Letters to the Editor
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To King Lear Re: Efficiency
Efifciency is a measure of how much of the energy that goes into the bulb is converted to light: it's 5% for incandescents and 15% for CFLs. So, CFLs are 3x as efficient and therefore they use 2/3 less electricity.
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More on mercury and CFLs
I don't want to say that concerns about mercury in CFLs are overblown; let's just say they're exaggerated.
Currently in the US, coal-fired power plants pump 48 tons of mercury into our air every year. That's the equivalent of 48 billion CFLs, or 480 per household. Per year. Going into the air. That we breathe.
I don't know where thingswesaid came up with his/her estimates ("600 CFLs per generation... That's 2400 milligrams of mercury per generation per household"), but they seem to assume many more lightbulbs per household than we have in our ten-room house. We have about 20 actively used bulbs. At 5 years/CFL, that's 4 bulbs replaced per year, or 200 in a generously calculated 50-year "generation." But no matter how you count it, it's a lot less than 480 CFLs a year.
And our CFLs go to a recycling center, where the mercury is presumably contained or, I assume, recycled -- it doesn't end up in a landfill, and certainly not in the atmosphere.
The problem of breaking CFLs is indeed overblown in my experience. Does anyone have actual experience with breaking a CFL? I've been using them for a dozen years and so far, not a single broken bulb. These are tough little buggers. Clumsy me, I've dropped them from light-fixture height to carpet, and nothing happens -- not a hint of breakage. (I haven't dropped one to a hard floor, yet, and don't plan to experiment, but I bet it would survive.)
If you do break one, the glass isn't the incandescent-bulb type -- it doesn't shatter. According to what I've read, most or all of the mercury stays inside the broken bulb, so all you do is sweep it up (I've heard: use a broom, not a vacuum cleaner) and dispose (again, in the recycling bin if your locality supports it).
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varities of CFLs
I started switching to CFL bulbs at least 7 years ago, and many of those bulbs are still going strong. At first I was frustrated by the lack of variety available in CFLs, they had a very long start up time, and they tended to be longer than the incandescent bulbs so they did not physically fit in several fixtures.
Since then I've seen the number of varieties grow to include several shapes and base styles. I've also located, with a bit of searching, online stores that offer various color options, so you can choose from softer light for general lighting or harsher whiter light for task lighting. There are dimmable bulbs out there as well, but I haven't tired them yet. My favorite bulb is a replacement for a small 40 watt high intensity bulb my bedside reading lamp used. The old one got really hot, and I would have to replace it every year. The CFL replacement just gets pretty warm, and I've had it for 4 years now. Plus, it's uses around 1/4th the energy.
Sure, I've had a few burn out, mostly due to my installing them in locations where the instructions said not to. If you have recessed lighting, make sure you get a bulb that specifically notes that it's okay for such applications. Outdoor fixtures are also a problem, as they should be fully enclosed.
Maybe my perception is off now that I've been living with these bulbs for years, but I personally haven't had trouble with flicker or bluish light. I do like the energy savings, and I've actually come to like the warm-up period on those mornings where I've just got up while it's still dark and my eyes are not ready for a bright light yet.
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CFLs should NOT be used by everyone -- Mercury too serious of a concern!
Far too often people justify CFL mercury disposal in landfills by saying the amount pales in comparison to other sources such as coal-fired power plants. But that comparison is equivalent to justifying driving a 14-mile-per-gallon SUV because it pollutes less than an ocean-going oil tanker, or that it's okay to dump an ashtray of cigarette butts onto the highway because the highways are already littered with tons of trash. The real issue is whether mercury can be absorbed into our environment through landfills without any environmental/ecological consequences. We already know that answer: NO! Not at our current rate of CFL use, and certainly not at an increased rate of CFL use.
Adopting CFLs wholeheartedly today is short-sighted... a bit like burning fossil fuels to produce corn-based ethanol to realize a minimal energy savings today instead of focusing efforts on mass-producing biofuel from switchgrass to realize a massive energy savings tomorrow. The CFL energy savings we see during the next 10 years could be insignificant when compared with the ecological disasters/clean-up we'll have to undertake 20, 50, or 100 years in the future. I think people who aren't going to recycle CFLs at a hazardous waste facility shouldn't use CFLs... and that's gotta be at least a super majority of the U.S. population, which, in my mind, is reason enough to not promote CFL use to everybody through articles such as Pablo's.
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think of the Autism people
And the peanut allergies, and safety helmets.
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there is no waste heat in february.
i live in the northern us. i don't mind that incandescents give off heat. right now, i crave heat, there is no such thing as waste heat. i realize it costs me more to acquire heat from the electric outlet than the oil tanker, but on the other hand the oil is probably burned more efficiently in the power plant than my furnace. at very least, any calculations of how much money I save with fluorescents should subtract out the cost of replacing the heat.
now in the summer, i don't need the heat, and have to air condition the house. but at that time, the lights aren't on much except at night, when the need for AC is less. and of course, i can swap out to fluoresecnts and back in the winter.
which, is basically, what i do. i use both incandescents, and fluorescents based on a number of criteria, including energy efficiency/cost, but net efficiency including whether the heat is wasted or not.