Shoppers Hoarding Incandescent Lightbulbs

Sigh. Government interfering with more things that would eventually be sorted out by normal free market practices.

crazy how people refuse to adapt or change...

What about those of us with dimmers?? CF lamps ownt work with dimmers.

I know of several people that get headaches from the new lightbulbs. What are they doing for these people?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/science [...] perts.html (one of many articles that can be found by googling)

Something about the frequency of the light in these new bulbs causes the eye to constantly try to focus on different wavelengths of light causing headaches... or something crazy like that. It doesn't happen to everyone though.

And all these bulbs are made in China containing Mercury. Way to help the environment guys!

That being said, my house is filled with compacts fluorescents. They're just cheaper to operate, so I spend less on electricity. I'm waiting for LED manufacturing to get cheap enough to replace CFLs, so I can get all the mercury sources out of my house. One broken CFL will cause more heavy metal problems to your house than lead paint. Lead stays in place, but mercury travels and evaporates into your air.

or actually I think it is due to the blinking of these new lightbulbs... they blink at 60Hz or 120Hz or whatever. Sorry I don't know exactly what causes it I haven't looked into it much since it doesn't affect me.

While I do agree that we need to change our normal practices when it comes to carbon emissions I don't think this is even close to the right step.

When they develop an energy saving bulb with the same quality of light as a normal bulb and the same cost then I'll switch. In the meantime stay the hell away from my choice of which bulbs I use.

I'd use them more often if they fit into more lights and they didn't spark/pop in older light fixtures.

Yes it is known because of blink.... but that only happen when you buy the cheap low quality CFLs or/and have unstable voltage of electricty supply. By the way... it can also happen when the CFLs get very old.... but that means it is time to replace it...

One more thing... about the dimmer switch.. there are already some CFLs on the market which is capable to work with the dimmer switch... though they are hard to find and tend to be more expensive.

Good quality CFLs are not too bad from my experience, but I am still waitting for the LED light to get brighter and cheaper.

One more thing... regarding to the heavy metal in the CFLs... it is not the problem of using CFLs (we have been using FLs for many many years)... we just need to have a good system to recycle them.. maybe a system like we recycle our beer bottles in the US (with deposits to gain money back) will help.


PS: it is great that most of us are not using CRT monitors/TVs anymore... they have way more heavy metals in those CRT tubs....

I have a few of them in my place.
No issues with headaches or sparking fixtures.
but neither have I seen a noticable drop in my power bill.

I've been using CFL bulbs (and their small circline predescessors) for years now. I do it a little because it lowers my bill, a little because it's "greener," but mostly because I don't need to change them very often. In over five years, I think I've replaced 3 bulbs in my house, and I'd owned them for more years before that. Light quality is much improved from early models, and the flicker is gone thanks to more persistent phosphors. There are both dimmable and three-way versions of them as well. Guys like Thomas Edison were the closest thing I had to a "hero" growing up, but it's time to move on.

Those have a still long way to go to compete against a 43W (150W incandescent equivalent) CFL.

The CFL bulbs have been great in general in my house except for the non standard sized ones, e.g.: The big guys you use above the bathroom mirror. Those go out on me constantly and cost much more than regular ones, so this is not saving me any money in fact my costs have gone up by trying to do the right thing due to poor quality manufacturing.

When will people realize that carbon dioxide emissions will do nothing to hurt the environment? When will some of the idiots in the world realize that people behind this "green" bullshit are only looking to make a quick buck? Climate change is utter bullshit, but people are too stupid to understand this fact.

Sure, I am all for saving energy and reducing waste; it will cut down on the money I spend. Past that, I could care less.

You have got to love the "snake oil salesmen".

Unfortunately this attitude is what got us into this "climate change" problem. I don't know about you but I am noticing the massive change in rain patterns where I live. Two years ago by October through February rains rarely hit where I live, now it's an all year thing. Also the hot days are now really really hot.

There are even studies that support this and suggest against use in office environments.

Hah, economic boost due to light bulbs. Now that's a bright idea . Anyway it's good for the environment and more importantly, will help these bulbs be produced in larger numbers, which will lower the cost per such bulb, which is great for us here in the states .

While compact fluorescent lighting is much more energy efficient than incandescent, there are arguments against having CFL bulbs as replacements. For one, they contain mercury which could be problematic at time of disposal. The immediate concern, however, seems to be the energy savings.

Have you even been in a room where one of those died, i totally
chocked when the toxic smell hit me...

They should have a new modo :Buy While compact fluorescent lighting to save the planet and kill yourself with toxic fumes...

Damn that's a good point I might stock up too.
My wife and I both have dimmer lamps on our night stands.

"For one, they contain mercury which could be problematic at time of disposal. The immediate concern, however, seems to be the energy savings."

Mercury.. sigh.. We may save energy but how many of these will be disposed of improperly? We are just trading 1 form of pollution for another.

It's not about not adapting to change...it's about how CFLs give me headaches and have been proven to cause what is called winter depression, not mention that if one breaks in your house you are, by law, supposed to call the local fire department and poison control center to decontaminate your house and force you to go to a doctor for mercury gas poisoning.

