I have often wondered why stores that sell CFLs in California don't put up a prop 65 warning sign at the entrance to the store as required by the prop and law since CFLs do contain Mercury which is acknowledged as a carcinogen...

I couldn't care less about the planet when it comes to CFL. I care about my electric bill, and they cut 25% off of it when I switched. They also last 5x longer than incandescent bulbs and run cooler so my AC isn't on as much.


/why yes, I do miss the old Styrofoam McDonalds packages. Why do you ask?

So... after the bulb expires in 4 years and after it saves you a couple of hundred bucks in electricity costs and after it doesn't put XXX pounds of CO2 into the air... don't throw the farking bulb in the trash. Home Depot will accept and recycle old bulbs, as will many other organizations.

And please, if at all possible, refrain from taking the bulbs out of the socket and sucking on them.

I really really hate fluorescent lights.

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: And please, if at all possible, refrain from taking the bulbs out of the socket and sucking on them.

Don't try to take away people's freedom.

vegaswench: I really really hate fluorescent lights.

Agreed, There are many problems with CFL's.

1. They just don't work well in the cold. When it is -20F outside and I need light, I need it NOW!!! That is the advantage that incandescents have. They either work or they are broken. I also don't see people wanting to put CFLs in their refrigerators or ovens at home.

2. Some places don't get perfect 120v 60Hz. When that happens allot, CFLs tend to go "poof". Many people in North Dakota live in Rural and semi-rural areas where brownouts and power surges are common. CFLs don't do well in these conditions and generally don't last any longer than a regular incandescent.

Customer feedback from work indicates that they also don't last as long in constant on/off applications. One person reported that one CFL that is always left on has been going strong for over 5 years, but the ones of his that get turned on and off allot only last a fraction of that.

3. Some places, it is just not cost effective to use CFLs. In the furnace room at my house we have two 60 watt bulbs, They probably get turned on 3-4 times a week for 2 minutes at most. Is it really worth the money to put in CFL bulbs. Especially considering my family manages to break one every year or two. The same can be said about our Fruit Room (An unheated Storage room.)

4. CFLs can't be used in some fixtures. They either don't fit the fixture or the fixtures are the enclosed types where their use is not recommended.

I'm just guessing here because I haven't read the article or the comments...

Is the answer mercury?

Do I win a prize?

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: don't throw the farking bulb in the trash.

Let's assume, human nature being as it is, that 98% of the bulbs do end up in the trash. I'd still rather have the mercury nicely double-sealed inside a landfill (well, triple-sealed if it's still inside the bulb) - than mercury in the atmosphere floating around and raining on me after it gets spat out a coal-fired power station.

vegaswench: I really really hate fluorescent lights.

Well, wait a couple of years until LED bulbs are bright and cheap enough to become a viable substitute. They're already as efficient as a CFL, and have the potential to get much better as the technology continues to improve.

Sigh, this story again!

Crosshair: CFLs can't be used in some fixtures. They either don't fit the fixture or the fixtures are the enclosed types where their use is not recommended.

That's my big beef with them. So I am supposed to buy new light fixtures for my three ceiling fans now.

Recycle them. Problem solved.

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: refrain from taking the bulbs out of the socket and sucking on them

Mrrphll!

opiumpoopy: Well, wait a couple of years until LED bulbs are bright and cheap enough to become a viable substitute. They're already as efficient as a CFL, and have the potential to get much better as the technology continues to improve.

The thing I hate about them is that they give me headaches and it's mostly aesthetic: they don't light things well.

FTFA: The study says fluorescent bulbs actually release more mercury than Oregon coal plants. But Kendall Youngblood with Energy Trust of Oregon says the study is simply not accurate.

"Oregon is not necessarily as clean powered of a state as the general media thinks it is. We use a lot of coal to produce our electricity here in Oregon so there is still mercury emission associated with the electricity that we use," explained Youngblood.

Ok, is this guy arguing for or against the topic of the article?

Mordant: Don't try to take away people's freedom.

Well, it would cut down on the number of Fark Independents™.

Just wanted to add I also hate fluorescent lights. The only place I use them is my kitchen, and that's only because the fixture is built into the ceiling there.

Martine23: Recycle them. Problem solved.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Good luck with that.

Here in SF, they are talking about commissioning a garbage police to rummage through people's garbage and issuing $1,000.00 fines for those who say, put a bottle in the refuse bin or paper in the bottle/cans bin. Habitual offenders would be dragged out into the middle of the street and shot while their neighbors chant "tisk tisk".

DUH

/meh

The mercury is released when the bulbs are put into landfills.

what about during manufacturing?
are they made in the US, with strick polution control?
or are they made abroad where there is tons of polution?

so is the net merucry added to the environment: less, about the same, or OH MY GOD go back to incandescents already?

/farking hate the far left as much as I hate the far right

namatad: The mercury is released when the bulbs are put into landfills.

what about during manufacturing?
are they made in the US, with strick polution control?
or are they made abroad where there is tons of polution?

so is the net merucry added to the environment: less, about the same, or OH MY GOD go back to incandescents already?

