"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I went to daylight-spectrum CFL bulbs almost as soon as I became aware of them. I’m looking forward to LED bulbs, and hope that the daylight-spectrum remains part of the palette.
They want to force us to use fluorescent. Is there anything else we can use besides fluorescent, assuming they don’t ban everything else BUT fluorescent? I would rather be in the dark than use fluorescent.
Be careful where & how you use these. I had one in which the components in the base burst into flames. Luckily for me it happened while I was in the room.
I do not use these bulbs where they may be left on unattended
The anti incandescent fight is brought to you by DarkSky.org.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678447/posts
Light Pollution (If you think it’s a joke, think again. The movement seeks to change laws)
International Dark-Sky Association (IDA)
Established in 1988 to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through quality outdoor lighting.
Those things have mercury in them. In about 10 years they will be the MTBE of the electrical world.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288684,00.html
Fluorescent Light Bulbs Can Become ‘Toxic Time Bombs’
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
By Andrea Thompson
A compact fluorescent light bulb.
Highly efficient fluorescent light bulbs are widely touted as environmentally friendly, but they have created a recycling headache for the Environmental Protection Agency and local governments.
More often than not, their toxic ingredients simply end up in landfills, where the chemicals can leach into soil and water and poison fish and other wildlife.
The bulbs contain mercury and should not be tossed in the trash as are regular light bulbs.
“They’re very efficient, but once they’re used up, they become a ticking toxic time bomb,” said Leonard Robinson, chief deputy director of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. “They need to be captured and recycled.”
The bulbs remain a good choice for the environmentally conscious, however, because the amount of mercury they contain is less than what is generated in the production of the extra electricity required to light an incandescent bulb.
Yet while the technology to recycle the fluorescent bulbs exists and some local governments and businesses offer recycling, the programs aren’t widely available.
“There’s not a lot of options out there for recycling them,” said Joe Dunlop, a program coordinator for the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
The EPA is also working on the problem.
“Though they’re energy-saving, cost-saving, [they] do contain small amounts of mercury, and for that reason, [they] need a little bit more attention in their disposal,” said Joe Bergstein, a spokesman for the EPA’s New York City regional office.
“It’s kind of a patchy situation out there,” Bergstein told LiveScience. “Some counties are better budgeted to do these kinds of collections and handle these kinds of materials on a much more regular basis than others.”
Potentially poisonous
Mercury is key to making compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) efficient. Electricity sent through the lamp, which contains mercury vapor and an inert gas such as argon, zaps the mercury, setting off a reaction that creates light.
The reaction is more efficient at converting power into light, with less residual heat than a normal incandescent bulb.
Each CFL contains about 5 milligrams of mercury, just enough to cover the tip of a ballpoint pen. By contrast, a mercury thermometer contains 500 milligrams of mercury.
The silvery substance can be dangerous even in small quantities, though, because it can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin, and it damages the central nervous system.
Small amounts can also build up in the environment if the bulbs are thrown in the garbage and break or are incinerated.
Mercury can enter the food chain and accumulate, for example, when big fish eat smaller fish that contain mercury, as is already the case with tuna and other large fish.
Don’t know, don’t care
CFLs need to be taken to a lamp recycler, where the mercury is recovered, processed and sent out to be re-used. But there is no curbside recycling program for these modern bulbs.
Many U.S. counties offer some kind of household hazard waste disposal program, but practices vary regionally; while some have permanent facilities, others have a collection day only once a year.
To recycle a CFL is an expensive prospect, so local governments that offer free disposal do so at their own cost. (Recycling businesses that accept the bulbs tend to charge for the service.)
Adding to the problem is the question of how willing people are to store their used bulbs for a year and then drive to a county facility, or pay to have their bulbs properly disposed of.
“More and more states are starting to ban throwing CFLs away, but on a whole, probably more of these are making it into the trash than are being recycled,” said Robinson, the California official. “The two reasons they’ll toss them: they either don’t know or they don’t care. If we can educate the ones who don’t know, we can pressure the ones who don’t care.”
