Pripyat

[Gannon]

The glimmer seems one-sided then, but you won't need sunglasses. I promise.

I'd like to know why the spiral in these new lightbulbs was designed to dump all their Mercury poison upon unscrewing, if the bulb is mounted 90-degrees to the floor, and then broken. It could've as simply been the reverse spiral.


I am even more curious about them...my strong bet is that a simple EMP pulse will blow them ALL up, making every home an EPA nightmare in an instant.

I can just hear millions of these bulbs popping with ONE little Nuclear blast from even the smallest bomb...whatever the source.


Makes me sick, and they will NEVER be placed in my home because of this potential of leakage from simple breakage...let alone the larger potential.


Plus, they DON'T cause immediate death...if that were so we'd be hearing about 'em already...because I'm not the first one to break one inadvertently. I know my Livonia Friend has broken at least one...and he wonders about the mercury passed around his grade-school science class that he played with for a long while.


I asked specifically for other substances that cause decline unto certain death upon contact, like plutonium or uranium. THAT is what I'm talking about, and you want to bring up fucking FIRE.

Not even close to the same. The body can react to the heat of fire. I'm still pissed we put warning labels on lighters, if Darwin was right...we're really skewing the genetic curve the wrong way.

Sincerely,
John

[East Detroit]

Congrats, Gannon on being accepted by his highness in a lukewarm fashion. A little more work and you might be considered worthy [[if you're lucky).

I mean, Cheers!

[rb336]

Mercury. Found in CFL bulbs BTW.

typical comment from mr b&w's inagile mind

it would take the mercury from dozens of compact fluorescent bulbs to equal the amount in those old thermometers, according to the Rensselaer Polytech.

now, over the life of one of these bulbs, the electricity generated to use them is so much lower compared to that of an incandescent that the amount of mercury generated by the power plants decreases by many times the amount in the bulb

[mauser]

Why do I get the feeling that this is a subtle anti nuclear power ploy?

That "feeling" is called paranoia.

[ZRX Doug]

Here's a nifty site for ya Gannon..it's been broadly claimed to be a hoax, but I dunno..the original "Elena" who wrote this stuff was a member of zrxoa.org, the motorcycle community I hang with..she hasn't posted there in over five years, dunno 'bout the truth of her website..but an interesting take, regardless.

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/

[Gannon]

I caught that when it first came out, if it the picture series from the traveling biker girrl. Cool imagery.


As for the whole electricity thing? You will always save more if you never turn any lights on. My Asperger's has me over-sensitive to all electric light, and I can get around my living space with ambient light from outside usually.


So, take that and do with it what you will. I still do not like how they've forced these poisonous bulbs upon us...surely there was another way to save and still have illumination.

Oh yeah, it is called the Light Emitting Diode. Anything harmful in THEM?!

Anything that can escape EASILY in a powdered form that could be inhaled while cleaning it up?!


I'm just saying...



Cheers!

[ZRX Doug]

LED's will be the eventual way to go..just gotta get the costs down to realistic levels.

[ccbatson]

LED's still costly. CFLs toxic [[but Al Gore must have stock in the producing companies), nothing wrong with incandescents other than longevity.

[oladub]

LED's still costly. CFLs toxic [[but Al Gore must have stock in the producing companies), nothing wrong with incandescents other than longevity.

If you leave a light on long enough, the LED is cheaper. Would you rather that government hallways and street lights spent more or less on lighting over the long run? Also, if all lights were LED's, fewer power plants would be needed. Supply/demand means that less demand for fuel would also decrease the price of fuel. I would think that a fiscal conservative would want to save money personally and on his tax bill.

[ccbatson]

How long are you talking about? Years? Decades?

I once considered a metal roof because they [[supposedly) last 50+ years. However, the cost was 6 times higher and the shingle roof I was replacing had lasted 25, so, it made no fiscal sense to spend 6 times as much, not to mention that the number of cycles we are talking about [[2-3) exceeds lifespan.

[oladub]

Here is one estimate of the savings. The City of Falgary replaced all its streetlight incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs. "At the current energy rate, The City expects to save over $670,000 a year in electricity costs alone. Taking into account the cost savings associated with the elimination of group change and random incandescent bulb replacement, The City estimates it will recover the cost of the project in about 5 years." This doesn't even account for buying fewer power plants.

[ZRX Doug]

Agreed completely Oladub..but until the per-unit cost of LED bulbs is lowered to a level that the man on the street sees as being cost-effective for him, they aren't gonna sell.

The mercury content of CFL's seems pretty miniscule until you start thinking about the overall quantity of the things which will be in use if they ever fully replace incandescent bulbs..I use the CFL's for now, haven't really noticed any huge saving in electricity [[but to be honest, lighting is a pretty small fraction of my usage), but I like the fact that they seem to survive longer..that said, I've still had to dispose of four of 'em that I can recall in the past three years. Multiply that by the number of households in the country, you're talking a pretty serious chunk of mercury that needs to be handled..I can't help think about how many people I know who don't bother to dispose of dead batteries properly compared to the number that take 'em to the recycling facility, and wonder about how much mercury those folks will add to landfills.

[ccbatson]

Agree as well...even still...LEDs will complement as opposed to replace cheaper incandescents in the long run.