Shoppers Hoarding Incandescent Lightbulbs

[Transsive]

I bought a 15W CFL replacement for my 75W incandescent light bulb. I don't really see any difference.
When buying CFLs make sure to buy warm light versions (unless you like the cold ones). Philips and Osram are some of the high quality manufacturers.

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]ricdiculus[/nom]What about those of us with dimmers?? CF lamps ownt work with dimmers.[/citation]

They do... poorly.

I use them because I have to change my bulbs less often, and so I don't burn through as many 110V 16A fuses... (I've burned a lot of those... maybe I should have my house running on two fuses instead of one, being my new i7 system...)

 

[amnotanoobie]

[citation][nom]ouroboros[/nom]Until there's a steady, recognizable pattern you can't reliably state that opinion as fact. Unfortunately, by the time that pattern can be verified, it will be a bit too late.[/citation]

I have noticed this change because for the past 14 years that I could remember (aside from the last two), the rainy season and dry season has been pretty consistent. The only difference is give a week or two, so yes comparing the last two vs the previous 10, I DO SEE A PATTERN.

 

[krazyderek]

LED bulbs are available in dimmable types, LED's are generally more expensive and put out a bit less light but in the long run the cost about the same, if not less then CFL's cause LED's last 5X longer then CFL's. I don't even know why anyone would want to use incandescent bulbs anymore unless they don't have enough heaters in their northern Canada cottage.

 

[jerreece]

I'm surprised we haven't already gotten rid of the old style of light bulbs. CFLs are vastly superior in my opinion. About 80% of the light bulbs in my house were converted to CFLs a year ago. Though my wife refuses to use them for the vanity lights above her mirror.

I'm hoping LED light bulbs are made much more effectively in the near future. These LED bulbs are going to be the future of lighting once they can make them cheap, and reduce the heat issues with them.

 

[pocketdrummer]

[citation][nom]tayb[/nom]Sigh. Government interfering with more things that would eventually be sorted out by normal free market practices.[/citation]

I don't know about you, but some things just need a nudge in the right direction. Obviously, some people would die before changing to eco-friendly bulbs. I don't care how stubborn they are, their choices affect us all. I'm glad they are boycotting incandescent bulbs.

 

[pocketdrummer]

On another note, CFLs are more customizable. Try changing an incandescent bulb to look more white... or blue... or even a different shade of yellow without having some weird paint on it. You can pick the exact color of light you want with CFLs.... why limit yourself to the same old yellow?

 

[AMDnoob]

[citation][nom]ricdiculus[/nom]What about those of us with dimmers?? CF lamps ownt work with dimmers.[/citation]

We have dimmers in our home and we were able to find a brand of CFL that does in fact dim. Admittedly they cannot go to levels as low as incandescents, they do work relatively well. I do seem to recall however that we have already had to replace 1 or 2 after just a year. So maybe dimming is hard on the hardware, meaning CFL's were never meant to dim. But we haven't run into any more problems than that w/ them.

 

[Guest]

Send your light bulbs to Washington!

Improper disposal of compact fluorescent light bulbs is very dangerous to your family and to the environment. In some states, it is illegal to put these light bulbs in your trash.

It's easy to dispose of compact fluorescent light bulbs properly. Just send them to your Senator or Congressman in Washington. Or send them to the EPA.

You can find your Senator's mailing address here: http/www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

You can find your Congressman's mailing address here: http/www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml

Or send your used light bulbs to EPA headquarters in Washington:
Environmental Protection Agency
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20460

Isn't your family's health worth the small postage cost? Don't you want to help save the planet from this environmental nightmare? You'll sleep better at night knowing your deadly mercury-containing light bulbs are with the experts in our nation's capital. Send your light bulbs to Washington!

For more information, check out our web site at http/www.SendYourLightBulbsToWashington.com

 

[p05esto]

I HATE CFL light bulbs....

 

[C 64]

I don't like CFL bulbs.
In my experience (I do have some at home) they are too expensive, the light they give is different, while I didn't noticed any headaches, my sister complains about it and won't have any in her house.
Other thing is that CFL's need a certain time to "fire up" - reach their full luminosity and this time gets longer as they get older, also as they get older the luminosity gets less and less. As already mentioned they are not dimmable (not to the extend of normal light bulbs) and they are also not suitable for short use (when they are often switched on and off and burn only for a short time) - this will get them ruined extremely quick.
And they also contain mercury witch is something I don't want in my house at all.