/farking hate the far left as much as I hate the far right

Using them contributes less mercury to the environment than driving them on coal power. Just to get an idea on the mercury content, if you throw away a single mercury thermometer, or any device with a mercury switch, you're contributing the same amount of mercury as somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 CFLs. The manufacture of CFLs does not contribute much in the way of mercury pollution because the mercury is an essential and somewhat expensive component of the bulb.

And you wouldn't know the "far left" if the Socialist Workers' Party nationalized your pants, so, seriously? People telling you to use CFLs are trying to save you money and provide a net environmental benefit.

Crosshair: Agreed, There are many problems with CFL's.

1. They just don't work well in the cold. When it is -20F outside and I need light, I need it NOW!!! That is the advantage that incandescents have. They either work or they are broken. I also don't see people wanting to put CFLs in their refrigerators or ovens at home.

2. Some places don't get perfect 120v 60Hz. When that happens allot, CFLs tend to go "poof". Many people in North Dakota live in Rural and semi-rural areas where brownouts and power surges are common. CFLs don't do well in these conditions and generally don't last any longer than a regular incandescent.

Customer feedback from work indicates that they also don't last as long in constant on/off applications. One person reported that one CFL that is always left on has been going strong for over 5 years, but the ones of his that get turned on and off allot only last a fraction of that.

3. Some places, it is just not cost effective to use CFLs. In the furnace room at my house we have two 60 watt bulbs, They probably get turned on 3-4 times a week for 2 minutes at most. Is it really worth the money to put in CFL bulbs. Especially considering my family manages to break one every year or two. The same can be said about our Fruit Room (An unheated Storage room.)

4. CFLs can't be used in some fixtures. They either don't fit the fixture or the fixtures are the enclosed types where their use is not recommended.

Agreed. There are many problems with incandescents.

1)In restaurants, where you need to keep the food warm, incandescent bulbs just don't suffice. You need IR lamps.

2)If you're trying to cross-link hydrogels, incandescents won't do. They simply don't produce light at a wavelength capable of cross-linking. You have to get UV lights.

3)When you're working in a dark room, incandescents will really fark up the pictures you're trying to develop.

//seriously, it's retarded to say that you really hate a certain type of bulb because you can't use it in every application. Do you realize how retarded it is to say that you hate a type of light bulb??

BigDumbGuy: That's my big beef with them. So I am supposed to buy new light fixtures for my three ceiling fans now.

I don't have a beef with flood lights just because I can't install them in my bedside lamp.

I don't retrofit my bedside lamp to accept a floodlight. I just install CFLs in my bedside lamp.

Where CFLs don't fit, I install the appropriate bulb. Just like people have been doing for decades. Certain fixtures only accept certain types of bulbs. CFLs save money, so I install them where I can.

If a person doesn't like the quality of light they put out, that's fine, but to oppose a type of lightbulb simply because you're not able to install it in every fixture in your house is retarded.

SchlingFocker: Where CFLs don't fit, I install the appropriate bulb. Just like people have been doing for decades. Certain fixtures only accept certain types of bulbs. CFLs save money, so I install them where I can.

Some places such as California have mandated the switch.

The possible cancer link (pops) is what gives me pause about them.

Fluorescent lightbulbs make a really cool scary type flicker when you film something in true 24fps.

/all I had to add
//leaves thread now

SchlingFocker: Agreed. There are many problems with incandescents.

The point I was trying to make is that CFLs are not flawless and Incandescents will be around forever, regardless of the gov banning their use for "greener" alternatives, as there are some uses that they do extremely well at compared to the alternatives.

Crosshair: The point I was trying to make is that CFLs are not flawless

That's a valid point. Nothing is flawless. Nobody has said CFLs are flawless.

However, you said that you really really hate CFLs, which is retarded.

HA! Take THAT nature, you coont.

There's a typo in the headline.

/that is all

Martine23: Recycle them. Problem solved.

Why do you hate America?

Old news

I'm less concerned about the bulbs releasing mercury in the landfill... and much more concerned about the mercury they release when you inventively break one in your house.

My thinks the standard operating procedure of sweeping up the broken glass won't do much to address the mercury issue...

CFLs and FLs really do a good job at giving me migraines, so they've got that going for them. I can stand them if they are indirect lighting, but if it is direct lighting, you better hope I have ibuprofen and am unarmed.

Mobkey: There's a typo in the headline.

/that is all

it would take a flouesy like you to point that out.

queezyweezel: I care about my electric bill, and they cut 25% off of it when I switched. They also last 5x longer than incandescent bulbs and run cooler so my AC isn't on as much.

Ditto.

My electric bill went way down when I switched from incandescent to CFLs. And I haven't had to spend any additional money to buy replacements yet, and probably won't for years.

That makes them A-OK in my book.

Step 1: Say something's good for something.
Step 2: Turn around, say it's bad.
Step 3: Repeat until dizzy.

/Blanket statements plus the media filter equals fun for the whole family

vegaswench: The thing I hate about them [LED bulbs] is that they give me headaches and it's mostly aesthetic: they don't light things well.

