The end to lightbulbs?

[sunken]

Edison would be turning over in his grave if he had heard what was decided in Washington. Incandescent light bulbs which have served mankind for years will be phased out over the next few years. Their replacement? Al Gore's infamous flourescent bulbs. These miracles of modern science may save on electricity and the environment except for one small detail. They are full of mercury. Have you ever broken a light bulb? While it's not as bad as the lady who called a hazmat team, why replace something that has been perfectly safe, for something that will do more harm to the average person than the warming will. What concerns me about the global warming is not whether it is true or not, but that people will come up with dangerous solutions in a panicked race to fight what might not be a danger at all.

[bizwiz]

Well if it better helps the environment by cutting pollution and energy consumption I am all for it. It's time we switch to more energy efficient bulbs.

[jakeruston]

bizwiz: Maybe, but if its more harmful to us than the other lightbulbs, why is it a good idea?

It just makes it even unsafer, and although we need to protect the environment, we need to protect ourselves too.

[sunken]

No one is against energy efficient bulbs and LED bulbs are a safer alternative. But they have been marketing flourescent bulbs like they are fine. I didn't hear one person during the Live Earth concert who was pushing the flourescent bulbs mentioning the mercury issue. If people want to use these bulbs, it's their choice, but they should be aware of the risks and it should not be mandated.

[cnelson]

==A Moment of Truth to Power==

--Cons--
CFL's, just like any other fluorescent light bulb, contain mercury. *
Some poorly made CFL's may make a high-pitched buzzing.
Some CFL's give off a "cool" or "white" light.

--Benefits--
CFL's compare with regular incandescent bulb in the following ways:
1) CFL's use 75% less energy
2) CFL's last 10 times longer

Good CFL's are nearly noiseless.

"If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars."

Newer CFL's (Like the Bright Effects CFL's) nearly match regular light bulbs in color.**

Source: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mercu...e_(en).svg
**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CFBulbs.jpg

[cnelson]

sunken Wrote:No one is against energy efficient bulbs and LED bulbs are a safer alternative. But they have been marketing flourescent bulbs like they are fine. I didn't hear one person during the Live Earth concert who was pushing the flourescent bulbs mentioning the mercury issue. If people want to use these bulbs, it's their choice, but they should be aware of the risks and it should not be mandated.

All fluorescent bulbs contain mercury. It's a risk most of us have been living with our entire lives (I've got fluorescent bulbs in the garage). And if the primary source of power for a CFL comes from coal, then you're releasing less mercury into the air over it's lifetime.

[soccercomplexity]

We're all in violent agreement. Low power consumption and not too harmful. We use CFLs in our house while the development of LEDs continues.

LEDs are the way to go and are available now even in 4 foot fluorescent tubes for commercial buildings.

In the meantime we can all replace our flashlight bulbs with LEDs and dramatically (4-6 times) extend the life of the batteries with more light output.

So we're moving in the right direction, one bulb at a time.

david

[Element]

I think we should strive towards more common goals with the good of the environment kept in mind. I know for one when they're made more widely available I'll definately look into it.

[tsmaster]

This is good news.

Though i do think we need to look at the bigger picture. Reducing emissions from cars is far more important, and will have a bigger effect, though every litle does hlp.