Walmart, compact fluorescents and practical environmentalism

[Arrian]

So unless I break one, I'm fine, then.

But it does beg the question of how to dispose of them. I don't recall anything on the package that tells you to do anything other than simply throw them out.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

EPA fact sheet specific to CFLs:

http://www.nema.org/lamprecycle/epafactsheet-cfl.pdf

-Arrian

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Arrian
So unless I break one, I'm fine, then.

But it does beg the question of how to dispose of them. I don't recall anything on the package that tells you to do anything other than simply throw them out.

-Arrian

Lovely landfills. Course none of them get broken in a landfill. To your point, I suppose its only a matter of time before some litigious twit decides to sue GE and Sylvania.

[Arrian]

Yes, and the claim will end up on my desk. Ah, job security.

It doesn't look like the town dump/recycling center has anything on CFLs. I can ask next time I'm down there, but the guy in the booth may not really know.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

I suspect that if CFLs become more and more prevalent, regulations will change.

-Arrian

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Arrian
EPA fact sheet specific to CFLs:

http://www.nema.org/lamprecycle/epafactsheet-cfl.pdf

-Arrian

Good you found it. I however take issue (surprise surprise) with the EPA's attempt to upsell CFL's.

I've heard seen that figure about how CFL's in the long run mean less Hg in the enviroment than incandescents. I call BS.

1) heat form incandescents is real as already describe din this thread. Likely that does impact either heating needs via fossil fuels or elctricity.

2) Most of the calcs deal with coal as primary source of electrical generation. Whoopdy doo. That is a bad assumption and not prevalent in Europe for example where a good deal of power comes from nukes. Funny how they take the dirtiest source of electricity to benchmark against.

3) Even so, Mercury as generated from power plant is dispersed. Its not so much the global Hg levels as much as the localized higher concentrations that cause issue. Hg in a landfill and getting into groundwater is much more dangerous than widely dispersed low concentration airborn Hg.

4) A life of 5 years for a CFL. You gotta to be friggin kiddin me. I'm lucky if I get 1 year tops.

So forgive my skeptisicm on the glowing praises of how CFL's actually reduce Hg. Tell it to the locals near a landfill.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

dp

[Arrian]

Re: 2, in the US coal is a pretty significant source of electic power generation, no? I see your point about Europe, but this is the USEPA we're talking about here.

Re: 4, it's a YMMV thing, I imagine... I haven't been tracking it.

-Arrian

[Imran Siddiqui]

[q=Ogie Oglethorpe]A life of 5 years for a CFL. You gotta to be friggin kiddin me. I'm lucky if I get 1 year tops.[/q]

Wait, what?! I've had a few CFLs for 2 years now and still going strong. What are you doing to your light bulbs?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Ogie Oglethorpe
4) A life of 5 years for a CFL. You gotta to be friggin kiddin me. I'm lucky if I get 1 year tops.

Obviously depends on use as I have gotten 5 years out of incandescents in less used fixtures. My 9 bulb chandelier still has all original bulbs

I have about 6 CFL's that are nearly two years old and a bunch more that are about a yearold. I have yet to have to replace a CFL.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
[q=Ogie Oglethorpe]A life of 5 years for a CFL. You gotta to be friggin kiddin me. I'm lucky if I get 1 year tops.[/q]

Wait, what?! I've had a few CFLs for 2 years now and still going strong. What are you doing to your light bulbs?

I used them in ceiling fans and outdoor lights at the front door. Damn things blew out in about 3 months in both cases. Maybe it was just the brand I bought from Home Depot.

[Arrian]

Sounds like you got some lemons there, Ogie. I can't recall any of mine going yet.

-Arrian

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Ogie Oglethorpe


I used them in ceiling fans and outdoor lights at the front door. Damn things blew out in about 3 months in both cases. Maybe it was just the brand I bought from Home Depot.

wow-- thats way too fast for indoors even in you had them on 24/7. I have no idea if the outdoors might affect them somehow

[Jon Miller]

Yeah, I used my lights all the time (I regularly run them all night...) and didn't have any stop working after several years...

JM

[Aeson]

Incandescents can last an extremely long time... but that's probably not the look most people are looking for. (I would also guess that the efficiency of such a bulb is very low, given the thickness of the filament.)

CFL's can be disposed of properly. Any push for these to be proliferated should go hand in hand with a recycling campaign. Handled correctly they will reduce the amount of Hg in the environment. Mishandled and they could create a problem though.

Heat output from a lightbulb is a negative IMO. You can always get similar efficiency from a furnace if you need the heat. All the heat from incandescents really accomplish is to restrict the amount of light from certain types of fixtures, and waste electricity when light is needed but heat is not. There's no "plus" to it unless you don't have an efficient furnace, or can rely completely on your lighting for heat, thus eliminating the need for a furnace, and live in a climate where you always need the heat. That is quite a long-shot, given that you're almost never going to be able to get by without a furnace in a climate where you need to be heating your house constantly. (Or you're going to be blind from all the lights...) And if you didn't care enough to get (or upgrade to) an efficient furnace, but are trying to be efficient in your heating by using incandescents with a higher efficiency, you're going at it backwards.