[TheForge] OT: Government waste

[wmullett at bright.net]

Your right.  We do not have any good means of disposing fluorescent bulbs and that's bad.  Even as a facility manager, I had a hard time with large quantities of F48T12's.  These need to be handled better.

I don't think CFL's will be around much longer.  LED's are so much more efficient and have better outputs.  Their costs just keep coming down.

BTW - the LED 40W that I really like is the GE PC #62180.  The problem with the LED's is we still don't have many higher power choices.

This one looks interesting http://www.earthled.com/evolux-led-light-bulb.html 

And this one may be even better.  I'm going to have to look for this one.
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/switch-lighting-unveils-100w-equivalent-led-bulb/6426

---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:57:29 -0300
>From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net (on behalf of mspencer at tallships.ca (Mike Spencer))
>Subject: [TheForge]  Re: OT: Government waste  
>To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
>
>
>Jeff Wilson wrote:
>
>> [My CFL bulbs] are dim when first turned on and slow to brighten.
>> Many have failed in 2 to 5 years.  At least three have exploded!
>
>And did you clean up the bits with a vacuum cleaner?
>
>That would be the first thought of most people: Get all the bits out of
>the upholstery, carpet, cracks in the floor. 
>
>Only that has a multiplier effect on dispersing mercury vapor around
>the house.  Worse, if you don't throw out the disposable bag and
>thoroughly clean out the machine itself, subsequent uses of the vacuum
>cleaner have the potential to further disperse Hg vapor.  For an
>adult, this may make only a small contribution to accumulated Hg but
>for rug rats with greater sensitivity to Hg poisoning, the risk is
>proportionately greater.
>
>I'm surprised that Bruce, who once reproved me for my relatively
>cavalier attitude toward the risk of poisoning from copper sulfate,
>hasn't posted a scare piece on the long- and short-term effects of
>globally distributing hundreds of tons of mercury in milligram
>aliquots to billions of people with no knowledge of biology or
>toxicology (or much of any other science) beyond 6th or 7th grade
>level.
>
>These risks don't even mention the conveniently remote and, to us,
>invisible consequences  to workers and the neighborhoods in China
>where, AFAIK, most of these CFLs are made.
>
>Personally, I think the energy-use statistics may be numerically
>correct but that these statistics are being used to persuade the
>public (among which I count science/technology-challenged
>legislators), stupidly or maliciously, of the truth of putative
>trade-offs and benefits that are are specious.  It's not clear who
>most benefits from mandatory conversion to CFLs but it isn't me and it
>probably isn't you.
>
>
>- Mike
>
>
>  Hanlon's Razor:
>
>  Don't attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by
>  stupidity. 
>
>  Spencer's Corollary
>
>  If you find yourself in a position that calls for the application of
>  Hanlon's Razor, you're already screwed.
>
>
>-- 
>Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
>                                                           /V\ 
>mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
>http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
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