It's all over but for the sweating?

[niky]

LEDs have longer lifespans, though. My current brand claims 40k hours versus the 8k hour guarantee of the best Japanese bulbs, and they carry a five year unconditional warranty to support it.

Originally Posted by TheEnemy

As far as LED's I have to actually build my own bulbs because it seems no one converts to even relatively clean DC before the bulbs and the flicker plays havoc with my migranes.

I use LEDs with a light diffusing shell. No flicker. Or if there is, it's a lot less than those damnable CFLs. While it lowers lumens output, the soft glow is so soothing that we use it in place of incandescents in desk lamps and night lights.

[TheEnemy]

I'm not sure if the LED lights at Chili's are dimable, but for me it was like eating under a strobe light. It looked like they used a full wave rectifier setup, but no capacitor to smooth the ripple. I had seen some that flickered far worse. Some Christmas lights are real bad.

I use the heck out of LED flashlights, accidentaly left one on for 2 days and it still runs.

[radioranger]

If i am correct on this and I,m pretty positive the leds use 1/10 the power for the equivalent brightness or close to that of a standard bulb, I buy the led Christmas lights (white) and have them strung around the house inside at the highest part of the wall lights the whole room pretty evenly and 200 bulbs take 17 watts ,pretty amazing . the package says you can string 43 strings together total 2150 lights and around 200 watts total , my last electric bill was 27 $ fridge was most likely more than half the computer another 1/4 fridge is getting some ecomods next , some pink foam insulation on the top and sides, your right about the coal , we should be burning more methane and natural gas, its every where you go ,

[jamesqf]

Regarding CFLs and mercury, the concern does seem to be rather exaggerated. I used to work in San Jose, and most days would bike to work along this supposedly mercury-polluted stream: Los Alamitos Creek - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - which supports trees, fish, deer, bobcats, and supposedly (though I never saw one) mountain lions. Used to go hiking around the old mercury mines here: Almaden Quicksilver County Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now I wouldn't go around claiming that mercury emissions are a good thing, but here and elsewhere, ecosystems seem to deal with it.

[radioranger]

It seems the ecosystem does fine except for predator species like us that are higher on the food chain , here in CT there is almost no adult fish that is considered safe to eat between the PCBs and mercury

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by radioranger

It seems the ecosystem does fine except for predator species like us that are higher on the food chain...

Bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, and the like aren't predator species?

...here in CT there is almost no adult fish that is considered safe to eat between the PCBs and mercury

Considered by whom? I can't help but wonder why an occasional fish (a small part of the typical human's diet) is unsafe, when the top predators in the local food chain (not humans) seem to survive & reproduce.

Again, I'm not saying mercury emissions are a good thing, just that the actual danger is exaggerated. The "Omigawd, you broke one of those twisty light bulbs, call the Hazmat team!" reaction is just a bit excessive.

[niky]

Animals upstream might not be as at-risk, but marine predators and birds that eat lots of saltwater fish have real problems with mercury accumulation.

[radioranger]

all true , i guess we are being conditioned to overreact, makes controlling us easier, as I mentioned earlier fear is probably the best control tactic.at least the easiest. but I still wonder about all those bulbs , almost no one recycles them properly .

[niky]

It's all over-reacting until you start eating too much tuna.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by niky

LEDs have longer lifespans, though. My current brand claims 40k hours versus the 8k hour guarantee of the best Japanese bulbs, and they carry a five year unconditional warranty to support it.

Lifespan? I just witnessed a CFL bulb die a week ago or so. I can remember that lamp being used since over 10 years ago when I was in elementary school (back then incandescent bulbs were still common and I remember having to change them a lot), and sometime then we changed the incandescent bulb to a florescent one. There is a small chance that I'm wrong and that this lamp has only been in use since about 7 years ago, but nevertheless it has had quite a long service life. The light started flickering intensely a few weeks ago, and then one day it refused to turn on.

I replaced the bulb, and the lamp still did not work! Turns out the contacts in the switch were so dirty that they didn't really conduct anymore. If you read a thing or two about any lamps using an arc (that includes CFLs), the most wear occurs when you switch it on; Striking the arc wears down the electrodes. That lightbulb must've experienced several thousand starts or more in its last month. I disassembled the lamp, cleaned the contacts, and discovered that the old bulb was in fact dead, as the new bulb works great.

The rest of the CFLs at home have been going strong for 5-7 years already. Replacing that bulb was the first time I opened the lightbulb box in 5 years, and I had never changed a CFL bulb before that. I'd say as far as longevity goes, I'm pretty sold on CFLs. I would love to DIY an LED lamp someday since I think it'd be cool, but I don't see any problem with CFLs right now.

By the way speaking of mercury, it should probably be pointed out that metal mercury is toxic, but not horrible until it's converted to methylmercury by bacteria, so it's not a hazmat situation when a CFL breaks.