Wild_Bill wrote:
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.

**Points:

* It's not a hoax. LEDs last a very long time. White ones, not so long. I
have some first generation white LEDs that are still working after a decade
of 24/7 operation. Light output is around 50% of new.
* I have CFLs that have been in service for around 10 years. The only two
failures I've experienced were mechanical (I dropped them).
* If you buy crap CFLs, you can expect poor service. I only buy premium
quality CFLs.


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.

**I do. I keep track of the life of my lamps. Incandescents don't last long.
CFLs last a very long time.

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?

**Aluminium. Nothing else of use. Fortunately, they last a VERY long time,
so they don't need to be recylced often. Incandescents are different. They
use a LOT of silicon, solder and some brass (or plated steel). Hardly any is
recoverable economically. And wait: It gets worse. Incandescents don't last
long. I get around 100 hours from my lone incandescent and around 300 hours
from hy halogens. Some of my CFLs have clocked up more than 5,000 hours and
are still chugging along.

I did notice
that the new LEDs lamps have heatsinks, so the metal might be
recoverable.

**Which is a lot more than you can recover from incandescents.


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?

**Given the very long life-span of LEDs, you won' have to worry too much.


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

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

**I agree. You spin so much bull****, that it is madness.


--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au