Comments on: EcoMom Challenge Step #1: Change a light

By: D.B.

D.B. — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:34:26 +0000

Thanks for the info on CFL. Something to consider in the cost calculation, is that depending on the climate, the heat produced by regular incandescent bulbs may not necessarily be wasted energy. Meaning in the winter they are contributing to heating the house. Also I have had one of the CFL bulbs drop and break, and another actually pop and break in the fixture. One other burned out. Frankly, I’ve been going back to regular incandescent. And I don’t like the idea of having to leave the CFL on for 15 minutes at a time for max life. Perhaps some of these CFL are not ready for primetime?

By: Green Me

Green Me — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:45:51 +0000

Great point about the mercury and spent bulbs! As long as you are not a klutz and you don’t break your bulbs, but use them for their full life you don’t have to worry about trashing them…although I know that there have been some problems with bulbs living out their full life, especially some of the bulbs made a few years ago. I wonder if a bulb that burns out before its time has used up all the mercury or if there is something else wrong. If so, perhaps bulbs that burn out in just a few years should be taken for proper recycling, but a bulb that lasts 5 or 7 or even 10 years could likely be put in the trash with no safety concerns.

By: msturtz

msturtz — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:07:25 +0000

#3, mercury… It’s certainly not good to have it released into the environment, but consider the actual mercury polution *in total*. As you mentioned, a thermometer had at least 100 times as much mercury (a 10 second search for the actual amount in a CFL turned up empty, but its an extreemly tiny amount). Additionally, one of the byproducts of coal-fired power plants is mercury — the amount of mercury in the bulb is less than the amount of mercury released by burning the coal required to run the incondescent bulb. Finally, the way fluorescent bulbs work, the mercury vapor inside the tube is slowly used up. When its gone, the bulb will no longer work. If the bulb is legitimately worn out, the mercury is used up, and you can just throw it out.

Simply put, don’t worry about the mercury issue at all, CFL’s are still much better than the alternative.

By: Green Me

Green Me — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:38:12 +0000

Okay, so I am not the only “weird” one that actually counts out all her light bulbs! Nice job getting all but 6 changed out — I totally understand your qualms with the chandelier bulbs. I honestly can’t remember if we couldn’t find at all dimmable CFLs that fit our chandelier or if we just knew that they would look too darn weird and hang too low!

By: Condo Blues

Condo Blues — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:21:00 +0000

I have 58 light bulbs in my house. All but 6 are energy efficient bulbs. I only wish that they’d make the “candle flame” CLFs look a little nicer. I bought those for the chandelier in my bedroom but took them out because they looked like, um, martial aids. I know it was in a bedroom light fixture but come on. I don’t need a blatant reminder like that every time I turn on the lights!