulbs can be an economical hindrance but in actuality, if one considers the significantly increased lifespan of compact fluorescent bulbs as well as the greatly reduced amounts of power being used up, in the long run, the initially high cost gets balanced out in terms of lower running and maintenance costs.