500th Post

So how much change since I started this blog over a year ago. New US President! Solar is falling in prices and the economy is pretty bad. Credit crunch is having an impact on solar, but may also be helping businesses be more efficient which as WalMart has shown, helps the bottom line. LED's are now in Costco, which still surprises me. Dimmable CFL's are now widely available. The price of gas surged, and now has fallen that has made hybrids stack up at dealers.

And I am a bit more educated about the environment and the various technologies that are advancing.

More Efficient CFL

I am curious on what the new circuit for a dimmable CFL looks like that has less components. Article is not clear about overall is the ability to dim what is making them more efficient, or is there more... Most houses don't have dimmers installed.

Do New Bulbs Save Energy if They Don’t Work?

Do New Bulbs Save Energy if They Don’t Work? - NY Times

Dimmable CFL's are a special design that are finally more widely available so they can actually be used the regular dimmable fixture, that just reduces the voltage.

CFL's it is hard to figure out how they are made. Are they magnetic resonant with the annoying humm, or solid state.

Color - Big issue.

Heat - yes, because your burning out the electronics inside of it if you have it in an enclosed area.

Good news that 11% of all fixtures are using CFL's, I did not expect that high!

LED Lights at Costco!

I was pleasantly surprised to find LED lights at Costco. Even flood lights, even if only 45W equivalent. Price was very reasonable. They also had dimmable CFL's.

CFL Health Tips

When CFLs Fail: How to Keep Your Compact Fluorescent Glowing from Popular Mechanics. Good article.

It would be nice to have a way to tell the different types of electronics in the CFL. The cheap magnetic resonnance type verses the solid state electronics.

CFL

Good overall article on CFL's - Confusion about fluorescent lighting

I am frustrated on trying to figure out the quality of the CFL bulbs, and it's not always true that you get what you pay for...

The article did not mention the subsidy in California that is making CFL's around a $1 in Southern California. From a monetary viewpoint, their is on excuse not to get them. Disposal is a headache and I will need to go see what Walmart is doing. The comment from Maine about cutting out the carpet after a CFL broke was overkill, because they did not know what to do at the time.

CFL's in the News

Article on MSN Today Shining a light on hazards of fluorescent bulbs

Good article that actually explains how much mercury there is in a bulb. It did not mention the possible effects of mercury (Mad Hatter). It also mentioned that Ikea is the largest recyler of CFL's. As a retailer, it's a headache for recyling CFL's. Especially if you have breakage. The good news is they are handled that as universal waste, so you don't need manifests and such. With enough quantity, Ikea at each location may be a large quantity generator which has more regulations to follow.

Mercury - What's the Danger

Mercury is in Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL's), Smoke from coal burning plants, Fish, Whale Meat, and Dolphin Meat. The NY Times has an article about how high levels in Mercury in Whale and Dolphin Meat has decreased interest in eating that meat in Japan, where protests had no effect.

CFL Mercury
Some manufacturers of CFL's are decreasing the amount of mercury used in them. CFl's are great from an energy conservation point, since they use up to 75% less light, than a regular light bulb. An Urban Legend's page on CFL's (interesting to read). A good idea is have a deposit to you get money for turning the CFL for recycling, instead of dumping it in the trash. Recycling CFL's takes time, and it's easier for most people to throw it away (even if that's illegal in many states). The amount of Mercury used in a CFL is small, about 100 times smaller than was used in Mercury Thermometers (now banned).

Mercury Problems:
The worst accident of mercury poisoning was in Japan. The Mad Hatter in Alice In Wonderland had the symptoms of Mercury poisoning. May types of fish have higher levels of Mercury in them.

Broken Fluorescents - How to Clean it up?
If you do break up a CFL, don't vacuum it (this just speads the dust). How to Clean up a broken fluorescent bulb per the EPALeave the room and air it out for 15 minutes. Using plastic gloves, then scoop up the broken material and put in a sealed plastic bag. Use a wet cloth to pick up any dust. I am not sure what process they used to clean up after using fluorescent tubes as light sabers in the Forty Year Old Virgin.