Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Burned out on Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

I feel really embarrassed about this. I consider myself an environmentally responsible citizen. I was an early adopter of Compact Fluorescent Bulbs , but I'm burned out on them. They are outrageously expensive. They fail at an alarming rate - don't seem to last even as long as regular incandescent bulbs. I can't use them on my lights connected to dimmer switches. I can't use them in my recessed lights. They even fail in my vanity lights over my mirror which face downward.

Speaking of my vanity. When the bulbs were still working, every morning the light they cast over my face as I brushed my teeth and washed created the look of such a pall it made me think I had suffered some sort of heart attack during the night or was suffering from liver failure. My first impulse was to rush to my wife, wake her up and ask if I looked all right, just to reassure myself that I wasn't going to die in the next five minutes and didn't need to dial 911.

Then there is the mercury. How do we dispose of this rapidly growing pile of toxic failed bulbs. Note: since I have been using these bulbs only about 10 years, I shouldn't have any failed bulbs yet.

It is clear that we need to replace the energy inefficient incandescent bulb, but, in my opinion, compact fluorescent bulbs are actually worse than incandescent.
  • They have to be replaced more often - I know this is heresy, but I'll bet money that it is true.
  • They create a serious mercury pollution problem - I'll also bet money that most of them are disposed of improperly because it is too much trouble to find out how to properly do it.
  • And they cast a horrible light.

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