Posted on 03/09/2011 9:32:36 AM PST by La Lydia
They'll probably give Acorn the contract go pick them up. Actually, it might be a good fit. I can't imagine mercury exposure making them any nuttier.
Maybe people ought to mail them to their Congressmen (at least the ones who voted to do away with incandescents)? Nah, Janet Incompetanto would probably label it an act of domestic terrorism.
What about those “old fashioned” straight fluorescent bulbs? They have mercury in them too. How come it isn’t a hazmat event when one of them breaks or is thrown in the trash?
I have two flourescent tubes in my kitchen (not my favorite light fixture, but others use it frequently) that have not been changed yet ever. The house is 19 years old.
I have a sister who uses the new “eco-bulbs” ones. They drive to a special place to turn them in when they break or burn out. I wonder how there is any energy savings in that?
***The eco bulbs don’t last much longer than standard incandescent bulbs***
True! I had a cfl burn out in about THIRTY DAYS after I installed it.
I hope that you’re kidding, Sam. By mandating CFL’s the problem of mercury disposal is exponentially worse. From what I see these CFL’s don’t last much longer than the incandescent bulbs they are to replace. Another government promise that didn’t pan out.
While I think CFLs suck and refuse to buy them this is just plain silliness. There’s not that much mercury in them, and it doesn’t sneak out of the glass. If these guys have handled normal fluorescent bulbs then they’ve faced all the same “dangers” they’ll face with CFLs.
No, you take them down to your local federal building and smash them against it..in secrete of course.
see # 27.
Could be why we all have them all of a sudden.
As I responded to a FReeper on another thread:
However, since I started replacing the lightbulbs in my house with the CFL’s , I have yet to replace one.We started lamping the house with them over a decade ago, using them more in interior spaces as light quality improved. So far 4 have died -- one of the first two installed, running 24/7, started failing in December and was replaced.
Also, the amount of mercury in one thermometer is about 5000x more than a CFL lightbulb.
I think you're off a bit. The old fever thermometers contained somewhere from .5 to 3 grams of mercury. I believe CFLs today are down around 3 milligrams. So the ratio is approximately 1:160 to 1:1000.
I broke two of those as a boy. Which is equivalent to 300 to 2000 CFLs.
If we say that I've been using all CFLs for 5 years and 4 quit, and that's their steady rate of burnout, somewhere in 75 to 500 years I will have "released" as much mercury as I did with those two thermometers.
As well they should.
I’m not saying CFLs are any good, I think the light they give off sucks and refuse to buy them. But this whole mercury scare thing is just idiotic. We, and especially Europe, have gotten ridiculously obsessed with mercury. Changed all kinds of computer hardware to get rid of trace elements of mercury and all the various foolishness people are doing over throwing out CFLs. It’s just dumb. It’s just mercury people, don’t eat the bulbs, don’t lick the broken bulbs, try to ventilate the room a bit when you do break one, everything will be fine. This stuff used to be in our light switches, in fact if you have an old house and you have a light switch that’s stiff and gives a nice resounding CLICK when you flip you probably STILL have it in your light switch.
People need to stop being so damn paranoid about stupid stuff. Hate the CFLs because they give crappy light, sure. Hate them because they’re over priced, definitely. Hate them because the promise of saved electricity is a lie, of course. Hate them because the government is trying to shove them down our throats, without hesitation. But refuse to throw them out because of the trace amounts of mercury?! That’s silly.
The government should not mandate this or that type bulb, nor outlaw this or that type either.
But for conservatives to turn around and stand on the “these bulbs are oh so poisonous” bullcrap is ridiculous.
They’re not any more disposal hazard than tube fluorescents and MERCURY VAPOR LAMPS which have been in homes and schools and workplaces for decades.
They should not be mandated but they are also not radioactive, so to speak....not that radioactive smoke alarms are dangerous either....unless you eat a lot of them.
Fight the government, not the technology.
My lord this country has become such a bunch of scared pussycats.
For 40-50 years +/-, hardly anyone worried much about breaking the 2’, 4’, and 8’ fluorescent tubes used heavily in commercial, institutional and industrial buildings.
Just something to think about . . .
“traditional light bulbs will soon be illegal,”
Which is why I am stocking up every month. I already have a few years worth.....
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