Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

steelespike

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 26, 2002
Messages
19,069
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

I have many CFL lights in my house. The only places I don't have them is where they don't fit or, some of my decorative lights. The CFC's I found are always the same as a 40 watt bulb or more. I like a little dimmer light then that for some things. My CFC's come on instantly. Except, the one in the porch that gets cold on the winter. When it's cold it takes a half second and then another full second to get up to full light output. I have never tried to use them outside. I like the quality of the light they put out.

I hate the way houses sometimes have all the switches put together in the same place. This house has that in some cases. If I won the lotter I burn this house to the ground. If your switching on and off your lights just to try to turn on the correct light your wasting so much electricity doing that your screwed in your electric bill anyway.

Get some tiny rub on letters and mark the switches.
 

joed

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Sep 28, 2002
Messages
1,132
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

The good news about CF's:

If your thinking of buying a Prius Hybrid... It takes approx 18 CF bulbs in your home at normal useage to reduce greenhouse gas emissions the same amount as driving a Prius. SO, if you woud prefer to spend around 18$ (u can get CF's for a buck around here) vs what... $35,000 for a Prius, you're eliminating the same amount of CO2 generation

This was written up in a respected science journal, and the numbers look pretty good, give or take a little bit.

BUT, you don't get to make your $35,000 "I'm good to my environment" statement, lol.

And what about the batteries in these cars that eventually need to be replaced.
 

newbie4life

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 19, 2007
Messages
410
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Well it sure seems to me you could mark the switches with a color dot or a
tiny rub on letter ti id which light.Unless your bulbs are tards I'm pretty sure its less than 1 second to light.Train yourself and it will become automatic.

Yeah... that'd look good on the light switch plates. If I didn't care how the house looks, I might as well put those 'flood light' CFLs in..... with the normal cfl inside a fake flood light exterior.

I'm pretty sure you're right. They come one a lot faster than a second. However, it seems like it's a second or longer. I wouldn't call them 'tards' as you do, (or anything for that matter), but they are slow to come on, compared to incandescents. I guess I'll just keep my 'light when I want them to, and pay way too much for that light' light bulbs, until they come out with something better.
 

SgtMaj

Lieutenant Commander
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Nov 19, 2007
Messages
1,997
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Well ultimately it's a matter of wether it's worth paying the extra electric bill for you. For me, I like the CFL's better, and they save me money, so it's a no brainer for me. But if you like inca's better, and it's a big enough difference for you to justify paying for the extra electricity, then by all means, go for it.

The threat of global warming shouldn't be a reason to force you into doing anything you don't want to. After all, once we learn to control global warming via something like a large mylar mirror satellite that reflects some of the sun's energy, then global warming could end up being a good thing.
 

ondarvr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,527
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

I've used CFL's for many years, not because I'm green, I just like saving money. The first ones were a joke, slow to turn on, buzzing, poor light, now they work very well and those problems have been taken care of.

The dimmer start up in cold temps and not being able to use the higher watt bulbs in can type lights are the only draw backs I experiance right now. I have 10 can lights in my kitchen and if I put the higher watt CFLs in them they fail in a few weeks, the 14/60s work very though and have been in place for more than a year with only one burning out. There are two that are on 24/7 and one of these burned out about a week ago.
 

rwise

Captain
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Jul 5, 2001
Messages
3,205
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

The twisty ones have also been linked to migraine headaches!
 

rwise

Captain
Joined
Jul 5, 2001
Messages
3,205
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Seen that in the local news on TV, I have some of the twisty ones also :( they don't affect me, just make light. I know people that say the 4' and 8' tubes cause headaches also.

Edit: so if'n yer a havin headaches since ya put those crazy lookin things in, maybe takem back out fer a while to see,,,,
 

dimock44

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Sep 7, 2007
Messages
275
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Seen that in the local news on TV, I have some of the twisty ones also :( they don't affect me, just make light. I know people that say the 4' and 8' tubes cause headaches also.

Edit: so if'n yer a havin headaches since ya put those crazy lookin things in, maybe takem back out fer a while to see,,,,

Since it was on TV news it must be the gospel:D
 

Kenneth Brown

Captain
Joined
Feb 3, 2003
Messages
3,481
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Sorry for bringing this back but I told somebody that I'd find info for them and finally did. The point being that the mercury in a cfl is less than a coal burning plant would generate to power a regular bulb for the same lifespan. anyways here the story-
Compact fluorescent light bulbs are safe, and they look great, too.
By Brendan I. Koerner
Posted Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008, at 7:39 AM ET

CFL use is spiraling upward
I'm constantly being told that the simplest way to improve my green cred is to start using compact fluorescent lights. Yet some naysayers—like one of your Slate colleagues—argue that the environmental benefits of CFLs are negated by their mercury content. Who's right?

