Incandescent Light Bulb Ban

[Little Owl]

I know that complaining about a Nanny State mandate here is preaching to the choir, but I really detest this latest stunt.  Can't find the link now, but I read earlier that this ban HAS already passed the House and Senate (within the automotive CAFE standard increase) and Bush is expected to sign it (probably because it contains more gifts to ADM in Biofuel mandates).

My first thought was to smuggle cigarettes into Canada and smuggle out incandescent bulbs, but apparently Canada is buying into the global warming stupidity too.

http://digg.com/environment/Congress_Likely_to_Pass_Incandescent_Bulb_Ban
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200703/NAT20070321a.html
http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/eco-friendly/congress-incandescent-light-bulbs-ban-461217

[Puke]

Goodbye heat lamps and easy bake ovens.

[Kat Kanning]

Isn't there mercury in the other kind?

[ethanpooley]

Totally agree on the nanny state part, of course, but I am a big fan of the alternative Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL's) personally. I've replaced nearly every bulb in my house with them, solely because I'm too lazy to change bulbs when they go out. Incandescents go out all the time, but CFL's last for years. As far as spectrum coverage goes, I've found them to be much more like incandescents than the old tube fluorescents, but fluorescents of all kinds are available now that cover a broad spectrum if you prefer that.

Downsides are still a higher up-front cost and poor performance in cold temperatures. From what I've been able to uncover on the mercury front, the CFL's are a net gain by a wide margin currently, simply because the extra energy required to light incandescents is largely generated by coal plants, which release mercury into the air in greater quantities when it's all agonizingly calculated out. With CFL's at least we have a chance to control what happens to the mercury, and even if it ends up in landfills it is supposedly safer there than in the atmosphere.

[KBCraig]

Isn't there mercury in the other kind?

But of course. They need justification to declare your home an EPA Superfund Site every time a CFL is dropped and broken.

[Pat McCotter]

That stuff is dangerous! You can't let it get into a landfill!!!!!!!!!!!!

=========================================
Jun 19, 2007 8:05 pm US/Central
Mercury Spill Forces Quarantine At MSUM
Moorhead, Minn. (AP) ? Around 100 people were quarantined Tuesday while authorities dealt with a mercury spill at Minnesota State University, Moorhead.

No injuries were reported, but more than 70 students and faculty and staff members, along with 30 maintenance workers, spent much of the day waiting for emergency personnel to conduct tests to determine if anybody was harmed and clear them to go home.

The spill happened at 7 a.m. in Bridges Hall about an hour before classes were to begin. A custodian who was moving a cart with liquid mercury on it noticed the spill, which consisted of three drops, each the size of a quarter, university spokesman Doug Hamilton said.

People who arrived for summer classes or work entered the building before it could be closed down. Two adjoining halls also were closed because they share a ventilation system with Bridges Hall, and the campus' maintenance building also was shut down after workers who had been in Bridges Hall returned to that building, Hamilton said.

Bay West, a Minneapolis company called in to clean up the spill, arrived on campus about 2:30 p.m.

Those quarantined left their shoes and socks to be tested for mercury and had their feet, legs and hands scrubbed before they went home.

"This is a super abundance of caution," Hamilton said.

Classes in the affected buildings were canceled, and it wasn't immediately known when the buildings would reopen. The campus is on summer break, which limited the potential exposure.

Exposure to excessive levels of mercury can be toxic to the kidneys or nervous system.
=========================================

[ReverendRyan]

Obvious Evil of the Nanny State aside,

Mercury in a standard CFL Bulb = 4 mg.

Mercury concentration required to be toxic with CHRONIC exposure = 42 micrograms/m^3

So CHRONIC exposure to the contents of one bulb in less than 95 m^3 can be harmful. That's about a 20'x20' room, 1-2 days worth of oxygen. You'd suffocate before having the opportunity for chronic exposure.

mercury spill scares = bureaucratic hysteria

credible, peer-reviewed, double-blind studies linking mercury to autism = still zero.

[JellyFish]

I too have replaced most of the bulbs in my house with CFLs. Walmart had them for $9.88 for a package of 6. I've found them to be excellent repacements except that I can't find one that lets me have a three way bulb. I really like a dimmer light at times in the living room so I may just end up using a lower wattage CFL than the one I have right now.

As far as mercury goes, I will be sure to make sure they are disposed of properly when the time comes. I think they are a great benefit in the sense that they will save me money over time and will save energy as well. It's a win/win.

[RangerProbst]

The other day, I was at an outdoor Christmas festival near my home when two girl scouts offered me some free light bulbs if I "wrote my name and my family member's names" on some roster they had with them. They said that I could even write my kid's names on the roster. Not being one to pass on something free, I looked at it to see if they required any information that they could use to bother me later.

At the very top of the paper it read, "I promise to do everything I can to reduce the harmful effects of global warming." I could not walk away in good conscious if I didn't explain to the girl scouts that global warming is the most successful hoax every created. Their mother didn't react favorably to what I had to say. Ignorance is bliss.

[ReverendRyan]

I too have replaced most of the bulbs in my house with CFLs. Walmart had them for $9.88 for a package of 6. I've found them to be excellent repacements except that I can't find one that lets me have a three way bulb. I really like a dimmer light at times in the living room so I may just end up using a lower wattage CFL than the one I have right now.

As far as mercury goes, I will be sure to make sure they are disposed of properly when the time comes. I think they are a great benefit in the sense that they will save me money over time and will save energy as well. It's a win/win.

For a dimmer, you need a non-integrated CFL (bulb and ballast are separate). They're available, but pricey. I know that the ballasts last through several bulbs, so they might be a good deal in the long run.

[John Edward Mercier]

You can buy dimmer bulbs and the special dimmer switch needed to work with them at any local Home Depot.

[RD]

You can also get three-way CFL's nowadays at places like Home Depot.

[JonM]

Hannaford was selling CFLs for $0.99 each.  Once a long time ago Building 19 was selling them for something like 50 cents each.  So deals can be had on them.

[Little Owl]

I like CFLs too, but I don't like them for every application, and I don't like being told I can't use incandescents.

Goodbye heat lamps and easy bake ovens.

You're forgetting my lava lamp.

[Tom Sawyer]

I've read that there is quite a quality difference with the cheap CFL bulbs... much shorter life.

The real future of efficient lighting is LED.