I like CFLs in the high color temperatures (daylight) for the natural colors
of objects, and because I'm not bothered by the flicker of typical ceiling
fixture and smaller fluorescent (long) tubes (and I've put in a
half-century, too, and won't mind not being around after another one).

I don't particularly like the mercury vapor issue or the far-short lifetimes
of the CFLs. I haven't gotten over 2 years of service from the CFLs packaged
as 5-7 year lamps.. and I believe this same hoax is being perptetuated for
LEDs.

It's nothing new, and the same pitch always works because hardly anyone pays
attention to how effective new products actually are, as far as return on
investment.
The marketing hype is the same: These (product) will pay for themselves,
just look at these numbers.
The numbers are generally never accurate because they're based upon best
case scenarios (not increasing energy costs, etc).

I don't think there will be much to salvage from CFLs or LEDs in the way of
recycling.. what's worth anything inside them? I did notice that the new
LEDs lamps have heatsinks, so the metal might be recoverable.

What kind of apparatus makes it possible to recycle the acrylic from LEDs?
But without having the acrylic contaminated with gallium arsenide?
Chemical stripper followed by a process to clean the acrylic?

As I suspect proper recycling will most likely just mean "dumping in the
ocean", what cost effective use could there be for a used circuit board
populated with LEDs and a few common components?

In order for something to be recyclable, there needs to be a profit
associated with the recycled product.

The bull**** is madness.. just sayin'

--
Cheers,
WB
..............


"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

I'm really not sure that I understand your point here. You seem in favour
of CFLs, but against LEDs because they will have a greater environmental
impact than incandescents did. Well yes. That is of course true, but the
manufacturing processes involved in a CFL lamp, are still many more than
in a LED lamp, with a correspondingly larger energy budget to make and
ship all those parts. Further, the CFLs have a higher disposal energy
budget, because they contain toxic chemicals that have to be recycled
properly. Granted, LED fixtures should probably also be recycled if only
to regain the materials, but at least they are not fundamentally toxic as
CFLs are, and it would be no great shakes from an environmental impact
point of view, if they did finish up in landfill. It's the fact that the
green mist brigade only see the "less power used" angle of CFLs, and not
the hugely complex and energy-thirsty manufacturing processes, that really
gets up my nose.

Arfa