MOST LED bulbs are a pile of cr@p. However...

Cree (and I guess one or two other specialist manufacturers) are currently selling LEDs that output 370 lumens (nearly as much as a 'standard' 35W MR16 halogen spotlight). The power is going up all the time. They're currently about $20 per LED, and considerably more once built into a bulb. But the cost is likely to come down.

If the headaches are because of the colour of the light... then I guess there will eventually be a range of shades of white - just as there are different shades of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs.

Have patience, my child.

great, first 'fluorescent' lights posed a danger, now we're hearing that 'flouescent' lights are just as bad.

christ subtard, the word is in the article, just copy and paste

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: And please, if at all possible, refrain from taking the bulbs out of the socket and sucking on them.

But I can still pretend it's an anal thermometer, right?

/RIGHT????

opiumpoopy:
If the headaches are because of the colour of the light... then I guess there will eventually be a range of shades of white - just as there are different shades of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs.
.

Haven't had a problem with LEDs, haven't been around them enough to know, but for CFLs and FLs it is the frequency they operate at, if you're sensitive, it is like a strobe light, even worse if you can hear them.

If I am not mistaken, don't regular flourescent tubes also contain mercury?

rcain: HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Good luck with that.

Here in SF, they are talking about commissioning a garbage police to rummage through people's garbage and issuing $1,000.00 fines for those who say, put a bottle in the refuse bin or paper in the bottle/cans bin. Habitual offenders would be dragged out into the middle of the street and shot while their neighbors chant "tisk tisk".

"Recycle them" doesn't mean "throw them in with the glass recycling". If your city doesn't offer CFL recycling, many stores do. Here (Madison) virtually any hardware store will recycle CFLs for you free of charge, and any IKEA always does, that's their corporate policy.

In fact according to Earth911, there are 21 places within 5 miles of my house that I can recycle CFLs at.

BigDumbGuy: SchlingFocker: Where CFLs don't fit, I install the appropriate bulb. Just like people have been doing for decades. Certain fixtures only accept certain types of bulbs. CFLs save money, so I install them where I can.

Some places such as California have mandated the switch.

In general, I really like the CFLs we have, but they're certainly not ideal for everywhere. Things like closets and outdoor lighting (in places where it gets cold) are poor uses for CFLs. Mandating their use everywhere is just stupid.

You can even get ones now that very closely approximate the light temp. of incandescent, which eliminates one big complaint I had about them. It's close enough that I have a mix of CFLs and incandescent in a room due to fixture size constraints, and you can't even tell the difference.

kidsizedcoffin: Mobkey: There's a typo in the headline.

/that is all

it would take a flouesy like you to point that out.

Why thank you.

Crosshair: allot a lot

FTFY

SchlingFocker: Do you realize how retarded it is to say that you hate a type of light bulb??


I hate GE's Reveal incandescent light bulbs. So there.

Why, you ask? My wife put 5, FIVE, of them in the bathroom without my knowing it, and when I got up to take a shower the next day they melted my retinas.

When I worked at wally world, I was the hardware girl. I must of inhaled a farkton of the shiat in both cfls and incandescent bulbs. The stock guys were always breaking them and we had to clean it up, right... yay wally.

In my experience as a pusher of the cfls, they do last longer, but most people hate the quality of light they give. I like the cost saving aspect, but I have always wondered just how much they will save in the long run, considering up front cost and the disposal cost that will eventually get tacked on them. Are they really worth it in the long run?

/cancer?
//Should I be worried?
///wally sucks

BigDumbGuy: SchlingFocker: Where CFLs don't fit, I install the appropriate bulb. Just like people have been doing for decades. Certain fixtures only accept certain types of bulbs. CFLs save money, so I install them where I can.

Some places such as California have mandated the switch.

We've already determined that California is one small step ahead of Florida in the dumb-olympics. That Cali has mandated them is simply silly (assuming they actually have). Not that they aren't a good thing, but as pointed out, they aren't the best choice for all applications. However, basic economics says that it's a pretty good idea to switch to them. Power usage goes down and they need to be replaced much less frequently.

Secondly, for the mercury to be more detrimental than a powerplant, we've got to have the following conditions, no:

1 - that mercury has to escape the landfill
2 - the amount escaping needs to be of a high enough concentration to increase the background level of mercury already present.
3 - those levels of mercury need to be in sufficient concentration to actually pose a health risk
4 - the levels must be higher than the reduction in mercury levels caused by needing less power
5 - all of this needs to be at a concentration somewhere near that of the power plants.

So, if I can recycle them at my local hardware store or somewhere like that, I'll do so. However, in the big picture, I'll do the following:

1 - use CF bulbs because they use less power and cost less in the long run.
2 - attempt to turn off all the lights I don't need, including external lights at night. I don't need to light my yard, it knows where it is and has no plans to go off gallivanting.
3 - allow natural sunlight to come into the house and use that whenever possible. The sun's polluting damn near everything will all its damned radiation, but that's not going anywhere so I might as well use it before it gets taxed.
4 - Attempt to locate a place that recycles the bulbs and then use it as appropriate.

common sense FTW!