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hannibal88
- Tired Member
posted: Jan. 6, 2008 @ 10:47a 
faldoc said:arniearni said:Anyone notice these so called "green" flourescent bulbs which are going to save the planet ALL contain Mercury and are considered hazardous waste.They are suppose to be disposed of properly but I have not heard of any of the flouescent pushers even mention this.Just my 2 cents!
You are correct, but the greenies also say that the total emissions of Hg from power plants is greater with standard bulbs over the life of the bulb. Only problem is the Hg is inside your house if you break the bulb, or in your local landfill. In addition, few places recycle these bulbs. I understand you can take your burnt out CFLs to Home Depot or Lowes, but don't know that for a fact.
I broke a 4' bulb once, and you can actually see tiny blobs of mercury inside. Reminds me of high school chem class where we played with it, no gloves, no masks!!!
We have a 9 month old in the house, and happened to be unscrewing a CFL that was not working (purchased from costco), and the thing cracked at the base, exposing a path for the mercury inside to get out (I did not see the globule inside - was not sure if it had vaporized). We freaked out, and long story short, we have replaced all the CFLs with incandescent bulbs. OT for most, so apologies in advance. I asked Home Depot, and they had no clue if that location recycled CFLs.
I would have jumped all over this if not for the kid. Thanks for sharing OP! |
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JameyF
- Senior Member
posted: Jan. 6, 2008 @ 11:57a
Engineer said:arniearni said:Anyone notice these so called "green" flourescent bulbs which are going to save the planet ALL contain Mercury and are considered hazardous waste.They are suppose to be disposed of properly but I have not heard of any of the flouescent pushers even mention this.Just my 2 cents!
The "green" for FW is the cash saved over the life of the bulb in energy use, not the environment. Get your facts straight! 
Expect these to be replaced by 3-4 watt LED bulbs that contain none of the bad crap in a few years anyway.  Yep. I'm sure LED's have something wrong with them too, but they will be the "greenest" by far. LED's last a ton longer than CFL or incandescent. I can see people using high quality LEDs when they build a house and have the same ones in most of the sockets with they move out. Add to that much lower heat output, and brighter bulbs can be used so a room can be made brighter. I just wonder how dimmers are going to work on those. |
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MaxMojo
- Addicted Member
posted: Jan. 6, 2008 @ 12:21p
JameyF said:
Yep. I'm sure LED's have something wrong with them too, but they will be the "greenest" by far. LED's last a ton longer than CFL or incandescent. I can see people using high quality LEDs when they build a house and have the same ones in most of the sockets with they move out. Add to that much lower heat output, and brighter bulbs can be used so a room can be made brighter. I just wonder how dimmers are going to work on those. Some, but not all, LED work fine with dimmers. There's no doubt the LEDs are the light of the future for most applications, unless something better comes along. |
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SolderSucker
- Senior Member - 1K
posted: Jan. 6, 2008 @ 12:29p
JameyF said:Engineer said:arniearni said:Anyone notice these so called "green" flourescent bulbs which are going to save the planet ALL contain Mercury and are considered hazardous waste.They are suppose to be disposed of properly but I have not heard of any of the flouescent pushers even mention this.Just my 2 cents!
The "green" for FW is the cash saved over the life of the bulb in energy use, not the environment. Get your facts straight!
Expect these to be replaced by 3-4 watt LED bulbs that contain none of the bad crap in a few years anyway.
Yep. I'm sure LED's have something wrong with them too, but they will be the "greenest" by far. LED's last a ton longer than CFL or incandescent. I can see people using high quality LEDs when they build a house and have the same ones in most of the sockets with they move out. Add to that much lower heat output, and brighter bulbs can be used so a room can be made brighter. I just wonder how dimmers are going to work on those. With current technology, I don't think people will be using a 3-4 watt led to put out only 150-200 lumens. A 13W CFL will put out 800 lumens typically. So, right now LED technology is at best on par with florescent technology. |
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shank
- Senior Member - 3K
posted: Jan. 6, 2008 @ 12:49p
LEDs are fine for low voltage DC (batteries), but require some type of transformer to run on line voltage (110V AC). Since LEDs have a very long life, the first LED household lighting will likely be sealed, meaning that if/when the device fails, you replace the entire fixture. |
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TH51562
- Thrifty Member
posted: Jan. 6, 2008 @ 9:57p
eibgrad said:Might have had some interest until the government decided to FORCE me to use them. Now, I think I'll just continue to hoard incandescent bulbs. You are such a piece of work. Finally the goverment is doing something for issues global warming and high energy prices. |
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teraman
- Senior Member
posted: Jan. 7, 2008 @ 8:13a
No instant rebate in Northern Virginia - Price is $13.99. |
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69ragtop
- Senior Member - 6K
posted: Jan. 7, 2008 @ 8:20a
Engineer said:pm6163 said:But the CFL bulbs do not work with dimmer, you can not dim the lights, you get either full light or none. Anyone know if there is any CFL bulb working with dimmer?
