On 10/10/2010 8:54 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sun, 10 Oct 2010 13:14:37 -0500, "David R. Birch"
wrote:

On 10/9/2010 8:02 PM, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
"Michael fired this volley in
:

I though
we were encouraged to buy them to save polar bears or some such!

Yes! We save polar bears. But we kill babies' brains with the mercury
in the new CFLs. It's a fair trade, after all -- at least according to
the "greenies". It's the "standard offer": Pay more, pay an additional
"impact" fee FOR paying more, and get less product life and environmental
damages, to boot. (don't ever let them convince you that consumer-
quality CFLs last longer than incandescents)

Wait! I thought these things were supposed to SAVE the environment!
Oh... yeah... save CO2, add Hg. That sounds fair.

I used to put a 40 watt incandescent bulb in my porch light and have to
replace it every 2-3 months. It is always left on.

WTF? Why are you _knowingly_ wasting money and contributing to AGWK?
Buy a motion sensor light and feed it a pair of 75W halogens every
several years. Your pocketbook, your neighbors, greenies, and
astronomers everywhere will thank you for it.

I don't want motion sensors on a light 15 feet from the sidewalk and I
want a light on all night. I looked at some solar sensors to turn it off
during the day, but their wattage was only slightly less than the CFL
and would probably shorten the life of the bulb.


I replaced it with a
13 watt CFL and wrote the date on the base. It lasted 23 months. 4 of
the old ones cost a buck, the same as what I paid for the CFL, plus
about 1/3 the wattage used.

I don't like that they have mercury in them, but I don't have to take
many to the recycling yard because they last so long.

There isn't a mercury recycling plant within 250 miles of here. The
one place (Medford, 27 miles each way) which accepts them charges four
bucks apiece to recycle them. CFLs only cost me a buck apiece, and it
would take ten bucks in gas to drive to the recycle station, so FTN! I
recycle everything else, and I'll do fluors when they provide
recycling locally.

We have it free locally and it's only a minor detour on the way home
from work that I can take twice a year.

David