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157 Comments
- sheagunther42, on 02/05/2008, -4/+51It's important to point out that WAY more mercury is released into the air by burning the extra coal needed to power an incandescent bulb over the life of a CFL bulb.
- harriman714, on 02/05/2008, -4/+37no love for the Canadian Football League????
- allaboutdatiki, on 02/05/2008, -1/+28CFLs are a temporary thing. LED will be the long term solution once the price drops ...
- emix, on 02/05/2008, -1/+24i just throw them in the creek
- liquidjamm, on 02/05/2008, -6/+25Wait - so these bulbs are not good for the environment??? Damn you Digggggggggg
- paperfrog, on 02/05/2008, -3/+22CFLs are going to be a pain in the butt a few years from now if stores aren't compelled to offer take-back recycling programs.
- hdar3415, on 02/05/2008, -6/+21Although these are all good suggestions, the majority of CFLs are still going to end up in landfills, causing problems for future generations.
- inactive, on 02/05/2008, -0/+12Just give them to Uncle fester.
- nepawoods, on 02/05/2008, -4/+14It depends. I haven't found the CFLs to live up to their advertised life.
- cyroxos, on 02/05/2008, -0/+9All of those methods you mentioned account for less than 2% of the power generation in the united states.
- NikoKun, on 02/05/2008, -0/+8No clue what your talking about nepa... I've had these damn things for years... never burned out yet...
- studdenfadden, on 02/05/2008, -1/+9I just throw mine into my neighbor's dog house. That stupid dog barks all night, hopefully the mercury will solve that problem.
- thatsmyaibo, on 02/05/2008, -1/+9mrbabyman...I'm worried about you. Either you are getting paid for your submissions or you really need to go out and find a real job. Digg will be ok without you...I promise.
- inactive, on 02/05/2008, -1/+8Even if they last 2 years (which every single one of mine have) the environment still comes out on top. And that is if 100% of CFs are disposed of imporperly (which they won't be), and 100% of hte mercury in those bulbs leaks into the environment (which wouldn't happen.)
- Ludnix, on 02/05/2008, -1/+8That was a wonderful anecdote, I wonder though if perhaps you could have bothered to explain why they bulbs are so stupid, or atleast related it the story in a slightly more relevant way.
- Mitchum, on 02/05/2008, -2/+9Good article, I had never heard of earth911.org before.
- Aard88, on 02/05/2008, -3/+10Do CFLs contain mercury?
CFLs contain a very small amount of mercury sealed within the glass tubing – an average of 5 milligrams – about the amount that would cover the tip of a ballpoint pen. By comparison, older thermometers contain about 500 milligrams of mercury. It would take 100 CFLs to equal that amount.
From: http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/c ...
As an aside...I remember (back in the day) breaking thermometers on purpose to play with the mercury we got out of it. We also would ride our bikes behind the mosquito fogger, I believe this was still the good old DDT days. When we were done we would go home to drink Koolaid with Red Dye #3 and Aspartame. I really don't think the amount of mercury in a CFL is going cause anyone a problem. Now my other head is objecting...nosy bastard. - drunkwally, on 02/05/2008, -1/+6High levels of mercury in the environment is not a problem because you can completely avoid being contaminated by not eating fish, animals, plants or water. That's where the mercury goes once it leaks out.
- gcauthon, on 02/05/2008, -0/+5The number one tip is to write letters, attend meetings and become an activist? I just want to get rid of a freaking light bulb. I guess this is easier than building my own CFL recycling facility, but it still doesn't sound very easy.
- ISurfTooMuch, on 02/05/2008, -1/+6So you don't like the idea of banning incandesent bulbs because it's heavy-handed regulation? Then I suppose you also think we ought to bring back leaded gasoline, asbestos, and DDT? After all, these were also banned.
The fact is, we can safely dispose of these bulbs if people will act responsibly and not like self-centered jerks. OTOH, the current bulbs use more power, and until we can generate unlimited power through non-polluting means, we have to keep energy consumption to a minimum, and using CFL's is a good way to do that. - thatsmyaibo, on 02/05/2008, -0/+5The problem is the reason it gets to the front page is because of the submitter and not the content. I fail to see how out of over a million users, the same submitter has three stories on the front page at once.
