Posted on 01/22/2011 8:06:33 AM PST by tobyhill
California's utilities are spending $548 million over seven years to subsidize consumer purchases of compact fluorescent lamps. But the benefits are turning out to be less than expected.
One reason is that bulbs have gotten so cheap that Californians buy more than they need and sock them away for future use. Another reason is that the bulbs are burning out faster than expected.
California's experience is notable because energy experts have placed high hopes on compact fluorescent lamps. Often spiral-shaped, they screw into existing light sockets and offer energy savings of about 75% over traditional incandescent light bulbs.
Many nations are relying on them to help cut emissions from power plants and stretch electricity supplies further. The United Nations says 8% of global greenhouse-gas emissions are linked to lighting, and that adoption of compact fluorescent lights could cut pollution.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
If those babies in africa and asia want to buy corn it is available for sale.
If WTC Ground Zero is any indication, there will be long-lasting health issues, many unexplained, for many years.
I have probably 300 75 watt bulbs I picked up at a local hardware store that was closing them out at 3 cents a piece.
Did anybody else’s utility bill go way up this winter in California?
We live in California. A couple of years ago, my wife and I did some extensive rennovations on the house. Got all new recessed lighting in the kitchen.
The contractor said it was illegal in CA to put in halogens and that we'd have to go with CFLs. Reluctantly, I agreed, thinking at least the bulbs would last a long time. WRONG! Within a year, five of the six CFLs in the kitchen had burned out. The damned things don't have a screw-in base either. It's some kind of weird plug-in base. So you can't get around it by simply replacing the CFL bulbs with incandesants.
Additionally, at the slightest touch, the CFLs fall out of their socket. I haven't broken any yet because I've always managed to catch them as they fell. But eventually it's going to happen...Arghhh!
Damn things are supposed to last seven years. Ours don't even last one. Some barely last a month. As soon as we save a little money, I'm calling an electrician to find out what can be done about it. It's driving me crazy. I hate liberals more than I can say.
Just buy those decade bulbs, replace the bulb sockets in those recessed lighting fixtures with standard ones and enjoy the light!
It all depends on the color temperature of your lamps. They now sell CFLs with low color temperatures that emit light very similar to incandescents. Not at all like the old high color temp fluorescents.
HOWEVER, if I am setting up a photo I try to have a white or at least neutral grey card in the image so I can use white balance (in post-processing, because I prefer to shoot in RAW mode) to establish the correct colors.
This might not work if your camera automatically post-processes the photo.
My new camera does shoot in RAW and I have been shooting RAW since I bought it. I do need to take a Photoshop course one of these days when I have the time.
>>Continue ventilating the room for several hours.
LOL.
There’s a lot of self induced mercury poisoning going on.
Open the windows? When it’s 15 out?
That todo list is just amazing isn’t it.
Can a class action suit be far behind......worse than cigs, even........we thought they were safe, your honor.....but they lied to us......ka-ching, ka-ching...Paging John Edwards......
How many people do you think follow the proper disposal protocols.
There’s prolly more mercury kicking around in trash containers located in fastfood joints, gas stations and convenient stores and public areas with trash cans.
California’s utilities are **spending** $548 million over seven years to subsidize consumer purchases of compact fluorescent lamps.
Now I know why my electric rate has increased by 5% this year.
If you burn an incandescent bulb powered by coal generated electricity, you are dumping more mercury into the enviornment than using a CFL and throwing it into the landfill.
You can buy non-mercury silent switches. I had a lamp back in the 50s that you only had to touch the base to switch it. They also have light switchs that you just wave your hand near it.
Tests show that people prefer CFLs to incandenscents and if your community does not recycle, it is ok to dispose of them in the regular trash stream .... landfills.
I hope you are still using CRTs instead of LCD computer displays and LCD TVs ...
I think you just made that up!
Downside is that the GIMP is still 8-bit, not 24 (32?) bit like Photo$hop, but I get excellent photos regardless. Also, the GIMP has the world's worst user interface. It's difficult to learn; I had to buy "Beginning GIMP" to learn how to do some operations.
Still, it's a powerful package.
Actually, it's a big yes-yes. When they try to give me paper at the store, I insist on plastic and then explain to them how the use of paper bags is killing the planet. I remind them that the manufacture of paper bags creates 70% more air pollution and 50 times more water pollution than plastic. Also, recycling paper uses up 84 times more energy than recycling plastic. People who use paper bags should be ashamed of themselves for killing our planet.
Times change. Back in the 80's we needed paper bags to go to the superdome.
It is a beautiful MAC G5 Quad Core 2.5 GHz with 8 gig of RAM.
Cost me a fortune with all of the college software I loaded on it. I’ll be darned if he was going to keep it after he blew all of that money on tuition so he could skip classes.
Now all I need to do is learn how to use the software someday. But in the mean time I take pictures and load them to disk.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.