US Congress has banned the incandescent light bulb

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Congress' energy bill bans incandescent light bulbs by 2014 and requires all Americans to buy compact fluorescents.

I suggest you listen to Congressman Ted Poe moment on the podium.

From the thread on California's ban on incandescents (January 2007) I wrote:

Fluorescents... yummy

Traditional 60 w bulb made of glass, tungsten filament, copper wire, steel screw and a small amount of argon. They are tried and true, and when one breaks you can bury it in your back yard and not worry about your children's water supply.

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Compact fluorescent are encased in plastic (aka crude oil) which will eventually break up into little particles that will do the
evil things that little particles of plastic do.

Fluorescents contain highly toxic mercury. When you break a bulb the mercury will forever be in your home's dust.

Fluorescents also emit more UV light than traditional bulbs or the sun per unit of visable light, aka more cancer.

Fluorescents only really work well when in a "central air and heat" environment. The ballasts degrade more rapidly and the lights flicker othewise. How much energy is being saved if you have to heat and cool your light?

They lack thermal inertia causing strobe effect which can be dangerous given the right circumstance; working with spinning machinery or parkinsons disease, etc.

The phosphor coating on the inside of the tube creates an environmental disposal issue.

The traditional bulb comes in a cardboard printed box that I could use to start my woodstove, the fluorescent comes in a plastic package with color printed advertisements.

The fluorescent says, in microprint, "Check with your local code office for proper disposal." I'm sure every good little doobie gives a call down to their local code office before tossing the old bulb in the trash.

Before I digress to the disgusting truth behind electronic lamp ballasts on the common flourescent, I would have to hold discourse on the metaphysical by-products of the solid state electronic circuitry industry. However, we needent go there, because alas...

cynically I speaketh this truth unto the via the microprocessor,

Sri Oracle

The congressman also makes the point that these new bulbs are ONLY MADE IN CHINA.

This company claims you can read by this light paint but the photo doesn't seem convincing. Still, with developments like this I don't fear the phase out. Even LED are better than the old incandescent bulb.

GlowPaint glow-in-the-dark paint company, MPK Co., has come up with self-luminous micro particles called Litrospheres™ which they say are inexpensive, non-toxic, and will stay on for 12+ years (half-life point) continuously -- without having to be plugged into any power source. It is a betavoltaic technology, using a radioactive gas, whose "soft" emission of electrons from the beta emitting gas cannot penetrate the glass or polymer wall of the microspheres.
The Litrospheres™ are not affected by heat or cold, and are 5,000-pound crush resistant. They can be injection molded or added to paint. The fill rate of Litroenergy micro particles in plastic injection molding material or paint is about 20%. The constant light gives off no U.V. rays, and can be designed to emit almost any color of light desired.
The company seeks to mass produce this mateiral and supply OEMs.
"This has potential to save billions in energy costs world-wide. Litroenergy™ surpasses all known available lighting options for cost/durability/reliability and safety." -- Steve Stark, MPK Co.

peswiki.com...:MPK_Cos_Litroenergy

I was wondering when someone would post more threads on this ridiculous ban on the old incandescent light bulbs.

Why does the government have to mandate what type of light bulbs we all use??? It's absolutely ridiculous.

If these new fluorescent bulbs were so great we'd all switch to them naturally, and since the government has stepped in and FORCED us to use them...I assume they must ultimately suck, and of course, there's the added bonus of them being toxic when broken. Way to go "green"

We have done the switch to the new "energy saver" bulbs, and they have cut our electricity bills by about 35%. They also last a lot longer and don't "flicker" as you mentioned.

I read that Australia is doing the same by 2010

the move could cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 4 million tonnes by 2012.

news.bbc.co.uk...


p.s I wouldn't bury incandescent bulbs anywhere .. especially not in my back yard- just as likely to cause injury.

reply to post by deltaalphanovember


Well the difference being, if one of your children broke an incandescent bulb, they would simply suffer a minor cut as opposed to mercury poisoning.

I have them in my house as well, and I can't recall ever breaking an incandescent bulb once in my life. But then again I don't have kids either but if I did, I'd be a bit concerned.

Originally posted by LateApexer313
reply to post by deltaalphanovember

 

I have them in my house as well, and I can't recall ever breaking an incandescent bulb once in my life. But then again I don't have kids either but if I did, I'd be a bit concerned.

The risk of mercury poisoning from a cfl bulb is minimal. The average bulb contains a mere 5 milligrams of mercury.. Compare that to modern manual thermometers which contain up to 3000 milligrams, and those get used on a daily basis without anyone batting an eye.

Clean up of a broken CFL bulb doesn't require a toxic spill clean up crew either. It's quite simple.

Because there is such a small amount of mercury in CFLs, your greatest risk if a bulb breaks is getting cut from glass shards. Research indicates that there is no immediate health risk to you or your family should a bulb break and it's cleaned up properly. You can minimize any risks by following these proper clean-up and disposal guidelines:

* Sweep up—don't vacuum—all of the glass fragments and fine particles.
* Place broken pieces in a sealed plastic bag and wipe the area with a damp paper towel to pick up any stray shards of glass or fine particles. Put the used towel in the plastic bag as well.
* If weather permits, open windows to allow the room to ventilate.

If you're really that worried about it though, buy LED bulbs. They last up to 30k hours, and use even less electricity than a cfl bulb. Unfortunately, they start at $20 and go up from there at the moment, and usually have to be ordered online.

By the time time 2014 rolls around though, they'll be a lot cheaper.

Originally posted by deltaalphanovember
We have done the switch to the new "energy saver" bulbs, and they have cut our electricity bills by about 35%. They also last a lot longer and don't "flicker" as you mentioned.

I almost hated to revive this post, but I recently bought a couple of packs of these new bulbs to try. I figured I would have to get used to it since the government sees the need to micromanage my home. I hate these things. Don't get me wrong, I think saving energy is great! I like saving money on my monthly energy bill. With technology being what it is, I don't think green living should require a compromise of quality or aesthetics.

I don't like the quality of the CFL light, the comparison they give saying a certain bulb is equivalent of a certain wattage incandescent bulb is off. I bought the bulb that was supposedly the same as a 100w regular bulb, but it wasn't even as bright as a 75w bulb I had been using. Also, there is a warm up period. The full candela power listed isn't instant, it takes a few minutes. Finally, I preferred using the GE reveal lights, and no CFL produces the same clean natural light. And this is probably just bad luck, but one of the bulbs in the pack didn't work. It would never fully illuminate, just flicker a bit.

Above all, I don't think that the government should be forcing this on us. Like it has been said before, if it were so great, people would switch on their own. The fact that it is being mandated by the government suggest to me that some lobbiest has some real pull or knows something really juicy.

Personally, my hope is for the LED to end up the wornderbulb: more efficient, safer, cooler, extremely long life and with the clean natural light of the reveal bulbs.