If you ever have a free moment, send me an IM (my name can be found on my profile). I would like to discuss digg with you in a professional manner. - inactive, on 02/05/2008, -0/+5No...you ***** idiot. The statement (which is true) that incandescents produce more mercury has NOTHING to do with their manufacturing. It is the fact that to create the added energy to BURN the incandescents coal power plants release FAR more mercury than CFLs have in them. And the gaseous mercury is MUCH harder to contain
- bocaJWho, on 02/05/2008, -0/+5Actually, reading over the other parts of the webpage, they not that if you take into account the amount of mercury released by coal fired plants (the most common energy source here in the US) a CFL will only 'produce' 2.5 milligrams, while an incandescent will produce 10. Even with the four milligrams inside, the CFL is less polluting.
- otakushark, on 02/05/2008, -0/+4The landfill your house may be built on has decades worth of broken fluorescent tube lights, thermometers and thermostats. If you're lucky, though, maybe the layers of broken lead-soldered TV and radio circuit boards will catch the mercury.
Waste management today is far, far better than it was before the '70's. The whole mercury in CFLs thing is way overblown. - thelaxdude, on 02/05/2008, -0/+4i don't call total *****. I have a mix of brands, some are super fast at getting to 100%, some are medium, and I have seen some older ones that are dog slow. (just a note, but the medium ones are great for a bathroom where you do not want your eyes blasted after waking up). He did say it was a stairwell to his basement, cold can greatly affect the warm up time. I have had some that were outside and they had trouble getting up to 100% - and I live in the North West, a cold basement in the cold belt, mixed with a medium speed CFL could be the problem - especially if it is not in a globe.
Also, if a light is only on for 3 minutes, do you really need a CFL? - thomoore, on 02/05/2008, -10/+14I've used such bulbs in many places, but the light is so different that my wife and I often get our socks mismatched because the colors don't look right. REQUIRING us to use them is the sort of heavy-handed governmetn regulation that gave us "economical" flush toilets that had to be flushed several times to get the job done and ended up using more water. Environmentalism is all very well, but what people advocate ought to WORK. This article
http://www.scragged.com/articles/a-guaranteed-way- ...
outlines a GUARANTEED way to cut carbon footprint and people would LIKE doing it. Why doesn't someone talk about it? This article
http://www.scragged.com/articles/energy-conservati ...
explores energy use in India and China. If they follow our path, each country will put itself in a position of its entire economy being vulnerable to interruption of its oil supplies and they’ll run the oil price up even higher. There is an alternative, but they'd have to move FAST. - D3koy, on 02/05/2008, -0/+4I was surprised to hear that the area where I live (which claims to be environmentally progressive) had no system in place, except for the twice annual "hazardous waste" drop-off event....the guy on the phone said "uhh, I guess you could just throw them in the trash, right?"
- solarwind24, on 02/05/2008, -2/+6So what are yoooouuuu going to do about it ;)
- BlackJackJester, on 02/05/2008, -0/+4I just eat them
- inactive, on 02/05/2008, -0/+4***** WaterDragon...Again...with every CFL story you post the SAME exactly *****. In your previous ones, it was CLEAR that you haven't used CFLs in over a decade. So you are basing your ***** on decade old technology. It is also clear that your ailing papa apparently works for an incandscent bulb manufacturure abd lost his job due to less demand.
allati2d..the scince DOEs support my argument. You are just too ***** stupid to understand it. Again...it has NOTHING to do with manufacturing incandescents. It has to do with the massive amount of merucry it takes to produce the extra 40-50 Watts of electricity to burn an incandescent instead of a CFL. And as me...and SCINCE...stated already...that merucry is released to the environment in the form of GAS. Which is much worse for people. And cannot be contained no matter what. - fkr3, on 02/05/2008, -0/+4The benefit is that they last longer and the majority is still a whole lot less than filament bulbs. There's no real instant solution to problems like this, but this is a less-damaging step in the right direction.
- minoss, on 02/05/2008, -0/+4"The downside is that the service is quite expensive: about $120 per shipment."
