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Are your Compact Fluorescent bulbs really helping?
http://www.evaneco.com/?p=874 ^

Posted on 12/19/2007 1:18:19 PM PST by truthfinder9

They may lower your bills, but don't really do much for C02:

The U.S. Energy Star program says that if every home in America replaced one normal light bulb with a fluorescent...it would be equivalent to taking 800,000 cars off the road. Sure, that sounds like a lot, but it's less than 0.1 percent of registered cars worldwide. Plus, transportation accounts for only about one-fifth of global emissions anyway.

Just the increase in the amount of coal that China will burn by 2020 will send as much C02 into the atmosphere as 3 billion Ford Expeditions, each driven 15,000 miles a year.

An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems, p. 7.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: c02; cfls; environment; globalwarming; lightbulbs
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1 posted on 12/19/2007 1:18:20 PM PST by truthfinder9
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To: truthfinder9

I don’t care about their “green” aspect. Fact is, I can put them in and not worry about changing them for 5-7 years.


2 posted on 12/19/2007 1:20:14 PM PST by Slapshot68
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To: truthfinder9

I used some a long time ago; and they didn’t help lower my electric bill. But they were more expensive.


3 posted on 12/19/2007 1:20:31 PM PST by freekitty ((May the eagles long fly our beautiful and free American sky.))
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To: truthfinder9

Save your money. LEDs are the future.


4 posted on 12/19/2007 1:20:49 PM PST by stevio ((NRA))
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To: Slapshot68

Exactly. I replaced every bulb in my house with these new soft-white fluorescents last year and it’s such a relief not to keep buying the other kind over and over again.


5 posted on 12/19/2007 1:22:10 PM PST by SoDak
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To: truthfinder9

I think they’re helping fill landfills with plenty of mercury.


6 posted on 12/19/2007 1:22:10 PM PST by the_devils_advocate_666
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To: stevio

hope they are brighter than these ice-cream cones


7 posted on 12/19/2007 1:22:35 PM PST by sure_fine (• " not one to over kill the thought process " •)
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To: truthfinder9

Actually, I have them in my backyard where I have outdoor lighting. There are 7 15-watt bulbs that emit the light equivalent of an 80 watt incandescent bulb. In total, they consume about as much as a 105 Watt incandescent light bulb, so I don’t worry about flicking the switch and lighting up the backyard in the summertime.

I’ve put them in my street lamp and outdoor porch lights too. They also last a long time.

With regard to my garden lighting, I had no choice as the housing and cover is plastic - incandescent lighting would have quickly overheated the whole thing melting the entire housing...


8 posted on 12/19/2007 1:23:00 PM PST by Bon mots
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To: truthfinder9

Just this week I bought 3 for a fixture that’s like 15 feet off the ground - change’em once and forget for a long time - works for me. Also can get more lumens/watt which helps because a light that high disperses very quickly.


9 posted on 12/19/2007 1:24:00 PM PST by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
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To: stevio
Save your money. LEDs are the future.

Maybe so, but they are not the present. I installed them in my Veranda and they are so dim, we never use them. The faux candles on wall sconces are far brighter and the light doesn't have that creepy bluish haze to it.

10 posted on 12/19/2007 1:24:08 PM PST by Bon mots
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To: truthfinder9

CO2 is garbage: alarmist nonsense. These energy-saving bulbs are great though - save me a lot of time climbing a rickety step-ladder!


11 posted on 12/19/2007 1:24:37 PM PST by agere_contra (Do not confuse the wealth of nations with the wealth of government - FDT)
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To: truthfinder9

I placed a few of these things in non-crucial parts of the house (bedside lamp, garage). The bedside lamp had a noticeable buzz/hum. The garage lamps was not as bright as the incandescent bulbs they displaced.

My sister-in-law gets headaches from regular fluorescents (die to flicker). When she visits next month I’ll see if she gets them from the screw in kind.

I agree that LEDs are the future if they can scale them up enough to truly light a room.


12 posted on 12/19/2007 1:25:02 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (Not a newbie, I just wanted a new screen name.)
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To: stevio

“Save your money. LEDs are the future.”

Probably, but the $/Lumen output ratio needs to plummet dramatically.


13 posted on 12/19/2007 1:26:06 PM PST by EyeGuy
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To: truthfinder9

They give off horrible light but when you put them in hard-to-reach places, it’s wonderfully convenient not to have to change them as often. And you can leave a hall light on without affecting the bill much.


14 posted on 12/19/2007 1:26:31 PM PST by Yaelle
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To: truthfinder9
Don’t care about CO2, Don’t really care about mercury. My electric rates are almost 14 cents/kWh, and my electric bill is about $50-60 per month for a three bedroom house. I have no regular light bulbs, everything is CFL, I have a smallish frige, gas hot water and stove, and a fair number of appliances are energy star (my gas hotwater heater is off the chart on efficiency, according to the energy smart tag).

I am not worried about the environment. I want people to start conserving energy because energy (gas, nat. gas, and oil) are getting expensive, and I think it’s bad for the economy. I like nuke plants, I like like hydro, I want a plug in electric car/hybrid that runs of nuclear power, I want a wood stove (any ideas on how to fit one into a smallish living room?). I want to spend less on energy, without overspending on more efficient stuff.

15 posted on 12/19/2007 1:26:53 PM PST by NYFriend
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To: Dr. Sivana

“The bedside lamp had a noticeable buzz/hum.”

Hm...none of my lamps exhibit this. You must either have a bad bulb or perhaps the wiring in your lamp should be looked at.


16 posted on 12/19/2007 1:26:58 PM PST by Slapshot68
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To: the_devils_advocate_666
I think they’re helping fill landfills with plenty of mercury.

You don't hear much about that from the "greens", do you? Nope. It will come back to haunt us. Environmentalism will kill us all in the end. We will all die freezing in the cold, I have no doubt.

17 posted on 12/19/2007 1:27:06 PM PST by mc5cents (Show me just what Mohammd brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman)
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To: the_devils_advocate_666
I think they’re helping fill landfills with plenty of mercury.

You know that slimy mucky stuff that runs out of the bottoms of landfills?... Don't drink it.

Are there any good dimmable compact fluorescents out there?

18 posted on 12/19/2007 1:27:41 PM PST by gridlock ("I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" -- J. Wellington Wimpy)
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To: truthfinder9

It helps my indoor plants.I leave it on 24/7 and the plant next to it is constantly sprouting new offshoots


19 posted on 12/19/2007 1:28:05 PM PST by GQuagmire (Giggety,Giggety,Giggety)
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To: sure_fine; Bon mots; EyeGuy

All valid points, that’s why I say wait.


20 posted on 12/19/2007 1:28:18 PM PST by stevio ((NRA))
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