Other than some appliance bulbs, the touch lamps by the beds are the only incandescents I have left in my house. Since those are rarely at full brightness, I've also only had to replace one of those in over five years. I'm hoping cost-effective LED replacements come along for those.
FYI, in the USA, Home Depot now accepts CFLs for recycling.

I prefer CFL bulbs because I don't like incandescent light. CFL light is closer to sunlight, and even those 'full spectrum' incandescent bulbs can't match them. Plus CFL's use less electricity. The only real downside is I have to drive 30 minutes away if I decide to recycle them.

As for flickering, toxic fumes, etc., I haven't experienced any of that - even with the discount brands - and I'm sensitive to that stuff, too. A CRT at 60Hz or strange fumes/smells will give me a headache in a matter of minutes.

While I'm a firm believer in the global climate issue, your counterpoint is flawed. You can't point at a single year and hold that up as irrefutable evidence of the crisis at hand. Two years ago we had X happen in a five month period and now Y is occurring this year, therefore it must be due to global warming. We've had some of the slowest years on record, regarding hurricanes here in S Fl (not that I'm complaining) and some unbearably hot (but not record breaking) days. Yet 4 years back, we had two of the most active years in history. Your opinion may be that the weather patterns, where ever you are, are off kilter due to global warming. Until there's a steady, recognizable pattern you can't reliably state that opinion as fact. Unfortunately, by the time that pattern can be verified, it will be a bit too late.

These changes occur naturally, species die out all the time if they're not suited to their environment. Is man helping this occur faster? Undoubtedly. Would it still occur without us pushing it forward? Undoubtedly.

People are short sighted. A normal light bulb is easy to manufacture and requires less natural resources, therefore pollutes way less. The new low energy light bulbs, CFL's or whatever, use mercury, need more energy to be created and more resources, therefore the manufacturing for them pollutes more.

When trying to save the planet, you need to look at each product from where it's taking resources to when you dispose of it, NOT just from the moment you buy it.

Oh, I do use CFLs in my house much more than normal lights.

What have we come to... We complain about light bulbs that could give headaches... The planet is eating up people! soon we will be trading headaches for heat strokes. And about the polution, because the planet is heating up we will be using more AC's. Now, which is worste, light bulbs in a land fill, or used AC's? come on people, let's do our part.

I'm all for CFL's, if they didn't have the flaws they have.

A. It's difficult for me to find a 'warm' CFL. Most give off a cold temperature light, which isn't as comforting in the evening.

B. Like others have said, they don't dim. I was told by an electrician that there are "dimable" CFL's, but he said when they start to get real dim they piddle out (he went on with the technical mumbo jumbo as to why..)

C. They can flicker. I have one next to my pc in a lamp and it will occasionally give a slight strobe affect.

Bleh. My kitchen and living room are on dimmers. I want warm, dimable, non-strobe light!

we can make a T1000 terminator out of all the mercury in used CFLs!

Ignore my above comment; apparently the comment system here is borked, and typing the 'less-than' symbol breaks your comment. Here's the entire thing, edited:

Yeah, this is another bit of regulation that I personally find rather silly. I personally don't feel that climate change is drastic enough to warrant this equally-drastic ban; it's basically like using a whole can of spray to kill a single ant; sure, the ant's gone, but you've done untold damage elsewhere.

I do agree that CFLs are generally superior lamps; MODERN, non-crappy lamps lack the flicker problem, and still light up in a short enough time that a typical human can't perceive the difference. (less than 250 ms) They DO save a bit of energy, but typically not a huge amount; you're only talking around half as much or so consumed for the light produced.

Some people do have issues, at least in getting used to the different spectrum that flourescents of all types produce; incandescents have a very smoothed curve with a heavy bias in the red/infrared (IR release is a major reason they're less efficient than FL) compared to a much narrower, sharper range with some spikes in the green area. CFLs produce what generally better mimics the sun's spectrum in the visible range, (where the sun likewise is strongest in green) but given the low power, it seems unnaturally to most humans; the red-biased incandescents seem more natural for the dimmer lighting we get from lamps as opposed to the sun.

All told, I don't think that a blanket ban is the right idea. Personally, I favor CFLs, but their strongest point is the one most-oft overlooked: they don't burn out every couple months. You won't really see a CFL readily pay for itself in energy bills, (lights tend to be a tiny fraction of one's electricity consumption) but pretty much anyone WILL see them soon pay for themselves simply by that you won't have to replace them for a few years, saving not just the money of buying more lamps, but also the time and effort to change out the lamps.

I have been 100% CF for quite awhile now and am very pleased with them. They last far longer and, more important to me, they don't get hot. My computer desk area is much much cooler than it was when my desk lamp had incandescent. Even better, if you have a socket that says "60W Maximum", that does NOT mean that the biggest CF you can use is a 60W-equivalent. Because their heat output - the reason for the wattage restriction - is so low, you can put a much much "bigger" CF bulb in its place without overheating the fixture.