I believe many people have heard from experts that CFLs and LEDs are more energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs, so the bulbs on the market have basically been replaced by CFLs and LEDs. For consumers, it is not easy to make a choice between the two. Next, we will make an authoritative analysis of the two, and give consumers appropriate advice.
What is a CFL?
CFL stands for compact fluorescent lamp. It works by electrically heating a filament inside a sealed tube. When the filament temperature rises, the argon gas and mercury vapor inside will react with the phosphor on the tube in a mixed reaction to emit visible light.
CFL LightbulbWhat is LED?
LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. It works more simply than a CFL in that it only needs to be energized to emit light and does not require the filament to be heated before it can emit light, as is the case with incandescent lamps or CFLs.
LED LightbulbCFL vs. LED: How should I choose?
We have prepared several performance indicators to measure CFL vs. LED lamps, and we believe you can find the answer from them.
CFL vs LEDEnergy Utilization
As we can see from the working principle above, the energy efficiency of LED lamps is much higher than that of CFLs, which, like incandescent lamps, have to continuously heat the filament in order to emit light. LEDs, on the other hand, only need to be energized to emit light.
Winner: LED
Lifespan
Both LEDs and CFLs have a very long lifespan: CFLs average 10,000 hours, while LEDs average 25,000 hours. This is mainly due to the fact that CFLs emit light by heating a filament, which causes the filament and electrodes to wear out with each heating, so they don’t last as long as LEDs.
Winner: LED
Brightness
In reality, there is not much difference between the brightness of the two. They mainly differ in the amount of energy consumed. Here’s a table comparing the lumens and watts between incandescent, CFL and LED bulbs.
| Lumens (Brightness) | Incandescent (W) | CFL (W) | LED (W) |
| 400 – 500 | 40 | 8 – 12 | 6 – 7 |
| 650 – 850 | 60 | 13 – 18 | 7 – 10 |
| 1000 – 1400 | 75 | 18 – 22 | 12 – 13 |
| 1450-1700+ | 100 | 23 – 30 | 14 – 20 |
| 2700+ | 150 | 30 – 55 | 25 – 28 |
Combined Cost
Note that we are referring to the “combined cost” here, which means that it includes both the upfront purchase and the number of subsequent uses. If we look at the upfront cost alone, we see that LED bulbs are more expensive than CFLs.
It costs about $4 to buy an LED light, while a CFL bulb costs about $2. But don’t forget that LEDs last 2.5 times longer than CFLs. In other words, the price of an LED light costing $4 is equivalent to 2.5 CFLs costing $5. All things considered, LEDs are still better.
Winner: LED
Quality of Light
While the quality of light depends on personal preference, there’s no denying that CFLs are a little softer than LEDs.
Winner: CFL
Environmentally friendly and healthy
Due to the fact that CFLs contain mercury vapor inside the lamp, many people are still concerned about it, even though the value is within the safe range. With LEDs, there is no need to consider this aspect, as LEDs use environmentally friendly organic compounds that do not affect the environment or health.
Winner: LED
Summary
LEDs outperform CFLs in almost all aspects of performance, so consumers don’t need to think about it too much and just buy LEDs. In addition, in 2023, Europe has stopped the production of CFL, the United States California also stopped the production of CFL in January 2024, with more and more countries on the ban on CFL, CFL is estimated to not be long will be completely eliminated.
