The Bizness says

 This should all be seen as saving money for yourself.

If you are worried about the Mercury switch to LED's as the cost of those come down.  Also they have CFL's covered in rubber and impact resistant.

As for the Mercury, there is more mercury burned and released into the air from coal to power you incadescent, than inside one CFL bulb.  

The only thing you really need to think about is whether or not this will save you money, some home owners can see a saving of up to $50 a year or more.  

gilamonster says

sanduskysteve says

maverick12 - sorry - some of these people just irritate me with their uneducated blathering of non-sense repeated from other uneducated people.  More talking points which mean nothing.

maverick12 says

sanduskysteve- Sarcasm doesn't translate well with you does it? My whole point is that we have gone from bad to worse...but thanks for the "lesson".

 

sanduskysteve says

maverick12 - actually mercury is extremely dangerous and can be deadly - Lead is not even in the same class as mercury when it comes to poisonous effects.  The mercury issue isn't the mercury itself - which actually has no ill effects - it is the mercury vapor which is the deadly part of mercury.  Do a little research before trying to compare the hazards of lead to mercury.

Funny how everyone still wants to blame Obama for this CFL issue - it was Bush that did this and passed the legislation forcing us to CFL bulbs - which really are dangerous and do not output as much light.  I'm still not convinced that there is really a large energy savings between the two in a home situation either.

goofus says

WOW , the Flamer award today goes to Buckeye15. He left out the Hindenburg, Titanic, and the Lindbergh Baby as the faults of the Koch Brothers, but still deserving of the award. I assume he will make it correct at a later date!!!

maverick12 says

Going "green" is such a joke! The only "green" they want is your cash!
What would happen to the carbon footprint if we all went "green and bought electric cars?
Do people actually think electricity has no "footprint?

Mercury has become the preferred poison I see.

Lead didn't require Hazmat...mercury must be so much better!!

buckeye15 says

You must have some fancy bulbs in your house gilamonster, because when I added up the 38 CFL bulbs I needed at my house, I could get them all from Menard's website for $142. 

I guess the Koch brothers didn't tell you that more mercury is released from burning all the extra coal needed to use incandescents than using cfl's.  It is the Koch brothers after all, that have led the campaign to make low information people believe cfl's are bad.  Running an energy company, they stand to lose a lot of money if everyone goes green.

Citation is needed for the claim about Sylvania being a climate criminal.  I am not finding anything online about that. 

Some of these dolts would give up their first-born if the Koch brothers told them it would keep their taxes from going up.  Talk about not being able to think for one's self.  Koch brothers said so:  it must be true.

gilamonster says

hilltop says

Use halogen lamps.

Fluorescent lamps contain mercury and phosphors, both hazardous to the environment and to your health.

LED lamps will be coming down in price - that will be the alternative (safe and effective) to use.

In the meantime, I believe that the incandescent limitations may have died with the new budget agreement.

goofus says

Good morning moonbats and assorted tree huggers, two words to brighten up your dismal liberal day.         TEE BOW

tk says

@SamAdams,  I didn't mention cell phones.  In fact I don't have one and don't want one.  I have a landline only but it isn't anything like Bell invented.

Captain Gutz says

25 % of 100 = 72?

buckeye15 says

Wow, patroit, I don't know where you shop but I would sure change stores.  I just bought 42 watt Sylvania CFL's (200W equivalent to incandescent) at Menard's for under $8 each, and 75 watt equivalent Sylvania OUTDOOR CFL floodlight bulbs for under $4/each.  Oh, but I forgot, you said those bulbs don't like temperature extremes.  I have one in my unheated garage that was there when I bought the house 8 years ago, and it is still going strong in some real temperature extremes.

It gets really annoying when all you haters just keep spreading the same old FOX news talking points about exploding bulbs, needing a hazmat team, etc.  It all gets annoying when all of you (except Taxpayer) don't even admit to watching FOX.  I bet FOX doesn't tell you about all the lead you are throwing in the landfill every time you toss an incandescent bulb, do they?  That is right...lead...the other heavy metals libruls want to protect you from.  It may not be as bad as mercury, but it is still a health issue.

But hey, if you want to keep paying more for your electric bills, and causing us to import more oil from muslims, keep stocking up on incandescents.

eriemom says

The federal law, signed in 2007 by then-president George W. Bush, requires all bulbs to be 25 percent more efficient by 2014. That would mean a traditional 100-watt incandescent bulb must now use only 72 watts. 

But that doesn’t mean consumers have to buy the curly compact florescent bulb, which, as Lavender said, “most people I know don’t like.” An updated version of the revered incandescent bulb uses halogen gas to increase efficiency, but leaves the bulbs otherwise unaltered. These bulbs cost about $1 more than the old ones.

