Just in case y'all are getting the same emails...

I just received an (R) email with a video link talking about the mandate to replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs.

My response:

"No, they're not appropriate in every circumstance.

However, our condo gave us $1,600 to buy CFLs and, five months after we distributed them to the community, our electric bill was $19,000 below the expected cost.

Please turn off Fox News. It'll make you smarter."

and have saved a bundle on electricity. This whole lightbulb thing is just another distraction, so the Republicans don't have to deal with real problems.

...some blathering repug fuckwit, complaining about the "EPA mandated" process for disposing of broken CFLs, to which I thought to myself, "whatever you say, dumbass."

My electric bill has decreased significantly since going to CFL bulbs only, and I cannot remember even one bulb burning out.

I would say I have literally saved hundreds of $$ since switching over to CFLs over the last couple of years.

The only concern I have is for the ONE remaining incandescent bulb I'm using, in my early 70s vintage lava lamp, which takes a 40 watt appliance bulb. I'm gonna have to stock up on those before 2014, I guess.

So if they could make an efficient incandescent bulb, you could purchase it.

However, you are correct. I've heard of a company manufacturing 98 watt incandescents to get around the "ban".

And since CFL won't work in recessed lighting, what happens when the bulbs that do work are gone?

"CFLs are not for use in track, recessed or dimmer fixtures."

Don't people know 3 way bulbs and using dimmers consume less electricity?

In our bathrooms those CFL bulbs won't fit under the glass cover.

The CFL bulbs with mercury are expensive and TOXIC. BAD BAD LAW! Just like 'efficient' toilets people have to flush twice.

bathroom fixtures. They have the same lumens at the original CFC bulbs but everything about the bulb (except the threads that actually have to screw into the socket) is less bulky. My understanding is that CFCs and dimmer switches don't mix, though.

Electron Stimulated Luminescence

If the cost can get down, we won't miss our incandescent bulbs (except in the oven, regular or easy bake?)

http://www.vu1corporation.com/

the mercury is absorbed into the glass over time. There are specialized recycling processes to recover it, but I doubt they're as widely used as they should be. I asked my condo manager to set up a recycling box for CFLs and batteries some years back, and got standard answer #3: "It's too hard." To this day I fail to comprehend what's so freakin' hard about emptying 24 small boxes, once a month, for specialized, safer recycling.

CFLs are manufactured with a balance of sorts - enough anode to last for ~1,500 on/off cycles (a little burns off each time the lamp is turned on) and enough mercury to last for several years. I haven't looked closely for some time, but last I checked, I had one of the original 6" long bulbs from fifteen years ago, still going strong. On the other hand, one of the sockets is defective and I can't keep a bulb in it for more than two weeks before it burns out (the anode).

There is no safe level of mercury, but we've been living with it for generations. As far as I'm concerned, awareness and reasonable preventative measures are enough. While mercury exposure is absolutely horrible for children, not so much for adults - as much as we choose to be adult and responsible. There's only a single drop of mercury in each CFL. It used to be much more.

Personally, I'm looking forward to developments in LED lighting, but there will probably be some horrible news and info about them, as well.

You know, the ones for keeping food warm before the server grabs it...

Extremely rare as far as being on shelves.

And that were probably inefficient, but at least they didn't contain mercury.

Just wait - in about ten years or so, the Powers tha Be are going to go - "Oh noes, look at all the mercury in the land fills and it is seeping into our drinking water!"

But by then perhaps the industry people will have dumped enough of their surplus mercury they won't care. Their mission will have been accomplished.

I am thinking of stocking up while I still can.

Don't carry them.

Our grocery store carries "Western Family" old school light bulbs but they last exactly seven days before going "Pop!"

I would suggest you stockpile what you find, if they are of a dependable brand.

on the market. I saw someone being interviewed about it last week, but don't remember where. It wasn't a big concern for me, since we have maybe two incandescent bulbs left in the house, in rarely-opened closets. Oh, and there's the bulb in the fridge.

Those CFL give glary odd blue/green light. Not good for artist's purposes.

What are LED bulbs/

2,300K is "yellow" light, aka "warm" what we're used to with incandescents. You can even get them in the 4' length. Just read the packaging.

Many fluorescent tubes are sold as "high color", "daylight" or "wide spectrum" or "high spectrum" and are over 4,300K, the offensive blue light neither of us can stand to be exposed to.

Our building engineer was buying the white/blue lights for $7 a piece when I was getting the yellow, in bulk, at $1.50. Go figure. It took three years to get him fired.

And we've only replaced 2 of them since. Plus saved a good bit of money from the energy savings.

Bunch of morans, that's what they are - but you know how the stupid is...

Most of those original bulbs are still working.