![\"cf_bulb.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/looseassociations.com\/twmedia\/CompactFluorescentLights\/cf_bulb.jpg\")
We’ve all heard the statistics: if every person in the US would replace their incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs, it would be the equivalent of taking dozens of gas-guzzling SUVs off the road. Less energy use, less greenhouse gas, and a happier planet. It sounds good to me, so I have replaced nearly all the bulbs in my home.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I wish we’d gotten rid of the SUVs instead.<\/p>\n
The aesthetics of CF bulbs leave a lot to be desired; this rant<\/a>\u00a0sums it up better than I ever could. Still, to save the planet, I’d live with the strange colors, the wait for them to come to full brightness, and the annoying buzzing. I think, though, we might actually be doing Mother Earth a disservice.<\/p>\n In the past year, at least five of my compact fluorescent bulbs have burned out. Far more than I would have expected of incandescent bulbs, in spite of the loud claims of extended life. Of course, they all have five- to nine-year guarantees and if I had the original dated cash register receipt and packaging for each bulb and if I were willing to pay postage to return them I might<\/em> be able to get them replaced for not much more money than buying a new one at the store. In the mean time, I’m certain that their manufacture created far more pollution than for an equivalent incandescent bulb, and proper disposal of the mercury-containing CFs is much more expensive than for standard bulbs. Most people, I suspect, chuck ’em in the trash and the mercury and other toxic metals leach their way slowly toward our drinking water.<\/p>\n Happier planet? I’m not so sure.<\/p>\n — Ron<\/span>\u00a0– 26 Jul 2007<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We’ve all heard the statistics: if every person in the US would replace their incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs, it would be the equivalent of taking dozens of gas-guzzling SUVs off the road. Less energy use, less greenhouse gas, and a happier planet. It sounds good to me, so I have replaced … Continue reading Compact Fluorescent Lights<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/looseassociations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/looseassociations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/looseassociations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/looseassociations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/looseassociations.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/looseassociations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":400,"href":"https:\/\/looseassociations.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions\/400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/looseassociations.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/looseassociations.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/looseassociations.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}