I’ve heard an awful lot about how fluorescent light has bad qualities.  “I get headaches under fluorescent light”, “The light is just stark and sterile”, “It looks like a hospital!”, “Fluorescent bulbs taste like chicken”, etc.  I am not here to directly dispute these claims, except maybe the chicken comment.  I would like to suggest, however, that today’s fluorescent lighting is different and better than what we’ve been used to.

Sure, you can still get plenty of fluorescent lights that look harsh and frumpy.  You can also find, if you know how to look, tubes that will provide a soft, warm, yellow/orange light color.  You can find dimmable fluorescent lighting to reduce brightness and lower the risk of getting headaches from the bright light.  Today’s fixtures and ballasts work better, reducing flickering and noise.  And a little known fact about fluorescent light bulbs is you can get them in different CRI ratings.

CRI (Color Rendering Index) is a fancy schmancy number that is used to measure the quality of a light bulb.  Now, you and I both know that this is waaay too much information about something as mundane as fluorescent lights, but what can I say, I didn’t make the system, someone else did that!  Whan you need to know is the higher the CRI, the more colorful and vibrant things will look under the light.  100 is the highest number, and anything over 88 is considered pretty darn good.

So go grab a new fluorescent bulb and give it a big hug (but not too big, you could break the thing for heaven’s sake) and install it in your light fixture.  Next, bask in the glow of heaven’s light.  OK, OK, it’s not quite that good, but it ain’t just whistling dixie, either!

I could go  on and on, but I’ve already lost half of my readers by this point in this blog due to sheer boredom, so I better leave it here.  If you are the one or two people who at this point who are still reading this and want to know more, email me and I’ll expand on this.  =)