Posted on 09/20/2010 7:17:18 AM PDT by yorkie
UK experts have warned that CFL bulbs can trigger migraines, dizziness and loss of focus, as well as increased pain for those with lupus and can cause people with epilepsy to experience symptoms similar to the early stages of a fit.
CFL's operate at high frequency using an electronic switching ballast to chop up the 120 volts -- that's how they are able to use less energy when compared to an old-style incandescent bulb. A typical operating frequency for an electronic ballast would be in the region of 20kHz to 100kHz, a frequency range known to produce adverse effects on one's health.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagonow.com ...
As I’ve mentioned before, the 2007 EISA law does not mandate CFL usage. It just puts minimum standards in place. CFLs, Halogens, and LEDs all meet the minimum standards. LEDs, as an immature technology, are still priced out of the market for most people, and they are not as efficient as CFLs. So, as of today, CFLs are probably the best bang for your buck.
If you hate CFLs, and really love incandescents, halogens are probably going to be the choice for you. They offer only approximately a 25% energy savings instead of a 75% energy savings, and don’t last much longer than an incandescent, but they match the characteristics of an incandescent most closely.
The misinformation out there is knee deep, and I hope this helps allay your concerns a little bit as to “What do we do?”
As for toxic landfills, CFLs aren’t going to have that much effect one way or another. The amount of mercury in a CFL is negligible compared to old style linear tubes. In our product line, we use less than .5 mg for our household lamps, contained in an amalgam pellet (like the fillings in your teeth, unless you’ve been very good about brushing).
Combustion powered production of electricity is responsible for 60% of mercury released into the environment, while disposal of CFLs is responsible for less than 1%. Reducing the demand for electricity with CFLs would therefore cause a net reduction in the environmental release of mercury.
Some food for thought: You get greater mercury exposure by eating a tuna sandwich than by breaking a CFL. The Hazmat response is just another example of nanny-state overreaction.
A CFL manufacturer could make a great commercial out of a skit like that. Some poor schlub opens up a tuna sandwich at lunch, and management calls in an environmental swat team.
The narrator then explains that this scenario makes as much sense as calling out the envirocops when somebody drops a CFL.
You’re right, that probably would get people’s attention. Sometimes all we really need is a little bit of perspective.
I cannot have the CFLs anywhere I need to make a color distinction. During the day, I can just go to a window, but in winter or at night, those work areas need to have daylight bulbs.
I should have realized that the higher frequencies permit smaller inductors. What voltage is put into the tubes? Isn’t that the claim to fame for switching power supplies?
Could you run a fluorescent on DC, say smooth it and then the light would be “on” more of the time?
We have a combination of CFLs and incandescents. Our table lamps with 150 watt bulbs don’t do well with a CFL.
How do you see LED lights as compared to CFLs for general lighting. Looking through the hype, are their problems with getting white light from LEDS that will be very difficult to overcome?
I know people who are going out and buying the old bulbs by the dozens and hoarding them.
A little science demo--for free! ≤}B^)
A white LED, if it's the single chip type, produces its white light similarly to a fluorescent lamp: The actual wavelength coming out of the LED chip isn't suitable for direct illumination; instead, it's there in order to 'excite' a coating of phosphorus compounds which fluoresce in response; that is, they absorb the light from the LED and turn it into a spectrum of colors that add up more or less to white.
[[In the case of the fluorescent lamp, the excitation is from an arc through mercury vapor, giving off most of its output in the ultraviolet. Most 'black' (i.e., UV) lamps are just like fluorescents, but without the phosphor coatings.]]
The more artful (and expensive) the blend of phosphors, the better the quality of the white light.
The phenomenon of fluoresence is closely related to that of phosphorescence, in which a substance stores absorbed light energy as excited atomic states, which then decay and give off light after the exposure is ended--in other words, they 'glow in the dark.' Fluorescent materials almost always exhibit some degree of phosphorescence.
End of didactic rant.
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