[Arny Krueger]

"Serge Auckland" wrote in
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"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
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"JANA" wrote in message
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If the switch that is series with the light bulb has a
night light in it, the current pass of the night light
will cause the CFL to flicker.

Fallicy #1 - all CFL's are the same. Right now, they are a moving target as
the designs of their electronics packages becomes more sophisticated and
purpose-driven.

Regular CFL's cannot be used on standard light dimmers
and many of the electronic timers. This is a big
inconvenience for many people.

Dimmable CFL's are available in enough different wattages to be useful in a
wide variety of applications.

When regular lamps become unavailable, I can see a lot
of problems with these new types of lamps. The biggest
one will be the pollution from their
disposal. They use mercury, phosphors, and many types
of materials that are
very harmful for the environment. There is also the
electronics circuit board, which contain components
that have the same recycling problem as used
in most electronics. Even though they last longer, when
they are eventually
put out in to the garbage, they will eventually end up
in the land fills. They are going to be a very big
problem compared to the simple light bulb that was made
of simple glass and metals.

True that disposal is more critical especially because of the the mercury.
However, I've seen situations where CFL's outlast incadescents by 20:1.


Regular light bulb materials are about 85% recyclable.
There are almost no
materials in these that are bad for the environment.
Most CFL's materials are not recyclable, and their
materials are very polluting.

They are both primarily made up of glass, which is recylcliable.

It looks very strong that the government is pushing the
CFL's to save some
electricity to sell to large industry. This is the only
answer that is logical. There are NO green house gasses
from using regular light bulbs. When more electricity
is sold to industry, the pollution problems from its
generation will actually increase, unless the
generation is from water power, or nuclear power.

This is a very flawed argument. Industry is going to get the power they
need. They don't buy power for the fun of it.

These are my (well known) views also, but I fear we are
squeaking like little lost mice in the dark ...

Mixed bag.

Quite apart from the problems of disposing of old CFLs, I
question the whole principle of Low Energy lighting.

In the summer, less heat means less need for air conditioning. In the
winter, less heat from electricity for lighting may have to be offset to
keep the rooms at the same temperature, but space heating often comes from
more efficient sources. Electricity generation has about 70% waste back at
the generating plant, plus significant losses due to transmission and
distribution. Natural gas doesn't have the 70% conversion cost, but it does
have some losses in transmission and distribution.

If
you have a conventional bulb, much of the energy output
is in the form of heat, which will help heat the room,
and consequently will reduce the need for other heating,
central or otherwise.

Only surely true in the winter. Even in the winter, space heating generally
comes by a more efficient path that was detailed above.

Putting in a low-energy lamp mean
that there is less heat being put into the room, and
consequently, more heat has to be supplied externally.

Clearly not true at all if you are cooling the room, which is true in maybe
90% of the US in the summer.