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Oh, It's A PROFIT Deal . . .
March 6, 2010 | Permalink
Comments
Not so sure Alkalines are much less green than NiMH. There aren't special disposal conditions for alkalines like there are for NiCad, NiMH, or Lithium batteries.
The same is true of CFLs, which contain mercury. Break a CFL bulb, and you want to air the place out, immediately, regardless of weather, even more so if you have kids, who are particularly sensitive to mercury.
While the amount of mercury is small, it is sufficiently high that, in a typical closed room, the mercury exposure of anyone in the room is, for several hours, above that which OSHA allows for laboratory conditions.
CFLs are complete BS -- they are no better for the environment than ILBs, particularly in constant on/off situations (i.e., Kitchens & Bathrooms). Both those areas should have both ILBs AND FLs -- the FLs for when you are in the rooms for 10+ minutes (after which the electricity savings kicks in) and ILBs for when you're in and out getting a quick snack or drink or taking a leak.
I haven't seen figures for CFLs but full size bulbs are not preferable to ILBs if they won't be on for at least 5-10 minutes. The initial power surge used to "kick start" the gas inside uses up about the same electricity as equiv. luminance ILBs for about that long. CFLs almost certainly exhibit the same behavior, though I have no idea what their "equivalence" time is -- I'll bet it's a heckuva lot more than a few seconds, though.
Posted by: O Bloody Hell | Mar 8, 2010 9:04:57 PM
I love 4-Block World, although I'm a crazy liberal. And I totally agree with you about the light bulbs.
Posted by: Valerie | Dec 6, 2010 12:47:46 PM