The case against CFLs is built largely on half-truths and innuendo. Yes, the energy-saving bulbs contain mercury, a neurotoxin responsible for a tremendous amount of human suffering over the years. And safely recycling CFLs remains far more difficult than it should be. But these facts don't justify sticking with inefficient incandescent technology that has barely changed since the invention of the tungsten filament nearly a century ago.

CFLs are lauded by environmentalists because they require far less electrical power than their incandescent counterparts. A 26-watt CFL bulb produces the same lumens as a 100-watt incandescent bulb. Assuming that you keep one of those bulbs aglow for six hours a day, switching to a CFL will save you 126 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which translates to 170 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions on average. Now, how many bulbs do you have in your house? Twenty? Thirty? Replace them all and you could conceivably (assuming six-hour-a-day use throughout the building) reduce your annual CO2 output by upward of 2.3 metric tons—about 10 percent of the average American household's annual carbon footprint. Just look at what's forecast for Australia, which last year became the first nation to mandate a gradual phase-out of incandescent bulbs. According to Australia's Environment Minister, the measure will eventually slash the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 4 million metric tons per year—the equivalent of taking 1 million vehicles off the road.

But what about the mercury? The toxic heavy metal is integral to the design of current CFL bulbs: Electricity agitates the mercury molecules, causing them to emit ultraviolet light. That light then spurs a bulb's phosphor coating to give off visible light. But the amount contained in each bulb is barely enough to cover the tip of a ballpoint pen, and won't cause any bodily harm as long as simple precautions are taken. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association has voluntarily imposed a limit of 5 milligrams per bulb on all CFLs sold in the United States—about 1 percent of the mercury contained in an old home thermometer. Since manufacturers are well aware that health fears are preventing the widespread adoption of CFLs, most have committed to making bulbs with even less mercury than NEMA's standard. The average CFL bulb now contains around 4 milligrams of mercury, and that figure should drop closer to 2 milligrams in the very near future. Much of the credit for these reductions goes to Wal-Mart, which has pressured GE, Royal Phillips, and Osram Sylvania to cut down on the quicksilver.

The irony of CFLs is that they actually reduce overall mercury emissions in the long run. Despite recent improvements in the industry's technology, the burning of coal to produce electricity emits roughly 0.023 milligrams of mercury per kilowatt-hour. Over a year, then, using a 26-watt CFL in the average American home (where half of the electricity comes from coal) will result in the emission of 0.66 milligrams of mercury. For 100-watt incandescent bulbs, which produce the identical amount of light, the figure is 2.52 milligrams. Ah, but what if your CFL bulb shatters? First off, don't panic: Unless you plan on picking up the glass with bare hands and then licking it, you're almost certainly safe from harm. Just follow the EPA's easy cleanup guidelines, which include placing the remnants in a sealed plastic bag and washing your hands when the chore is finished, and all should be well. (Also, use common sense and don't place CFLs where they can be damaged by young children.) As for that oft-told horror story about the woman in Maine who was quoted a price of $2,000 to dispose of a busted CFL bulb, don't believe it—at least not entirely. She may have been the mark for a shady contractor; get the facts here (PDF) and here.

Even a broken CFL bulb won't leak too much toxic metal. According to the EPA, just 6.8 percent of the mercury in a CFL bulb—that's at most 0.34 milligrams—is released if it shatters. OSHA's permissible exposure limit for mercury vapor in the workplace is 0.1 milligrams per cubic meter, so you'd have to break that bulb in an extremely cramped space for there to be an appreciable hazard.

Critics of CFLs have stressed that the mercury savings may be negligible in areas such as the Pacific Northwest, where hydropower is prevalent. (A Seattle newspaper columnist makes the case here.) But keep in mind that all power grids are at least partly dependent on coal; according to the EPA's Power Profiler, for example, Washington's Puget Sound Energy still derives 34 percent of its fuel from coal. As a result, CFLs still have a significant edge in terms of mercury emissions, to say nothing of greenhouse gas emissions. There is one major knock on CFLs, though, and that's the current dearth of recycling options. Because of the mercury issues, it's unwise—and often illegal—to throw spent CFL bulbs in the trash. (A single broken bulb is one thing, but thousands upon thousands of broken bulbs in a garbage dump could be seriously bad news.) You can find local recycling centers here, take your bulbs to the nearest IKEA, or use a mail-in service such as RecyclePak. All of these options, alas, require a bit more motivation than tossing your beer cans in a blue bin. But look for several major retailers to set up recycling drop-off boxes this year, in order to goose their CFL sales.