Andrew deLaski, the executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project,  said the light bulb issue has become a “political football”  and “a kind of rallying cry for Tea Party conservatives who use it as a symbol of the federal government, which they like to demonize.”  (ABC)

The legislation follows energy star bills for consumer energy conservation. 

gilamonster says

patriot5 says

I would use candles and oil, but they would charge me a carbon offset tax

DGMutley says

Take a walk through the lighting sections at our neighborhood diy centers and check the pricing on the led replacement lights.  Whew, guaranteed to take your breath away!

8ballinthesidepocket says

Biggest problem is that the incandescent bulb was made in Cleveland (plant now shuttered) and the CFL is only made in China.  Way to go Obuma!!!

patriot5 says

The Big Dog's back says

 What's your point eddie? 

EddieOs says

Big Dog Back:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/politics-religion-and-controversy/276789...

EPA Warns Public About Mercury Hazards In CFL Light Bulbs

EddieOs says

Dear eriemom,

Incandescent bulbs are being phased out. That means, in time, no one will be able to buy them.

Signed,

America

PS Did you read the article?

eriemom says

 Dear America:

You can purchase any light bulb that your little heart desires. Nobody, least of all, the federal government will stop you from gong to the store and buying incandescent light bulbs to heat your home with.

JIMBO2 says

Now Oblama can appoint a light bulb csar and create more federal govt jobs  for the light bulb police, When the curly Q bulbs go bad, No special treatment here. In the BFI dumpster with the rest of the trash. If bad stuff leaks out... OOPS thats what the Socialist Messiah wants. Then more regulations. Pretty soon we owe our existance to the bloated Government. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

SamAdams says

tk:

It's not a fuss about light bulbs or technology. To continue your analogy using cell phones, the government isn't prohibiting me from having or using a landline, nor is it mandating that I use a cell phone (or making laws concerning what kind of cell phone I use, should I choose to use one).

If incandescent bulbs are made more energy efficient, that's all well and good. If you'd prefer to use CFL bulbs in your home, that's fine too (though I do wish they'd find something a lot more inert to replace the mercury). It's the FORCE that most of us object to, not necessarily one kind of light bulb or the other, particularly when there's good (and bad) to be said about both kinds of bulbs.

My old argument against the CFL bulbs, by the way, went out the window awhile back which explains why I have replaced almost everything in my house with the "curly" bulbs: I absolutely LOATHED the light they gave off. It was...blue. Or blue-ish. The warmer color you can now buy overcame that objection. The overheating problem, the warm-up time required, the mercury content, and savings I still consider miniscule (if that) remain issues.

The Big Dog's back says

 These new bulbs are full of mercury? 

In the United States, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that if all 270 million compact fluorescent lamps sold in 2007 were sent to landfill sites, that this would represent around 0.13 metric tons, or 0.1% of all U.S. emissions of mercury (around 104 metric tons that year)

FruGalSpender says

time for a quiz. who said when the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.  who said the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. who said the democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. who said most bad government has grown out of too much government. http://jpetrie.myweb.uga.edu/TJ.html cheat sheet for answers.

Darkhorse says

I think the American public got brainwashed on this one.  I went and bought up a lot of the old bulbs.  These new bulbs are full of mercury and I can't understand why they were ever made them that way and now some are defective and smolder with all that mercury inside of them.  I took all my mercury bulbs and got rid of them.  It is not worth it to break one and you have to have EPA to come out and clean up the mess.  The American public is just plain gullible.  

Bluto says

Going back over these comments , I'm thinking some people are really going over the deep end about this ! Can't wait until the government bans cell phone use while driving . It will probably cause the next American revolution ,SHEESH !!! ; )

Bluto says

Gila ,               If your numbers are correct and you project that into one million households for one year that comes to $ 20, 760,000.00 . To you that maybe chump change , but to me that sounds pretty good over all .

Bluto says

Much to do about nothing . Been using them for years and only replaced two that I can remember .  Besides this was enacted years ago to start phasing all incandescents . So ,why the big uproar now ? Too little too late , I guess.

eyekerry1 says

Here's what I say... if God had wanted his childern illuminated by a stark white curly-Q, then he wouldn't have made the sun round, golden and warm. 

Imagine how long it would take for dawn to break if the sun was a huge CFL ... 

EddieOs says

we are paying a heck of a lot more to use them

Wasn't technology supposed to give us a higher quality of life? Instead, we are even more enslaved to the corporate machine.

EddieOs says

Hennessy says nothing about the mercury the new bulbs have in them and the unaddressed contamination disposal issues.

tk says

Why all of the fuss over light bulbs?  The phones we use today are nothing like what Alexander Graham Bell invented and we are paying a heck of a lot more to use them.

