The other day we were talking about the Light Bulbs from Hell — CFLs, those energy-saving atrocities — and readers want to talk about them some more.
Which works out nicely for me, because I need stuff to write about.
One caller thought Your Favorite Columnist was a buffoon for referring to these things as “CFL bulbs.” His voice mail oozed contempt: These things are NOT “LIGHT BULBS.” They are “LAMPS!”
To those in the industry, sure. In my mind, they’re just rotten light bulbs, used in the same sockets as traditional light bulbs.
Other than the fact that they unleash toxic mercury if you break them ... and they don’t get bright until they warm up ... and they are an aesthetic nightmare ... and they cost twice as much as an incandescent bulb ... I have no problem with them.
And let’s not forget about the end-of-life arrangements required for CFLs, which I neglected to mention last time.
Bob: Longtime reader, first-time commenter!
I enjoyed your recent commentary on the insidious fluorescent bulbs that we have been saddled with.
I, too, have been opposed to the bulbs from their inception for a few reasons: take too long to come up to full light; illumination is much fainter than the traditional bulbs; and I haven’t found the life to nearly match the advertised increased life that is used to justify the increased price.
However, the biggest reason is the introduction of more mercury into a public that has no conception of the impacts of mercury in our lives.
It is more than ironic that a government that has passed regulation upon regulation to eliminate mercury from the environment (just ask FirstEnergy about the impact of those regulations) now imposes a new product containing mercury into the daily life of every American citizen.
Never mind that the public knows very little about disposing of broken or burned-out bulbs. Kudos to you for including instructions for cleaning up a broken bulb. However, a bigger concern is improper disposal of burned-out bulbs.
These bulbs should never be discarded in your normal trash baskets. Rather, the burned-out bulbs should be sealed in a ziplock bag and taken to an authorized disposal site, such as Home Depot or Lowe’s.
Otherwise, the burned-out bulbs will be broken in the trash-collection process and the mercury will be either emitted into the air or trapped underground to leach out at some point in the future.
I realize their is no chance the bulbs will be discontinued, so it is important to minimize the introduction of mercury into the environment.
John Dial
Copley Township
John: Thanks. Good stuff.
Your email leads us right into a related issue raised by another reader, who said: “I have a whole box of those that FirstEnergy sent to me. I don’t like them. I’ve only used one. I’m wondering whether you know where I can get rid of them or give them to someone who can use them.”
FirstEnergy spokesman Chris Eck says he is not aware of any CFL-sharing programs, adding that a significant hurdle would be packaging them well enough to ensure they wouldn’t break in transit. But, he says, in addition to dropping them off at the home-improvement stores, “people also can contact their local municipal solid waste agency, or go to search.earth911.com or epa.gov/bulbrecycling to find other local recycling options.”
FIRED UP
Here is an even better reason to shy away from CFLs.
Bob: I will not use them in my house any more. I had one of them above my phone table, which had papers on it. When the phone rang and I turned on the bulb, it blew up just below my face and started a small fire.
As a retired firefighter, I pulled the plug and it went out. The next day I took all the parts to the Barberton fire marshal because he had not seen any CFLs do that. But he found out from a person in Sandusky who specializes in electrical fires that this was not the first time it had happened.
I use LEDs when I replace a bulb or the rough-service bulbs that are still sold. The CFLs are junk!
I hope you do not have a fire from them!
Dave Guilliams
Barberton
Dave: Thanks, but that won’t be a problem in my house. I don’t use them.
Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com. He also is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bob.dyer.31