Yes, there are CFL bulbs that work with a dimmer. I have no experience with them so I cannot comment on how well they work (or don't work). pm6163 - CFLs made to work with dimmers will be clearly labeled on the package. The same is true for three-way CFL bulbs. Both dimmable and three way bulbs are available, but the stores are focusing on the most popular 60 watt and 40 watt (regular bulb) non-dimmable equivalents. |
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blueiedgod
- Senior Member - 2K
posted: Jan. 7, 2008 @ 9:04a
shank said:LEDs are fine for low voltage DC (batteries), but require some type of transformer to run on line voltage (110V AC). Since LEDs have a very long life, the first LED household lighting will likely be sealed, meaning that if/when the device fails, you replace the entire fixture. I have converted to CFL back in 2002, and have never looked back. I bought them at Costco when they had 10-pack for $1.50 in CT. So far, I lost 3 bulbs, but it was because my outside light was inverted and the heat was killing the ballast. I bought up-right outside light fixtures and have no problems. I have recently bought 2 LED bulbs for the nightlights, and they are BRIGHT!!!! The cost is still an issue, but LED is the wave of the future. The LED powered nightlights are putting more light to the floor than the "Glow" nightlights, which are bright to look at, but don't light up much. The nightlight LED bulbs are available at WalMart and Walgreens at $3 for 2 bulbs. Having the whole house converted to CFL, and Energy Star appliances, I can run the whole house off a 3500 watt generator without straining it. The only time it is strained, is when I turn on the central A/C. The pump uses too much power for start up, but the furnace blower, and other appliances, as well as the lights use very little power. During the last black out, we were the only house that had lights on all over, instead of just one or two rooms (except for the houses with 10,000 watt Stand-by generators, that cost $100++/day to run, and cost thousands to put in). I get 8 hours out of 4 gallon tank on the 3500 watt generator. |
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fwmo88
- Member
posted: Jan. 7, 2008 @ 2:12p
eibgrad said:Might have had some interest until the government decided to FORCE me to use them. Now, I think I'll just continue to hoard incandescent bulbs. I remember people complaining about the switch to 1.6 gallon toilets. I know there were people in Atlanta complaining about this. I wonder if any of them had second thoughts this fall? |
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fwmo88
- Member
posted: Jan. 7, 2008 @ 2:16p
We have a 9 month old in the house, and happened to be unscrewing a CFL that was not working (purchased from costco), and the thing cracked at the base, exposing a path for the mercury inside to get out (I did not see the globule inside - was not sure if it had vaporized). We freaked out, and long story short, we have replaced all the CFLs with incandescent bulbs. OT for most, so apologies in advance. I asked Home Depot, and they had no clue if that location recycled CFLs.
I would have jumped all over this if not for the kid. Thanks for sharing OP!
That's a freak accident, I've never had that happen with a CFL and I've been using them since about 1994. |
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Tomaczar
- New Member
posted: Jan. 7, 2008 @ 7:51p
hannibal88 said:We have a 9 month old in the house, and happened to be unscrewing a CFL that was not working (purchased from costco), and the thing cracked at the base, exposing a path for the mercury inside to get out (I did not see the globule inside - was not sure if it had vaporized). We freaked out, and long story short, we have replaced all the CFLs with incandescent bulbs. OT for most, so apologies in advance. I asked Home Depot, and they had no clue if that location recycled CFLs.
I would have jumped all over this if not for the kid. Thanks for sharing OP! FUD!! Did you remove the microwave "just in case" so the child doesn't get zapped. What about the family car, that's got to go too, all that carbon monoxide. Air conditioner, refrigerator, gas stove, cleaning products, water heater. I guess your house is looking mighty sparse these days. CFLs are proven technology that are, for the most part, safe (just as EVERYTHING in our lives is, for the most part, safe). Your choice if you use them or not, BUT try to keep from coming around and spreading fear/uncertainty/doubt amongst those trying to make an informed decision about saving some money (and maybe, in a wee little way, the planet). BTW This deal comes up every two months or so and I'm pleased every time I see it. CFLs need intelligent discussion for mass adoption and this is an easy (and cheap) way for the average joe to do their part for the environment. Isn't it interesting that the energy companies, who make money off of wasted energy, are the one subsidizing the purchase?? Most folks are coming around, hopefully we can all do the research and make the choice that's right for us (and everybody else on the planet). That is all *puts away soapbox and awaits the red*. |
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69ragtop
- Senior Member - 6K
posted: Jan. 7, 2008 @ 7:59p
Has anyone confirmed this deal in Georgia? |
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rigor
- Senior Member - 8K
posted: Jan. 7, 2008 @ 8:04p
the way i see it. i can light up the whole house and trees with CFL floods; offsetting the costs by converting to CFL. safety at no additional cost. it gets dark in the city; plus it looks great to light up the whole house and trees. might be selfishly green (as in break even on power) but cheaper than incandescent. you can get great LED floods for like $60 but man i'd rather pay $7 for a 23watt 900+ lumen CFL and wait for the LED's to drop way down. |
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