 

[C 64]

[citation][nom]joebob2000[/nom]LOL @ the whiners who think CF bulbs are toxic. For your information, a single dental filling has about 50 times the mercury as a single CF bulb. How many fillings do you have in your mouth, right now? OH NO!!! GET THEM OUT!!! OH GOD THE MERCURY!!![/citation]
I have one single filling WITHOUT mercury, for a simple reason.
At the dentist I had A CHOICE between a filling with mercury and without mercury so I took the one without (and payed extra); in the future, when buying light bulbs, I don't have that choice.
And about that mercury... dental fillings don't contain pure or "free" mercury but have that mercury chemically bound (the stuff fillings are made of is called amalgam, at least I think so) so the release of mercury in good quality fillings, under normal circumstances is a non issue. But in a light bulb there are mercury fumes and as soon as the glass of the light bulb brakes they are released.
I know no one who swallowed his filling, but broken light bulbs are not so uncommon specially when you have small children.

 

[RooD]

[citation][nom]ricdiculus[/nom]What about those of us with dimmers?? CF lamps ownt work with dimmers.[/citation]

Mine does work with a dimmer... i was amazed but it does work...

 

[tanderskey]

i like halogen bulbs. i buy the ones that screw into standard sized light sockets. last a long time. give off nice colored light. no headaches.

 

[mdillenbeck]

Since I am not usually home until after dark and up for a good portion of the night, converting to CFLs has created a SIGNIFICANT impact on my electricity spending while permitting me to get brighter lighting (what were only 60W incandescent are 100W equivalents now).

Here are the things I read that I want to address:

BEWARE! MERCURY!

True, most CFLs sold have mercury plus a significant amount of plastic because they did not go the ballast + plug-in bulb route.

However, that in and of itself it not bad - don't forget that most of us who drive around have a chunk of lead in our vehicles. However, lead-acid car batteries are one of the great environmental success stories.

The up side to the story is I see more and more places that sell CFLs having recycle drop offs, just as I see more stores having plastic bag drop-offs. With proper recycling, the existing use of mercury can be mitigated while waiting for better alternatives (like the developing LEDs, which I have only seen at my retailer in 40W equivalent accent lighting bulbs).

WHY IS THE GOVERNMENT INTERFERING WITH THE FREE MARKET!


Well, we don't really have a free market - most economist say that would be bad. Most countries have some level of regulation - and the countries in question utilize procedural over substantive regulation (guarantee equal playing field versus equal outcomes).

However, all that aside, a government has a vested interest in maintaining an ailing energy grid while growth keeps increasing demand. While one bulb might not seem like much, when you change every bulb in every home in all the nations of the world then the reduction on the grid will be substantial.

For industry, the extension to the grids life span versus costly upgrades and expansions could be significant. Also, at upwards toward 75% reduced energy, this means the consumer can add other electronic devices to use while still reducing their cost in electricity (and maybe more inclined to spend that money).

THE GOVERNMENT IS FORCING ME TO BUY MORE EXPENSIVE BULBS

When combining the increased lifespan of the bulb with the reduced energy consumption, the government is actually forcing you to put your lighting costs more at the beginning and end of the products life cycle. (The initial cost of the bulb + the unspoken cost of disposal/recycling of the bulb.)

THE CFLs DON'T HAVE DIMMING, WARM COLORS, AND SO FORTH

They are not perfect, but they are far improved from CFLs of 5 years ago and a decade. When manufacturers are forced to abandon incandescent technology, more will be able to put money into CFL and LED research and come up with new and competitive alternatives.

To add anecdotal evidence, I recently purchased dimming CFLs and found they worked just fine. If I want the light any lower, then I can always burn candles (again, with due caution as many slow burning candles also contain metals - but they get vaporized). I also have found a good variety of light spectrum available, and I am willing to put a tint of color on my walls to change the quality of reflected light.

------------------------------------------------

Note, I did not mention global warming at all in the above? When considering infrastructure and energy security, doing away with incandescent bulbs and implementing car-battery like recycling programs make a lot of sense.

Just remember, when discussing alternatives and solutions, realize there is no such thing as "clean energy" or a "clean solution" - only cleaner or different options. Anything we do will be a disruption to the environment, but that does not mean we should not strive to look for ways to minimize our impact.

