Poe for President? He makes too much sense – America will never go for it. And he’s a republican, strike two. The third strike I won’t say as I don’t want to be called a racist.
I knew about the mercury, but I had no idea these bulbs were only made in China, or that they interfered with TV, etc. Surely there is another, safer, way we can conserve energy? We’ve got a few smart guys in this country, too – or do we?
It’s certainly an interesting argument. I was interesting in finding out how much more or less mercury are used with conventional bulbs versus CFLs, and found this:
Put simply it points out that coal fired plants put more mercury into the environment providing energy to bulbs than bulbs of any kind do themselves, so in short, conventional bulbs produce more mercury emissions through their increased energy requirements than CFLs produce even including the mercury they contain.
CFLs do cost more, but they should last longer and use less energy, so they’ll tend to pay for themselves.
Newer technologies for burning coal should help take care of the mercury problem at the production end, but so far many companies complain it costs too much to implement.
That all said, white LED lighting will probably supersede fluorescents soon enough for many applications.
Poe for President? He makes too much sense – America will never go for it. And he’s a republican, strike two. The third strike I won’t say as I don’t want to be called a racist.
I knew about the mercury, but I had no idea these bulbs were only made in China, or that they interfered with TV, etc. Surely there is another, safer, way we can conserve energy? We’ve got a few smart guys in this country, too – or do we?
It’s certainly an interesting argument. I was interesting in finding out how much more or less mercury are used with conventional bulbs versus CFLs, and found this:
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/change_light/downloads/Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf
Put simply it points out that coal fired plants put more mercury into the environment providing energy to bulbs than bulbs of any kind do themselves, so in short, conventional bulbs produce more mercury emissions through their increased energy requirements than CFLs produce even including the mercury they contain.
CFLs do cost more, but they should last longer and use less energy, so they’ll tend to pay for themselves.
Newer technologies for burning coal should help take care of the mercury problem at the production end, but so far many companies complain it costs too much to implement.
That all said, white LED lighting will probably supersede fluorescents soon enough for many applications.