Abstract
Due to concerns about global warming caused in part by fossil fuel based power generating stations and dwindling supply and rising costs of such fuels, there is a general move towards use of energy efficient lamps and other appliances. As a result, in recent years, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are being increasing preferred to conventional incandescent lamps. Consequently, a wide variety of CFLs with varying price and performance parameters are being manufactured and marketed around the global markets, especially in the developing world. The general public and the average consumer have to make a selection generally based only on price or expected life. This paper presents a simple criterion that can be used easily by an average consumer to compare between many available lamps in order to select the most suitable one for providing a given illumination level over a fixed time period in the most economical and cost effective manner. Furthermore, additional criteria are discussed which can be used by electric power utilities in order to compare various lamps so as to recommend the most suitable brands to their customers that result in reduced losses and minimal power quality issues when used in their power system.