Yea, not happening. - londubh, on 02/05/2008, -0/+4Yes, a lot of the mercury from these CFL's are going to end up back in the environment. But it's not all bad. Burning coal puts a lot of mercury in the air. If you didn't use a CFL and used incandescents then more mercury would go into the atmosphere from burning coal for the same amount of time an CFL would last. Ultimately LEDs will be the best option for replacing most lighting.
- inactive, on 02/05/2008, -1/+4@MrBabyMan,
I agree with thatsmyaibo. He has a point, nothing against top diggers, btw MrBabyMan you haven replied to my reply to you comment.
Here's the link
http://digg.com/tech_news/What_Failed_The_Digg_Alg ... - inactive, on 02/05/2008, -0/+3So a glass bulb wont break under tons of trash in a landfill? And what are those plastic bags gonna be made out of Kevlar? All kidding aside you're ***** crazy!
- inactive, on 02/05/2008, -1/+423W CFL for 100W Incandescent bulb. Power Savings = 77%. But I know that numbers confuse some people....
- konspence, on 02/05/2008, -1/+4The CFL's really do not have a lot of mercury, it's a very negligible amount. It's inevitable that a lot will get thrown away, but is it a problem? Not really. They do more good than harm.
- inactive, on 02/05/2008, -0/+3Yet, I'll throw out CFLs (already broke 2, and threw them out). But then again, I don't recycle at all -- all my aluminum cans/plastic cartons/glass bottles all go in the trash. I have the ability to recycle, but I'm too lazy and it doesn't really matter.
- linuxpenguin, on 02/05/2008, -0/+3Disposing lightbulbs without dumping mercury everywhere? What's the point in that? Kids love playing with it and watching it bounce around, break into little balls, roll around on the linoleum. . .
It's really good for the fish too - I use it on my fishing lures. Man those bluegills are delicious! - jjacksonRIAB, on 02/05/2008, -0/+3(whispers) Household thermostats get thrown about 200 times an order of magnitude less often. Ok I'm guessing, but I've had the same thermostat in my house for 30 years.
- inactive, on 02/05/2008, -1/+4I don't care about the mercury. CFL gives me badass migraines. Incandescent doesn't.
- AndyStitzer, on 02/05/2008, -0/+3They are excellent carp food
- Dax420, on 02/05/2008, -0/+2You might want to have someone check out your sarcasm detector, I think it may be malfunctioning.
- Eallan, on 02/06/2008, -0/+2http://www.ccrane.com/lights/led-light-bulbs/index ...
- konspence, on 02/05/2008, -0/+2Not necessarily. Some brands & types take longer to warm up, especially the flood ones.
- billege, on 02/05/2008, -1/+3For what it's worth, I've found it's not a good idea to put CFLs in places that have high on/off cycles with low on times. CFLs don't last really long in those situations, and as you've discovered, the time it takes to full brightness can be longer than the time you need the light on.
In our house, we've switched almost entirely to CFLs, except where we've found they don't make sense. The hall/foyer entry lights, the stairway lights, the furnace room light, and ceiling fan lights are all halogen bulbs. (We found that CFLs flickered like mad in our fan fixtures. I think it's because the electricity goes through the fan motor or something first.)
Having said that, 3 minutes seems absurdly long. I have 3 year old bulbs that don't take 3 minutes. I
t sucks that your experience is negative with these bulbs. Maybe you can give them another try in a location where you're likely to leave the light on for a while. Maybe a kitchen or living room. - linuxpenguin, on 02/05/2008, -0/+2Well that's what happens when you hang out at the landfill all day. . .
- minoss, on 02/05/2008, -0/+2So that tells you what the real problem is. Oh well, thank the anti-nuclear activists of the 90s.
- triskele, on 02/05/2008, -0/+2Pretty sure most LEDs are rated to ~100,000 hours.
- doubleaught, on 02/05/2008, -0/+2"A 5-gallon PVC bucket with sealable top can be scrounged from most construction sites or purchased new for less than ten dollars."
lol... I need some better power tools, maybe I should go "scrounge" some up at a construction site. -
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