$700 for light bulbs

[equality72521]

I think you guys are missing the point of CFL and LED. They are replacing incandescent not because of the "green" label as much as energy savings. The more energy we use the more power plants we need to build/upgrade to keep up with demand. Every time a plant is built/upgraded your electricity bill goes up. It's all about efficiency. I work in the energy group for a major grocery store chain and I can tell you right now that changing from incandescent/T12/sodium/halogen to T8/CFL alone accounted for about a 10-15% decrease in energy use and LED is showing better results in our glass door refrigerated cases. As we say here in the energy group, "the cheapest kWh is the one you don't use". Maybe you don't like it but if you want to have cheap energy you need to be more efficient in your use of it.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by equality72521

I think you guys are missing the point of CFL and LED. They are replacing incandescent not because of the "green" label as much as energy savings. The more energy we use the more power plants we need to build/upgrade to keep up with demand. Every time a plant is built/upgraded your electricity bill goes up. It's all about efficiency. I work in the energy group for a major grocery store chain and I can tell you right now that changing from incandescent/T12/sodium/halogen to T8/CFL alone accounted for about a 10-15% decrease in energy use and LED is showing better results in our glass door refrigerated cases. As we say here in the energy group, "the cheapest kWh is the one you don't use". Maybe you don't like it but if you want to have cheap energy you need to be more efficient in your use of it.

Tell that to ALGORE. We've all read of his personal "carbon footprint"...

[HarryD]

Originally Posted by equality72521

I think you guys are missing the point of CFL and LED. They are replacing incandescent not because of the "green" label as much as energy savings. The more energy we use the more power plants we need to build/upgrade to keep up with demand. Every time a plant is built/upgraded your electricity bill goes up. It's all about efficiency. I work in the energy group for a major grocery store chain and I can tell you right now that changing from incandescent/T12/sodium/halogen to T8/CFL alone accounted for about a 10-15% decrease in energy use and LED is showing better results in our glass door refrigerated cases. As we say here in the energy group, "the cheapest kWh is the one you don't use". Maybe you don't like it but if you want to have cheap energy you need to be more efficient in your use of it.

Yes you are correct. But you need to use your head.

Putting CFL's in my bathrooms at home where they are on in 5-10 intervals many times a day actually uses more power than a similar incadescent bulb of equivalanet output. This is largely due to the high inital start curretn for CFLs which do not have "energy breakeven" until 15-20 minutes into their "burn". add to that that the light output is not a max until 3-5 minutes makes these bad economics worse because now, I do not have light plus I use more energy.

In many ways, lots of people use CFL's as a feel good, easy panacea. It is not. They need to be used wisely.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by equality72521

... The more energy we use the more power plants we need to build/upgrade to keep up with demand. Every time a plant is built/upgraded your electricity bill goes up. It's all about efficiency. ...

Exactly. AND coal fired power plants put huge amounts of mercury into the air - much of the mercury comes out in the oceans and works its way up the food chain into pelagic fish - like tuna.

when you - or your children - eat the tuna you get an unhealthy dose of mercury

if CFLs are not recycled properly, but instead are thrown into the trash, the mercury goes into a landfill, all of which have special liners which are supposed to contain all leakage for centuries.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Of course we could be making electricity cheaper than dog doo if we wanted with nuclear power plants. Then again, yo' homeboy Zero killed Yucca Mountain (the decision to do so has cost the U.S. economy approximately $76B according to latest estimates) cause he (incorrectly) said we didn't need nuclear to get ourselves off of foreign oil - we could do it all with wind/solar/etc.

But then again, he's backpedaling on nuclear power too so I'm sure there's a chance he might revive the project, probably just in time to spend another few billion to change his mind again in the process, plus a few billion more to build the nuke plants he's now realizing we'll probably need if we're to have any hope in hell of getting off of oil.

CFLs are utter garbage. The only reason I have them is because they make financial sense. That is the ONLY reason. There is no real "green" benefit whatsoever. There certainly is no benefit in lighting quality.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

... There is no real "green" benefit whatsoever...

Guess again - read the post just above yours.

[island911]

And how much life energy do you spend handling the mercury laden CF's? Did they really save enough energy to make up for the time and HP to drive them (and your rig) to the proper disposal site?

Randy prolly bicycles them there, toted behind him in a mod'ed special foam-walled (starch foam of course) lil red wagon. ..So the only energy he uses is one toffurky burger. ...tho' quite a lot of time, because the closest proper disposal site just isn't up to his green standards --people at that one DRIVE to work there goes the planet!

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by island911

And how much life energy do you spend handling the mercury laden CF's? Did they really save enough energy to make up for the time and HP to drive them (and your rig) to the proper disposal site?

Randy prolly bicycles them there, toted behind him in a mod'ed special foam-walled (starch foam of course) lil red wagon. ..So the only energy he uses is one toffurky burger. ...tho' quite a lot of time, because the closest proper disposal site just isn't up to his green standards --people at that one DRIVE to work there goes the planet!

Someone really should have a word with your care-giver to keep a closer eye on you; it's very detrimental to your tenuous mental instability to allow one in your condition to ramble on inanely and unchecked.

[pwd72s]

I'll let you guys fight it out...after all, my lighting needs are pretty well set for a spell...

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

I'll let you guys fight it out...after all, my lighting needs are pretty well set for a spell...

Nature abhors a vacuum...and fkuorescence really pisses me off!

Haloooooh! Halooooh! I can only speak, with ardent incandescence, and state that, from my own experience, halogen has been veddy, veddy good to me.