Speaking of Stupid Environmentalism

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This:

Is now illegal to manufacture.

And, its replacement contains toxic mercury, is more expensive, puts out less light, and takes a couple of seconds to illuminate (a real annoyance when you are checking into a hotel room at night).

The ban on 100w conventional lightbulbs is another example of stupid environmentalism.

What the mainstream environmental movement doesn't seem to get is that people will gladly switch to "greener" alternatives when they are about the same price or better quality for a higher price. Based on my experience, the CFL is none of these.

Plus, having to take a burnt out bulb to a hazmat disposal site is evidence the product is hardly "green."

Comments

  1. Steve SanerJanuary 2, 2012 at 4:56 PM

    FWIW, I believe that this law essentially was suspended in a recent omnibus budget bill by prohibiting the administration from spending any money to enforce this law. So who knows about the future, but it seems that, for now, this is not an issue.

    Otherwise, I agree with all you say. I can see LEDs being a viable replacement for incandescent, but they are still quite a bit more expensive and have some downsides too.

    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 2, 2012 at 5:16 PM

    I have a feeling that our kids/grandkids will be dealing with mercury pollution in landfills from CFL's in the future, as most people are just going to throw the bulbs in with the trash.

    Mike B.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mike SmithJanuary 2, 2012 at 8:29 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mike SmithJanuary 2, 2012 at 8:33 PM

    Let me try this a second time: @ 4:56pm. You are correct: the law was not suspended, they are still illegal to manufacture. What Congress did, frustratingly, was deny money to enforce the law. If I were a manufacturer, I would not want to be making a product that is illegal regardless of whether the law could be enforced at this time.

    @5:16pm. Agree 100%.

    I have problem, in principle, with newer forms of light bulbs. When they are reasonably priced for similar performance, great. However, we have had bad luck with expensive CFLs that burn out very quickly and perform poorly (I had some in my electric train room that must have taken 10 sec. to illuminate before I replaced them with old-style incandescents).

    CFLs, based on my experience, are not ready for "prime time."

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mike SmithJanuary 2, 2012 at 8:34 PM

    Above should state, I have NO problem with newer forms of light bulbs.

    Long day...

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJanuary 4, 2012 at 10:17 AM

    I couldn't agree more Mike. CFLs in my household's experience perform consistently poorly. Both on longevity and their inability to sufficiently light a room. My wife and I tried them out for a while, but went back b/c they just don't perform as they should.

    ReplyDelete

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