Posted on 05/05/2007 11:18:00 AM PDT by John Jorsett
What is unstated is that the mercury per ton of coal is depenedent on coal location and mine source. Like high sulfur and low sulfur coal, the amount of mercury varies according to what the mine source is.
How much EXTRA energy will this “savings” cost me, in increased heating, since my bulbs are no longer warming the joint up?
No; but the liberal thing is to spend good money in a bad venture based on feelings.
OK. Its upfront cost is more than that of an incandescent. I'll grant you that.
Do you like being cheated? Do I have to be cheated like this to want to save a little money?
Cheated is a stretch. First off, nearly all of them come with a warranty. You can get a replacement or a refund. Second, if it went out within the first two weeks like you say, just return the damn thing to the store. Third, just because something broke earlier than predicted doesn't mean you were cheated. Manufacturing does not have a 0 percent error rate. Clearly, if everyone's bulbs only lasted two weeks, there would not be this much support for them in the free marketplace.
Plus, like I say in the other post, I don’t want to wear a hazmat suit or spend $2,000 on clean up.
Well, that claim has been debunked and the fact that the claim has been debunked has been widely noted. For some reason, you prefer propaganda to fact.
It’s bad enough I have a very dangerous bulb to get rid of now. I don’t really appreciate that hassle. They should pay me.
Do you really believe this nonsense? Personally, I don't give a crap if you buy the CFL bulbs or not. You would save yourself money in the long run if you did. There would probably be a negligible benefit to our environment if you did.
So, your undeniable logic is it’s okay to cheat people?
Calm down. Nobody's been cheated. If you were too foolish to return the bulb or take advantage of the supplied warranty, that's your own fault.
You really are a hysterical one. Believing that you've been "cheated", believing that CFL bulbs are designed to last two weeks but advertised to last years, believing that they are "very dangerous", and believing that if one breaks you need to wear a hazmat suit and spend $2k on cleanup. Good grief.
“If I break one, what the heck do I do? Feh.”
A poster on FR a couple weeks ago said if you break one, sprinkle the mercury with Gold Bond Powder. The mercury will bond to the zinc in the powder and can then be easily disposed of or at least “captured” for disposal.
There are places where I would never use a blue light so I will be cautious, thank you.
I like ‘em for another reason:
Since they emit less heat for a given level of light, the CFL’s contibute to longer LAMPSHADE life — because lampshades don’t “dry out” as much or as quickly with CFL’s as happens with lumen-equivalent incandescents.
If you’ve shopped recently for nice lampshades, you’ll know how expensive they can be, and you’ll definitely appreciate yet another cost-saving potential of CFL’s.
Wow, somebody unknown posted something on the Internet and now you believe it negates the hazards of mercury.
With the lower heat output, how does one calculate how big a one they’ll need for their incubator, for the eggs to get enough heat?
How much extra time should the grand kids allow for their cakes in the Easy-Bake oven?
How soon will they be available with a candelabra base; or, will the state pay a rebate for replacing fixtures?
What about ‘vibration resistant’ or ‘rough duty’ versions for use in fan lights, drop cords, clothes driers, and other such applications?
Are they rated yet for use in upside-down/hanging locations?
Now ...the government, at the behest of environmentalists wants to mandate the use of an expensive, inefficient CFL that contains Mercury! ...God help us!!
The mercury battery was banned because too many used batteries were not disposed of properly, but instead ended up in landfills where they eventually erode and contaminate the surrounding soil.
BTW ...Who will police the disposal of the millions of CFLs that will be used in the United States?
Well. with the installation a low cost, EPROM RFID chip, that is imprinted with your CC# at time of purchase, and readers on all trash trucks, dumps, and recycling centers....
Last month, I went rooting thru some plastic storage tubs in the garage for a three-way incandescent. I was astounded to realize that I've got a full three large boxes of every wattage imaginable - new and used; packed due to moves or lamp changes I guess.
I'm good for life.
...Swapped several lamps in the home over to CFL. Here in the desert, any bit less in the way of inside heat production helps on the A/C bills, and the flourescents emit very little heat.
It was a pity those camera batteries were banned. They could last for years in those cameras and represented only a small amount of mercury.
The problem of mercury contamination from these bulbs is being way overblown. If we can’t deal with some light bulbs, it doesn’t say much for our ability to adapt and overcome. What are we going to do about nuclear power plants, which many here are in favor of?
There is substantial energy and money savings available from this technology.
Thanks. Five years makes quite a difference.
Wow, that Energy Star site had all kinds of enrgy saving devices listed. This scam is bigger than we thought! /s
The break even point is about a year if you run the bulb for 3 hours a day. It is a little longer if you buy a hazmat suit to change them..
If you live in California the electric company (S.C. Edison) is paying part of the cost of these bulbs. You can get 4 bulbs for about $3.50 (that’s $3.50 for a pack of for, not each).
Otherwise, I have seen them selling as much as $2.50 each.
You have to look for them. Almost every store that carries this type of bulb with have the Edison subsidized bulbs but the retailers don’t put them in a prominent location.
The average household mercury fever thermometer holds 0.5 grams of the heavy metal
The typical CFL bulb contains approx. 5mg of mercury. (Manufacturers are working to reduce this. Phillips is said to have developed a bulb that only has 1.5mg of mercury.)
Folks, that household thermometer you (used to) have has 100 TIMES the amount of mercury that a CFL does!
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