Edey:

That sounds like a good thing to do to me. 

 

I am seriously thinking about this now. Babs, can you find room under a bed or some place like that?

Evn more than the quality (or lack thereof) of these CFLs, I hate being told what I can and cannot buy and use by those who think they know better than anyone else (and often don't know much, as you can see). 

 Pat, that was Glenn Becks take on it...since when should the government tell what kind of light bulb to use. It is just a symptom of a lot of other things that are wrong in this country. IMHO, Babs

babs:

 Pat, that was Glenn Becks take on it...since when should the government tell what kind of light bulb to use. It is just a symptom of a lot of other things that are wrong in this country. IMHO, Babs

 

I agree, Babs. And I like Glenn Beck too.

The Ott light--that's the one by my chair that is causing my headaches!

re-tired

 I have CFL's in the dinning room and it hums everytime it's turned on.

cyn

Toni B.:

"CFLs don't work well (or sometimes at all) in very cold weather, so operation of porch lights and outdoor security lights in northern states may be erratic in wintertime If a CFL is turned on and off frequently, its energy efficiency drops and its highly- touted life expectancy decreases Most CFLs can't be used with dimmer switches or timers CFLs won't fit in many existing lighting fixtures CFLs may smoke or smolder, but don't worry - we're assured they won't catch fire." We have experienced 4 out of 5 of these problems already. Its like everything else. Get everyone on the bandwagon and then discover that one wheel is broken.

Gee, I have had CFLs for years, and I don't have any of these problems. The very first ones I ever bought, back in the 90s, were a bit clunky and did produce poorer-quality light than my incandescents, but the newer bulbs work great. They are also a lot cheaper than they used to be--$1 to $2 per bulb. It's still more than an incandescent, but they last a lot longer, and the energy savings make them way cheaper in the long run. I admit to having some concerns about the mercury in the bulbs, but I don't think that recycling them is as unrealistic an alternative as the author of this article makes it out to be. Around here, there are lots of places that will take them. And we did break a bulb once, and all we had to do was sweep up the fragments with a dustpan and brush, seal them up in a jar, and drop them off with our other household hazardous waste.

But then, trust me to be contrarian on this one since I'm a pinko liberal environmentalist anyway. ;-)

haverwench:

But then, trust me to be contrarian on this one since I'm a pinko liberal environmentalist anyway. ;-)

For the record, when you copied my quote, the first part of that post up to the words "we're assured they won't catch fire" came directly from the article. My response started at the words "We have experienced 4 out of the 5...." We still continue to use CFL's. I was just stating that we experienced 4 of the 5 problems but the savings are worth it. Like anything else, they will improve with time.

Toni B.:

haverwench:

But then, trust me to be contrarian on this one since I'm a pinko liberal environmentalist anyway. ;-)

For the record, when you copied my quote, the first part of that post up to the words "we're assured they won't catch fire" came directly from the article. My response started at the words "We have experienced 4 out of the 5...." We still continue to use CFL's. I was just stating that we experienced 4 of the 5 problems but the savings are worth it. Like anything else, they will improve with time.

Yes, I understand. I was just pointing out that they have improved quite a lot already.

Dear Pat & All, In a very recent e-letter, THE SIMPLE DOLLAR's Trent Hamm wrote about the new -- very expensive -- LED bulbs.  He says tht as soon as they come down in price, we should use them.  Apparently, they are brighter than CFL's, & less toxic.  I've tried to find the citation on his site for this article; can't find it.  At any rate, he praised them highly.  Yours in Him, Deb

 Deb, there's a good piece on Dollar Stretcher about those LED lights: CF versus LED

They do have some drawbacks,one of which is that they are directional, so can't light an entire room. Another is that they have no ultraviolet light, which some say is good, but for this light deprived population, this may be a step in the wrong direction.