"I am the Vine"
Fluorescent bulbs
Submitted by Wayne on Wed, 2008-05-28 09:32.
Politics | Technology
Everybody's pushing fluorescent lamps these days. Finding an incandescent bulb with the desired wattage is getting increasingly difficult. For example, I was looking for a 150 watt flood lamp a few months ago--couldn't find one anywhere. The best I could find was 90 watts. I have 150 watt 3-way bulbs inside my home, for crying out loud; why can't I find 150 watt flood lamps? The Greens, the Totalitarians (i.e., Republicrats), and all sorts of morons are pushing these fluorescents, including CFLs (Compact Fluorescents Lamps). They supposedly use less energy. I haven't seen any data on the energy of production or disposal, though.
The worst thing about fluorescents, besides their inferior lighting capabilities and obscene pricing, is that they all rely upon mercury to operate. Every fluorescent bulb has a drop of mercury inside. This is actually vaporized (i.e., turned to a gas) in use. The mercury is a necessary catalyst for the technology to work. However, mercury is bad for humans, and breathing it is most assuredly a bad thing. It builds up in the body over a lifetime because the body has no way of getting rid of it. It can cause all kinds of problems, including insanity and death (e.g., "mad hatter"). It's also been linked to autism in vaccines. (What moron thought of using mercury in vaccines?)
When a fluorescent bulb breaks, its mercury vapor is released into the air. The proper response in such a situation is to immediately evacuate the area, seal it off, and hire a professional cleaning crew who can handle disposal and cleaning of hazardous materials. I heard of one family who did this and it cost them over $1000 to clean a single room from a single, broken CFL bulb. Nobody has any plans on how to dispose of millions of fluorescent bulbs with mercury. As it stands now, I'm sure it's just leeching into the water supply. 
I will not allow any fluorescent bulbs in my home, inside or out. I won't unnecessarily expose my family to mercury, if it's avoidable. I also won't kowtow to the morons who are immorally removing my freedom of choice. If incandescents are completely removed from the shelves by our retarded government, I have no problem going with alternatives, especially ones that will upset the Greens. LED lamps are outrageously expensive and not too bright. So far, the Greens have done a good job of moving us a step closer to the stone age. I may move to carbon arc lamps. I'm sure that would upset the stupid Greens. Of course, I may have to make them myself, but that's within the realm of feasibility.
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Ugly
Submitted by Charla on Tue, 2008-06-17 00:45.
Those CFL bulbs are U G L Y. We have a few in our home from the previous owner and we've tossed most of them. Plus they take an extraordinary amount of time to fully light up. When I flick a switch, I want the light on now, not 30 seconds from now.
It's worse than that
Submitted by Dave on Tue, 2008-08-12 16:36.
This article cites a study done by a group in Maine that produced some very alarming results regarding fluorescent bulbs, such as:
- Breaking a single fluorescent bulb can cause a spike in mercury vapor that is 300 times the recommended limit for safety.
- For days after such an incident, agitating the area can cause a similar spike of up to 100 times the safe limit. "Agitating" can mean vacuuming, or simply walking or crawling over the area.
- Children are at increased risk, because their respiration rate is higher than that of adults, and because they are closer to the ground, where the concentration of mercury vapor is highest.
- The state of California has mandated that a single exposure of over 1,800 ng/m3 can have harmful effects. The study found that a single bulb can produce "short excursions over 25,000 ng/m3, sometimes over 50,000 ng/m3, and possibly over 100,000 ng/m3."
- If carpet is contaminated, the study recommends only one course of action: remove the carpet.
There is more in the article -- these are just the highlights.
I think it's time to head to Costco and stock up on incandescent bulbs. I want to keep my son safe from mercury exposure for as long as I can, at least in the part of his environment that I control.
CFLs suck
Submitted by Wayne on Tue, 2009-04-28 08:11.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=96375
The U.N. press release from the February meeting in Kenya neglected to discuss specifically the issue of CFLs.
The EPA recommendations for how to handle the breakage and clean-up of CFLs in the home reflect the agency is aware of the safety hazard represented by mercury in CFLs.
Health Canada expects to release this summer the results of additional testing the Canadian government is doing to measure potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation and electromagnetic-field exposure levels emitted by CFLs.
The United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency after examining CFL radiation and electromagnetic-field exposure hazards has recommended that CFLs not be used in areas where people spend more than an hour a day within one foot of a bare light fixture.
The U.K. Health Protection Agency warned that very close exposure to CFLs at distances less than one inch would produce ultra-violet ray skin exposure risks equivalent to being outside in direct sunlight and would require sun screen protection.
The U.K. Protection Agency also cautioned that exposure to ultra-violet rays "can cause particular problems for people suffering from some medical conditions, including Lupus."
lamps
Oil lamps are another, aesthetically pleasing alternative to CFLs when incandescents are illegal. There are many kinds of oil or kerosene lamps, and there are many kinds of oils that burn very cleanly (i.e., no odor, soot, toxins). Many designs are quite safe, too, even if knocked over, as long as you don't store sheets of paper on top of them. There's something especially poetic returning to combustion for lighting--I'm sure it'll upset the very Greens who are illegally taking away Edison's bulb.