I wonder Which poster will dispute this, with some kind of tarty claim that CFLs cost $20 per bulb or that they pose a huge environmental danger?

“The roughly 20-year life of a solar panel still makes it some of the cleanest energy technology currently available. Producing solar is still significantly cleaner than fossil fuels. Energy derived from natural gas and coal-fired power plants, for example, creates more than 10 times more hazardous waste than the same energy created by a solar panel, according to Mulvaney.”

Please provide your proof that anything in the article is factually incorrect.

I predict silence from suzie.

Of course. When you rely on a nut site, you might draw that inane conclusion.

The one argument that never gets defended enough are the people who gripe about how CFLs have terrible “color”. And that’s partly the fault of the buyer, and partly the fault of the marketing of the lamp maker. They make all sorts of color temprature CFL lamps. READ THE LABEL, you might get a bright “blue” on when you really want a more natural light. Stick to 2500-3000K color temperature for the more traditional warm color, if that’s your thing.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/11/1567931/nra-connecticut-effect/

Comment by mike o — February 11, 2013 @ 7:50 pm

Me too.

Your erroneous pricing has already been covered by others; you are confusing LED bulbs and CFL bulbs, but I’ll cover that later in this “go green”, tree-hugging hippie eco-terrorist diatribe.

Tube fluorescent bulbs have been ubiquitous for decades (think schools, offices, stores, pretty much any business in which you’ve ever set foot) and you don’t see any HazMat teams cleaning them up on the rare occasions when they break. As a matter of fact, HazMat containment isn’t even listed on the MSDS for fluorescent bulbs. Caution and care, like you would use when handling any broken glass, is suggested. And guess what else? Those tubes also have way more mercury, argon and several other heavy metals and gases than your average household CFLs. If those bulbs were as dangerous as the fearmongers would have you believe, the EPA would’ve banned or regulated them heavily years ago. CFLs also have an average lifespan 5x that of incandescent bulbs and use ~1/5th the electricity.

LED bulbs, on the other hand, are about $20 each. The only danger they pose is to vision (from staring directly at them) and maybe some minor electronic interference. They can, depending on manufacturing processes, color range and output, produce infrared or ultraviolet wavelengths of light, but that can be minimized or even eliminated with a simple diffuser or shade. LEDs have an average lifespan of 10-20x that of incandescent bulbs and use as little as 1/50th the electricity.

Incandescent bulbs are inefficient, short-lived and obsolete. The design is over a century old, with virtually no advancements in the technology. As much as 90% of your electricity is wasted in the form of heat. Considering that you are more in danger from the lights above your head in the store where you buy your light bulbs than you are from having CFLs in your home, there is no reason to continue this fear-based misinformation campaign against them. This resistance to a change that benefits everyone, including your wallet, is ridiculous. Do people actually like throwing away money? You might as well light two dollar bills on fire every day.

- The disposal argument is dead. We can recycle CFLs now. By their increased lifespan alone, there will be less of them in landfills.
- The hazard argument is minimized. How many bulbs do you really break in your house per year anyway? You get more dangerous chemicals from the exhaust from the car in front of you on your commute to work than you’d get from cleaning up a broken CFL.
- The cost argument is dead. I was replacing around five to seven incandescent bulbs per year in any place I’ve lived. After switching my entire apartment to CFLs ($35 total), I’ve replaced two in the last 30 months. Additionally, my electric bill has been reduced by 40%, more than paying for the price of the bulbs in full.

It’s time stop resisting change just for the sake of resisting. Do some real research and pick the right bulbs for your needs. Help us all out. If you won’t do it for the environment, do it for the money. Everyone wants more money, right? You can start putting it back in your pocket by next month. You won’t regret it and you won’t look back other than to wonder what took you so long.

/hippie spiel

Thanks for your time.