#renewable #green #globalwarming #CFLs #lightbulbs The last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the United States is closing this month, marking a small, sad exit for a product and company that can trace their roots to Thomas Alva Edison's innovations in the 1870s.
The remaining 200 workers at the plant here will lose their jobs. "Now what're we going to do?" said Toby Savolainen, 49, who like many others worked for decades at the factory, making bulbs now deemed wasteful.
Source: Washington Post
Brandy Bridges heard the claims of government officials, environmentalists and retailers like Wal-Mart all pushing the idea of replacing incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving and money-saving compact fluorescent lamps.
So, last month, the Prospect, Maine, resident went out and bought two dozen CFLs and began installing them in her home. One broke. A month later, her daughter's bedroom remains sealed off with plastic like the site of a hazardous materials accident, while Bridges works on a way to pay off a $2,000 estimate by a company specializing in environmentally sound cleanups of the mercury inside the bulb.
Source: WorldNetDaily
UK experts have warned that CFL bulbs can trigger migraines, dizziness and loss of focus, as well as increased pain for those with lupus and can cause people with epilepsy to experience symptoms similar to the early stages of a fit.
CFL's operate at high frequency using an electronic switching ballast to chop up the 120 volts -- that's how they are able to use less energy when compared to an old-style incandescent bulb. A typical operating frequency for an electronic ballast would be in the region of 20kHz to 100kHz, a frequency range known to produce adverse effects on one's health.
Professor Magda Havas, one of the world's leading researchers on the biological effects of EMF, has written:
Compact fluorescent lights (CFL) produce radio wave frequencies. These frequencies radiate directly from the bulbs and [also] go on the electrical wiring in the home or school causing poor power quality or dirty electricity. The closer you sit to the bulb the greater your exposure. Because the high frequencies travel along the wire, you can be exposed in other rooms of your home as well as [in] the room that contains the CFL.
Source: Green Earth LED
Unlike incandescent bulbs, which generate light by running a current through a metal filament, CFLs have hundreds of electrical components. The more parts in a system, the greater the opportunities for of one of them to fail, says Conan O'Rourke, technical director at the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In a bulb that burns out early, the electronic components may have been inferior in quality or poorly installed, or the bulbs might have been physically damaged in some way during transport from China, where most are manufactured.
The electrical components also complicate the end of life for the CFL. When dying a timely (or untimely) death, a CFL's components may not get the message that the bulb is no longer working, and it continues to let electricity flow through the plastic base to the nonworking bulb. This creates a puff of smoke and an acrid smell as well as a charred blackening that appears at the bulb's base. This pyrotechnic display may also be spurred by a dried-out electrolytic capacitor--the "weakest link" in a CFL, according to O'Rourke. Still, for a large number of situations, the CFL is the best, brightest, most efficient bulb for the job. You just have to know what that job is, what CFL to look for and a few handy tips to make the most of your bulb.
CFLs do not fare well when flicked on and off repeatedly, so they'll last much longer if turned on for several hours--instead of minutes--at a time. "The more continuous the use of a bulb, the longer it'll burn because the most damage to the components is done during starts," says Russ Leslie, associate director of the Lighting Research Center. Accordingly, CFLs are recommended for use in living rooms and bedrooms where the light will stay on for the evening, rather than in closets, where a quick burst of light is the norm. Choose incandescent bulbs in areas where lights are used for short amounts of time.
Source: Popular Mechanics
Is the lifecycle of CFLs “greener” than the lifecycle of the incandescent bulb?
Is the mining of the material for the hundreds of electrical components of CFLs “greener” than the mining of the material for the components of the incandescent bulb?
Is the transportation of the material for the hundreds of electrical components of CFLs “greener” than the transportation of the material for the components of the incandescent bulb?
Is the manufacture of the hundreds of electrical components and then the manufacture of the CFL bulbs with “greener” than the manufacture of incandescent bulb?
Isn’t the energy “cost” of the manufacture of each electrical components about the same as energy “cost” of the manufacture of the complete incandescent bulb?
For a broken bulb, is the Hazmat team for the disposal of a broken CFL bulb “greener” than the broom and dustpan for the disposal of a broken incandescent bulb?
Is the disposal of an unbroken CFL bulb “greener” than the disposal of an unbroken incandescent bulb?
And I have had many CFL bulbs last less than a year.
And I usually am not eco-friendly since I throw the mercury filled CFL bulb in the regular garbage. Is it “greener” doing that than driving a single CFL bulb to the proper disposal site?
Most CFL bulbs are coming from China. How green is that?
And 200 people lost their jobs and many of them most likely won’t get a full time job the rest of their lives.
Since the CFLs interfere with AM radio reception, is this a way for liberals to deal with talk radio?
Note: H. R. 6144 was just submitted and the way I read governmentese it repeals the ban on regular light bulbs.
To repeal certain amendments to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act with respect to lighting energy efficiency. This Act may be cited as the `Better Use of Light Bulbs Act'.
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This is a sad news. Technology is advancing day by day, because of the advancements the old techniques are of no use. The closing of the factory is result of this. The place of a simple bulb has been taken by other resources like halogens, tube lights and others. This is a serious issue as day by closing of factories will result in heavy unemployment. It is very important to think about the health of the employees. The minor thing to keep employees is to provide them proper environment with proper sources of heat and light. Factory lighting should be proper.
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