The Big Dog's back says

 That's something you and the gayeway pundit could discuss.

goofus says

Brutus, go down six articles. Penninsula Poondit wants to discuss man sex and Obozo's new rape law!!!

KnuckleDragger says

Go back to your basement Brutus, nothing productive has come out of your mouth since you've been back. 

The Big Dog's back says

 g g, most of the old style bulbs aren't made here, so you wouldn't be laying off American workers.

The Big Dog's back says

 But fracking our ground water is OK? The mind of a right wing nut.

The Big Dog's back says

 What "jury" is out on man-made Global warming?

KnuckleDragger says

I agree gila, with the problems you stated about the new bulbs.  The amount of light given off by them is so poor that I have had to use double the amount of lighting fixtures to get the same amount of light.  I don't see where I am saving anything by doing that.  Not to mention that unless you plan on leaving the bulbs on for a significant period of time each use they were wear out quickly.  Turning them off and on and only using them for less than 10 min each use cuts their life expectency in half.

KnuckleDragger says

So we are trading greenhouse gases which mind you, the jury is still out as to whether "man-made" global warming even exists, for the poisoning of the ground that we grow our food in and the water that we drink.  Sounds like a fair trade. LOL. The CFL is just more proof that the environmental movement is completely clueless.

Vester says

I really don't want to burst anyone's bubble here, but they are NOT going to quit making incandescent bulbs, the factories are changing over to a new model that is 30% more effecient than previous.......just saying, facts are facts......

JIMBO2 says

Awesome. More silly regulations to push up the cost of goods and run people out of work.

eriemom says

The rules — authorized under a 2007 energy law signed by President George W. Bush — call for incandescent light bulbs to be 30 percent more energy efficient. They’re still slated to take effect Jan. 1, but the rider blocks funding for the Energy Department to enforce the rules through Sept. 30.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70621.html#ixzz1isgQCMUQ

I began replacing incandescent bulbs with florescent many years ago. They were much more costly back then. At one point I found packages of 6 at Costco, and replaced all of my bulbs. At least those that fit. There used to be only 2 sizes. I found that we saved electricity and it showed on my bill.

SamAdams says

Let's see...

The "curly" bulbs are more expensive than incandescent bulbs. They're a LOT more expensive! But they make up for it because they last and last, and they save electricty! Right? AND they're way more environmentally friendly! Right, right, right?

I've been gradually switching over the bulbs in my house because it was cost-prohibitive to do it all at once. As of now, most bulbs have been switched. I've seen NO CHANGE on my electric bills. And despite having started the switch only in the last two years or so, I've already had to change a couple of bulbs (which is where I actually believed I'd make up the cost differences). Nice.

And when I do have to change those bulbs, the "proper" disposal of them is a nightmare! As a result, how many homeowners do you think are disposing of them "properly?" My bet is that the vast majority throw them into the regular trash, bury them under food waste and scrap paper, and send all of that mercury directly to the landfill. Nice again.

Yes, I do have a stash of incandescent bulbs now. And yes, I'll be increasing that stash. Why? It's cheaper. It's CLEANER (no mercury, boys and girls!)! And the difference in electrical consumption appears to be negligible, at least on the scale lighting is used in a home.

Thanks, EPA, for destroying more jobs, increasing more costs, AND creating additional environmental hazards! I KNEW y'all were there for a reason!

grandmasgirl says

44846:

 Just wondering if you haven't replaced a bulb in two years, how long it will take before factories making these lamps will have to lay off people. It's good for the consumer, but if they last that long it just makes sense that the plants won't have to produce as many. BTW.........just read in the Fremont paper that all the little internet cafes got shut down. I guess this is another instance where the government wants to tell you how you can and can't do something. It's ok to gamble if you buy from the state, but you can't do it for someone else's profit. I am still glad to live in the USA, but I wish the government wasn't always in my business.

perkinsandlynn says

@eyekerry1  That guidence is spot on.  I have to have a Hazardous Waste contractor come in and dispose of our lightbulbs now.  (some how private residences are immune from this regulation)  All used lightbulbs must be totaly enclosed in a box or some other contatiner and labeled "USED LAMPS".  When I have enough to make it worth while I call Enviromental Recycle out of Bowling Green to come and dispose of them for me.  And of course this is an additional cost to us.

Now, here is where the smaller businesses need to take a minute to look at this.  Either they can comply with this disposal method for their bulbs, or they can risk getting a Notice of Violation and a hefty fine from the EPA.  Either way this is another Government Mandate that hits all of our pocketbooks in one way or another.