 

[wild9]

What about dealing with human population increase (especially from the third world), and it's resulting impact on the environment? Better not got there, it seems..especially when there's profit to be made from selling these devices. But it's all for a good cause..a fashionable one at that: the evils of the west and the impact of their habits on 'global warming', itself a controversial issue.

Seems this is more about avoiding real issues in favour of creating imaginary one's. Better to stick one's head in the sand (or the ever-shrinking wilderness areas of the American south-west), because we should know our place and know never to get in the way of profit even when it's at our expense.

 

[hillarymakesmecry]

[citation][nom]ricdiculus[/nom]What about those of us with dimmers?? CF lamps ownt work with dimmers.[/citation]

They make CFL's that work with dimmers now. They're just like $15 a bulb.
----
I've replaced pretty much every lightbulb in my house with CFL's. Only security lights and the stairway lights (both need to turn on quickly) now have incadescent. I have one dawn to dusk always on security light that saves me $2 a month by replacing it with a CFL.

I've got like 30 old incandescent bulbs sitting in a closet. Maybe they'll be worth a fortuen to the old-folks soon.

 

[martin0642]

Climate change is what led to the rise of biodiversity on the planet as we know it. This "quick buck" attitude is like 9/11 conspiracy theories. The climate is going to change no matter what we do; thinking that the increase in C02 will have no effect is scientifically laughable, since C02 is the very plan people are intending to use to warm up mars.

The key difference is the cost benefit ratio of the changes proposed and the long term effectiveness that it will have. We could spend a trillion dollars using todays technology, and cut back on C02, only to find out that by 2025 that very C02 averted the trigger of an ice age.

Or we can spend a trillion on research, create jobs, and really figure out the complicated dance of the Earth ecology, and in 2025 we'll be more likely to change it in the RIGHT way (which we assume is the 1965-1985 type weather. But who is to decide what balance is correct? The middle east might decide they want their area to become a fertile crescent again, and maybe people want to see the Sahara turned into arable, farming land.

We must avoid ocean acidification and promote the gulf stream cycle that causes our weather patterns and prevents the ocean from becoming hypoxic. But as the old axiom says, measure twice and cut once.

I'm not sure we fully grasp the full picture of what is going on, and while I agree that we may discover that we have passed a point of no return, I also fear we may initiate changes on such a large scale that we end up causing the very unbalance we look to avert.

For example, there is a group that is spewing iron dust into the ocean and massive algae blooms are using it to convert c02 into oxygen on an almost unimaginable scale. Not only is this a cheap way to produce oxygen, but it also has a massive effect on the food chain, as those algae die, or are eaten, it results in massive expantions to the available amount of oxygen in the ocean and promotes the growth of larger beings, all the way up to sharks and whales, and us eventually. This could replenish the damage overfishing has caused, or create pockets of wildlife that, unharvested, just die out once the iron is all used up and the local food supply can no longer sustain the bloom in wildlife.

So, it's complicated, and I think it deserves respect and consideration as an issue is we want to maintain our little microcosm. I also think taking a little more time looking for 15 mile wide asteroids going 70000Mph that could split the planet in half deserve a cursory look...a quick glance at the moon's surface seems to indicate big rocks like slamming into other bi rocks given a few billion years and a circular orbit.

 

[nottheking]

Yeah, as I said above (but apparently was tl;dr'd by everyone, including those that rage'd at first sight and neg'd my comments without bothering to reply) was that global warming/climate change is largely a red herring, drawing way too much attention from other issues. When it comes to the pollutants released by energy production, CO2 is the least of my worries. I'm more woried about the mercury and sulphur/nitrogen dioxides; the effects of pumping mercury into the air are well-known, and acid rain resulting from Nitrogen and Sulphur oxides is quite apparent to anyone who's seen it kill the plants in their yard, ruin the siding and roofs of their buildings, and likewise cause serious property damage.

 

[blackened144]

[citation][nom]eyemaster[/nom]People are short sighted. A normal light bulb is easy to manufacture and requires less natural resources, therefore pollutes way less. The new low energy light bulbs, CFL's or whatever, use mercury, need more energy to be created and more resources, therefore the manufacturing for them pollutes more.When trying to save the planet, you need to look at each product from where it's taking resources to when you dispose of it, NOT just from the moment you buy it.[/citation]
Its the same rationale people use for hybrid cars. Yes, they will put out less CO2 when driving, but you have to use for car for over several years just to offset the additional resources that went into making the car in the first place, before you ever start benefiting the environment.