Diminishing returns
Right now, only 5 to 10 percent of bulbs are being recycled in California. (If you do just throw your CFL away, the EPA recommends double-bagging it in plastic baggies to help keep the mercury from getting out.)
“The recovery rate of these household places is low — who has time on a Saturday to drive 10, 15, 20 miles to recycle? We’re all busy people,” Robinson said. “We’re adding onto the carbon footprint to help protect the environment, and it’s just diminishing returns.”
Better accessibility may come down to more businesses getting in on the act and offering to collect used bulbs at their stores. Ikea stores have dedicated kiosks where customers can bring their used lights, regardless of where they were purchased, according to an Ikea spokesperson.
Wal-Mart recently had a collection day at stores in California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Minnesota and Oklahoma. Depending on the consumer response to the event, Wal-Mart may explore making CFL recycling bins a permanent fixture at their stores, said spokeswoman Tara Raddohl.
California is encouraging retail stores and other public places to take the bulbs.
“If recycling centers are where people work, play, shop and worship — we’d get a big collection of these materials,” Robinson said.
As of Feb. 8, 2006, it is actually illegal for California residents to throw CFLs away.
“We’re now engaging the California residents to not put these in the trash,” Robinson said. “If you give people a convenient, local and free option, they’ll choose it over throwing it away, at least in California.”
CFLs still win out
So with the potential for contamination and the currently limited ways to recycle CFLs, should we still use them? Absolutely.
As stated above, even if a CFL is thrown in the trash and the mercury it contains leaks out, it still puts less mercury in the environment than a regular, incandescent bulb, according to the EPA.
Though they don’t contain mercury, incandescent bulbs are still lit by electricity, which is often generated by coal-burning plants.
Coal actually contains mercury, so when it is burned, mercury is released into the air — about 40 percent of mercury emissions come from coal-burning power plants, according to the EPA.
The EPA has estimated that the mercury in a CFL added to the mercury emitted from the electricity used to power it is still less than the mercury emitted from powering an incandescent bulb. So they’re still the better choice, the EPA’s Bergstein says.
“Yes, you’re buying mercury, but it’s a net savings,” Dunlop said in a telephone interview.
Because CFLs are much longer-lived than incandescent bulbs, lasting about 4 to 5 years, there is hope that more options will be available by the time the current generation of bulbs burn out, but for now, the EPA is concentrating on informing the public of the potential danger posed by the bulbs and the current recycling options.
“I think the feeling is that if people were better informed about what is contained in [CFLs], they’d be less inclined to [throw them out],” Bergstein said.
CFLs don't throw worth a crap.
“For the love of God! Just put on a sweater and turn down the thermostat! Don’t you people realize I’ve screwed up the economy and all relations in the ME to the point where this is necessary?!?” ~ Jimmy Carter, Circa 1976
Here in California, we are the progressive leaders of America.
Today: ban incandescent light bulbs.
Tomorrow: ban flatulance.
Next week: all crime to be banned.
When our current “Republican” governor seeks re-election, we will have successfully improved on the old Soviet election model.
In the old USSR, they offered one Party, two candidates.
In Calif, we can offer one Party, two candidates, but we just label one Dem a “Repub” and the other Dem candidate, a “Democrat”.
Clever huh? Fools the voting majority (easily enough) every time.
I guess I’ll start slowly stockpiling incandescents. My mom is not exactly in the best of health (diabetes), so I don’t want these CFLs around the house until she passes away (which, hopefully, won’t be anytime soon).
More nanny-state arrogance masquerading as providing a better world for our cheelrun.
You can get incandescent light bulbs rated for 25,000 hours that are used by the hospitality industry. If you use them for an average of 7 hours a day they’ll burn out in just a little under 10 years and cost about a buck or less per bulb depending on how many you buy.
https://www.nathosp.com/product/25k19_c/standard_incandescent_light_bulbs
Once you stock up all you’ll have to do is watch out for the light bulb police who’ll be monitoring everyone who might be using those unauthorized, evil incandescents!