The last, desperate swipe at CFLs—as elucidated by the Lantern's colleague last week—is that their light is cold and dreadful. Perhaps this was true in years past, but the Lantern just doesn't see it anymore: In a recent test, Popular Mechanics rated CFL light as far superior to that produced by incandescent bulbs. Don't believe the hype? You've got nothing to lose by trying a single CFL bulb (one that's received EnergyStar certification) and seeing for yourself. And then, once you've become a convert, please spread the word.

Is there an environmental quandary that's been keeping you up at night? Send it to ask.the.lantern@gmail.com, and check this space every Tuesday.



http://___.slate.com/id/2183606/ (WWW where the line is)
 

External Combustion

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Messages
608
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

I love the false logic that only 6.8 percent of the mercury in a cfl is released when it is broken. All of the mercury is released when it is broken and eventually all of the bulbs will be broken. At our present rate of success in recycling, very little of that murcury in the bulbs will ever make it anywhere other than a landfill. There it will vaporize slowly or eventually make it to the water table, at least that is what the greenies have been telling us for years as to why mercury is such a dangerous chemical.

I also noted another slight of hand in that the overall calculations were based on the amount of mercury in the bulbs dropping by half "in the near future" and alluding that emissions at a power plant cannot be improved.

I am still wanting to know where the statistic on the mercury emmision of coal burning powerplants comes from. It is far too easey to make something up, repeat it many times and have it become "common knowledge", just take the cougar story that was recently posted here as an example.

Please do not take this personally, for it is not meant that way, but I have come to suspect any government program that forces it's citizens to do anything. Truth is not a commodity that government allows to alter its actions, but money is.
 

SgtMaj

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
1,997
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

I love the false logic that only 6.8 percent of the mercury in a cfl is released when it is broken. All of the mercury is released when it is broken and eventually all of the bulbs will be broken.

unless of course the rest of the mercury isn't inside the tube itself, but rather in some part of the base...

I mean I'm sure the EPA hasn't bothered to do any tests or studies on the subject... it's not like it's their job or anything... :rolleyes:
 

tommays

Admiral
Joined
Jul 4, 2004
Messages
6,768
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

The mercury is a BIG deal are town takes the bulbs for free and really wants you to drop them off



At work the current cost of a disposal box which holds 30 4' bulbs is 78 dollars :eek:

This covers all shipping and proper recycling


Tommays
 

gss036

Commander
Joined
Jan 18, 2003
Messages
2,914
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

We have a county site that takes them for free here from individuals and chairty companies. Some sites even take antifreeze and old oil.
I switch over everything possible when I can. I still have found any that you can user a dimmer on.
 

Kenneth Brown

Captain
Joined
Feb 3, 2003
Messages
3,481
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

I understand the paranoya (sp?), I feel the same way. I'm right smack dab in the middle of several coal burning plants. My FIL worked at one of them for 29 years and retired. My enviroment out here in the middle of nowhere is terrible. We should have the cleanest air around but instead we have acid rain falling on us. I know I should just move if its so bad but to where? Where theres not a city the cities take from us. They are taking the coal and nat gas out from under us. We have Richland Chambers lake which is controlled by Tarrent Co (Ft Worth) which is over 100 miles away. If I can help cut back on electricity being burned then I'm gonna do so. I'm not gonna quit life but a bulb change sure is easy.
 

newbie4life

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 19, 2007
Messages
410
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Mercury is bad.... I had one of those cfl's break by me once....

Now, whenever Mama starts up the microwave, I pi## my pants, and forget who I am for a half-hour.

(stolen from Christmas Vacation -- I wish I had a real cousin Eddy. :D)
 

rwise

Captain
Joined
Jul 5, 2001
Messages
3,205
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

LED's are looking better, I think I will be trying one of those soon! Should work in a dimmer also:cool:
 

j442w30

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
264
Re: Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

I changed almost all of the bulbs in my apartment over to CFL, I will see what kind of difference it makes on next months electricity bill. I actually prefer the CFL, although it takes a little while to come to full brightness, I think the light it emits is more white and pure.

I would like to get some LED bulbs because they cost even less to operate and last even longer and the light it supposed to be way better but right now they're like $20- $40 per bulb.
 
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