Comments on: Yes, You Pay More For CFLs, But Are They Worth It?

By: Ralph

Ralph — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:23:11 +0000

Both LED and CFL bulbs contain hazardous materials.
Good old Thomas Edison bulbs do not.
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Broken glass itself is a hazard to anyone handling it, playing nearby and animals. Even the good old Thomas Edison bulbs require proper disposal.

By: Bill Webber

Bill Webber — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:59:54 +0000

Both LED and CFL bulbs contain hazardous materials.

Good old Thomas Edison bulbs do not.

Plus if you turn off and on lights as you move around the house, the CFL bulbs burn out soon, take 3 minutes to come up to full brightness, and waste energy.

I’m going to hoard 100 watt bulbs while they are still 25 cents apiece.

I had switched my house entirely to CFL lamps and noticed NO energy saving at all.

And the darn things burned out anywhere from 6 weeks to a year.

Not one lasted the advertised time, and they cost 5 times the price of good old incandescents.

By: Blue Cat

Blue Cat — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:37:01 +0000

I have experimented with CFL and LED lighting for a long time. First you have to look at the packaging for a CFL or LED bulb. More often than not you will be shortchanged on the amount of light. A CFL bulb I am using in my dining room is listed as a 60 watt replacement. The incandescent bulb puts out 870 lumens, while the CFL puts out 800 lumens. (This is like buying a package of coffee and finding out that the package has 11 ounces rather than 13). As others have noted, using a CFL for short periods will cause it to burn out quickly. LEDs have different characteristics altogether. The LED diode has a directional distribution of light that makes it well suited for task lighting, but poor for general lighting. The LED diode produces heat that must be conducted away to prevent burnout. This is why LED bulbs have aluminum fins on them and why the cost is so high. So far, I have not seen a LED bulb that is made to be put into an enclosed light fixture. As for hallways and storage rooms, I still use incandescents, and will stock up on them as 2012 approaches.

By: Patty

Patty — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 02:44:44 +0000

> CFLs can cost up to 10 times more than an incandescent bulb,

Really? Not sure where you are buying your (grossly overpriced) CFLs… but they are under $1 at Costco and Meijer… and many other stores.

50 cents each, on sale, at Costco.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 22:24:55 +0000

I tried using a CFL in my porch light, but found that in cold winter weather (Colorado), the bulb comes on with a very faint, dim light and takes about 20 minutes to warm up enough to get a decent amount of light. Pretty useless if I want to flip on the porch light when someone comes to the door. I got rid of it and used a halogen bulb instead.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:50:20 +0000

I am very concerned that the best we can do in an attempt to reduce the amount of energy we use is to switch to Mercury containing CFL light bulbs. After reading how Bill disposes of fluorescent lights we must face the fact that if incandescent lights are phased out and CFLs are one of the only alternatives there will likely be billions of Mercury containing light bulbs making their way to the landfill every year. Certainly many people will be responsible and ensure that the bulbs are recycled at the end of their life but there are many people who simply could not be bothered. This will result in untold amounts of Mercury being released into our environment. To say that this is acceptable because it is the lesser of two evils, due to coal fired power plants producing more Mercury than CFLs contain is ridiculous. We need to look at ways to reduce our energy consumption AND ways to reduce or eliminate the Mercury emitted by coal power plants into the environment. As intelligent, informed individuals we need to work together to come up with solutions that make sense, and not just just rely completely on whatever product the research and development or marketing departments of various corporations tell us to use.

By: noman

noman — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 22:51:53 +0000

If you bought as many LEDs as you do incandescents, they’d probably cost about one tenth of what you pay for an incandescent…you vote with your wallet….for inefficiency if you buy incandescents. Of course, if you bought more CFLs and LEDs, there would be more competition for the market, and quicker breakthroughs in light quality and life expectancy, and more of a recycling infrastructure to keep mercury out of the landfills because recyclers would have more materials to work with when they did eventually burn out. By your logic, whale oil would be better for all of us than petroleum oil and coal. The whales are right there for the taking, and the whale oil burns a lot brighter than that nasty stinky black stuff you have to drill into the ground to find….and who needs a finicky expensive car when you can just hitch your wagon up to a nice reliable horse.

By: Vipul Seth

Vipul Seth — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 22:35:57 +0000

To Bill:
The only reason ‘environmentalists’ and ‘tree huggers’ propose what they propose and fight for it is because the Oil/Coal Companies and governments have constantly failed ‘mother earth’ by lying and deception. You are abusing people (hundreds of millions btw) who are fighting for all the life forms on the earth and the womb (earth) that sustains that life. Compare that with the people who fight ‘for’ coal/gas ONLY for economic reasons.
What you don’t realize is that the cost of doing it the ‘wrong way’ (short cut) is less in the short term but excessive in the long term. This is true with everything – including the products we buy, the contractor we use and so on. When people decide to contaminate the land and streams, there are detrimental consequences to the living beings and food supply that results in higher cost of health care (as well as casualties), recalls etc, thus bringing the cost at par to what it would have been doing it the ‘right’ way.
And looking at your rant, I do believe you got contaminated while playing with Mercury – you just don’t know it.

By: Shirley White RN

Shirley White RN — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 06:37:05 +0000

The disposal is hazardous as Bill describes, allowing mercury to contaminate the environment and our drinking water. The only safe disposal is to take them to a mercury recycling center listed on Earth911.org. Each CFL contains 4-5 milligram of toxic mercury and should be prohibited. The long tube flourescents are typically used commercially and disposed of commercially to a mercury recycling center. You will have more neurotoxic effects in addition to more autism!

By: Jimnp72

Jimnp72 — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:55:49 +0000

I agree with the disappointment of ofttimes short life and disposal. in this day and age, cant a lighting source be made that isnt ugly and toxic?