CFL Bulbs-Save Money and the Planet!

[Courtney]

For those of you who have yet to hear of the compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, they save you money while saving the planet! According to the US government’s Energy Star program, which advertises CFL bulbs and other substitutes for energy-hogging incandescents, a CFL uses 75% less energy than its counterpart, last up to 10 times longer and prevents more than 450 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere. As well as being beneficial to the earth, over its lifetime, a single CFL can save you $80 or more, depending on local electric rates. This is one way to go green that you don’t want to miss out on!

[Layla]

Hm, I'm a bit sceptical of the CFL bulbs..

Of course they save energy, well, they do contain mercury & while whole ones are collected & hopefully recycled properly (still to learn more on this!) it's still a bit of an iffy issue what to do with the broken ones?! (& it depends from council to council as far as I know..?)

Also, the harsh light from CFLs bothers me quite a bit.. (harsh for the eyes..) we do have them in rooms where the lights are turned on for long periods of time.. (living room, kitchen..) where you just turn lights on & off, they're not good (it's best to leave CFL lights on for at least 15 minutes, if I remember it right)..

so I hope the LED bulbs & other more environmentally friendly bulbs will get developed soon..

& also, if governments intend to build nuclear powerplants anyway, does it make much sense to promote & use CFLs so heavily (potential toxic waste problem due to mercury)?

I really need to learn more about how they are recycled & what happens with broken ones worldwide! :)

[Simon]

I think the upsides of CFLs outweigh any downsides they might have. And the mercury is no big deal if you take care of it properly.

But sure, I wished LED was more mainstream and cheap... :whistle: