Toxic Bulbs
By Dan McLaughlin Posted in CFLs | Energy | Environmentalism | Light Bulbs — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
I've thought from the very beginning that the move to outlaw Edison's great invention, the incandescent light bulb, was basically foolhardy and possibly just a ploy to force consumers to buy $7 lightbulbs that (in my experience, at least) don't necessarily last much longer than regular bulbs. But that was before I really started to focus on the extent to which (as discussed here and here) the mercury in the bulbs presents a real health hazard that wasn't previously present in the home, and which - like the now-infamous introduction of MTBE into gasoline (also, at the time, claimed to be an environmental measure) is probably going to end up getting pulled off the market after the plaintiffs' personal injury bar gets done with it. Government's natural tendency to folly is exponentially enhanced by runaway environmentalism divorced from common sense.
Typcial numbers:
100 watt incandescent - 17 lumens/watt
Compact fluorescent bulbs - 50 lumens/watt
Large fluorescent tubes - 90 lumens/watt
White LED - approaching 90 lumens/watt
high pressure sodium - 150 lumens/watt
Perfect conversion of energy into white light would give you about 240 lumens/watt. You cannot do better than that.
Every house I've ever lived in has had a mix of incandescent and fluorescent lighting. And fluorescents have always had a trace of mercury in them. Why is the mercury thing becoming an issue now, when it never has been before?
No argument with your point about this being a boondoggle for the lighting industry. And I agree with Neil, too. I'm just waiting for someone to figure out how to warm up LED light so it's not so darned irritating.
I think that the real danger comes in the shift to all fluorescent. That dramatic of an increase in mercury bearing bulbs would have to have some sort of an impact.
I used to work in retail. About once every 12-18 months we would have all of our lights (fluorescent) changed. We were forbidden throwing them into the dumpster out back. We had to wait for an authorized mercury recycling company to come and pick them up. [Sometimes this meant we had bulbs in our stockroom for months.] We were always told that it was because of EPA restrictions on the disposal of mercury containing bulbs.
Fighting for conservatism one day at a time.
the business probably had to, but that doesn't necessarily mean the sending them to the landfill was dangerous.
I haven't had Dan's bad experience with bulb life expectancy and frequently use compact florescent bulbs in my house, but I do have a few lights for which they don't manufacture a bulb which fits the fixture, so I use incandescents in those. And I'd rather not have to replace the fixtures because of government regulations.
Global warming fascism. Government taking away our rights.
I'm still waiting for the Libertarian outrage over this.
As I indicated above, I have nothing against CFLs and believe people who think they help the environment, or like me are [cue Daffy Duck voice] greedy sniveling little [end Daffy] bastages (as well as lazy), ought to be able buy and use them. But the government should not be mandating them.
Trying to move everyone to fluorescent now is dumb and premature.
HTML Help for Red Staters
"If we want to take this party back, and I think we can someday, let’s get to work." – Barry Goldwater