to save energy for the planet is that they contain

mercury

if you break one, you need to do a toxics cleanup and be very careful

you can't throw them in the garbage when they break or go kaput either.

They don't last as long as they are advertised either.

I have decided to just save on electricity in other ways for now,

turn off things, disconnect things (using a power strip to on/off them), etc.

Thoughts?

Flourescent bulbs give me headaches:(

flourescent bulbs have been proven to effect children negatively in school settings. They emit (sp) the wrong colors of light and they also pulse. We used to use them in our basement and couldn't stand it so we now use reg. lighting but conserve electricity as much as possible.

i hate em too...

Flourescent bulbs give me headaches:(

yup the sound they make drives me insane as well as the headaches

i wasn't aware they contained mercury. good to know.

my compact flourescent bulbs make no sound and give the same light as incandescant lights...

i bought them in multi packs at ikea...we use mostly CPBs now.

the compact bulbs that were in this house when we moved in did not give off the same light at all...

The cfb's have really improved and they now have more full spectrum ones.

We compromise. I get SAD if I don't have natural light, so we use daylight bulbs for most of our light in the house. But we use cfb's for exterior lights, the basement, the garage. So we have about half and half.

My ILs use them here in their house and I hate them. I don't know what it is, but I just don't like the way they give off light. Plus one of my lamps is not used to the bulbs I guess, so it takes forever to turn it on. But I'm not the one paying the electric bill, so ...

I have all of those same issues with them. They are so expensive and in most cases don't last nearly as long as they are supposed to. I just can't get myself to spend the $ and try them again.

I have some that are going on 7 years - I've had the really weird shapes (globes, torches) not last as long, but the standard spirals last me forever.

They contain small amounts of mercury - it's not like you have to call in the EPA, as per the rumor. ;)

Urban Legends Reference Pages: CFL Mercury (http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp)

Ikea collects them for recycling, as do most municipalities, so the mercury can be disposed of safely.

I'm planning to replace my bulbs with LEDs over time, but since they CFLs are lasting me 3-7 years, it'll be a while. :p Especially with a house full. I can count the incandescents in my house on 2 fingers.

I can count the incandescents in my house on 2 fingers.

me too. ikea made it very affordable...

Over the longrun, there's more mercury involved in the production of regular lightbulbs over the amount that is in the compact fluorescents.

What About Mercury From Compact Fluorescents? (TreeHugger) (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06/what_about_merc.php)

We use almost all compact flourescent bulbs. The spiraly ones have lasted us 3 1/2+ years thus far, without any burning out yet. We use them outside as well as all inside lights. I have natural colored lamp shades on all my lamps, so I don't think the light looks much different in the living areas.

I've found a lot of variation in CFBs. I'm leery of them because of my Epilepsy. I have one friend and she has all of her bulbs as CFBs and they have the weird blue light and the flicker and everything that makes me feel like the room is spinning. I get the GE ones at Wal-Mart and they aren't blue, don't flicker, and don't make the world a crazy spinning ride.

I do some compromising with the lights in the house, too. In places where people don't sit for long periods of time we have CFBs. Hallways and the like. The CFBs don't work outside here because of how cold it gets in the winter. In rooms where I spend a lot of time I try and have in full spectrum bulbs. I also do mixtures in rooms. In my bedroom I have the ceiling light a CFB but the lamp next to my bed has a full spectrum since I read by it for about an hour before I sleep.

My ILs use them here in their house and I hate them. I don't know what it is, but I just don't like the way they give off light. Plus one of my lamps is not used to the bulbs I guess, so it takes forever to turn it on. But I'm not the one paying the electric bill, so ...


that's typical of CFBs - they take a few seconds to warm up. all of ours are like that, there's a bit of a pause before they turn on.

ours give off the same light as the regular bulbs, though we don't have many regular bulbs left - when they blow we replace them with CFBs. none of ours flicker, either.

get ready for my conspiracy theory here - if they save a ton of energy, who does that impact negatively? the energy companies. and i'm sorry, but an energy providing company who just posted record profits and is telling customers ways to save on their electric bill is akin to RJ Reynolds telling people how to quit smoking. i'm betting a lot of the negative stuff we're hearing about CFBs is highly touted about by energy companies who are seeing the potential for their bottom line to get lower and lower.

but i'm all about conspiracies all over the place. :D

We use them all over the house and I don't notice a difference in the light. When they first came out they buzzed and did give off an odd light, but they are nothing like the fluorescent lights I used in the shoe store I managed years go..those gave me migraines bad enough I got the district to splurge and get me non-fluorescent bulbs that give off natural light for the entire store...

Really, we have not changed a light bulb since we bought this house over a year ago...in our old house we left all the bulbs we had in and they hadn't been replaced in a few years as well....

yup the sound they make drives me insane as well as the headaches

ME TOO! My son who has Asperger's also can't deal with the sound or the light they put out. The house we just moved into has ALL fluorescents. We have replacements for some (have to replace the fixtures!) but not all. We're doing the living areas and Nate's bedroom first. Hoepfully some will be installed this weekend.

but i'm all about conspiracies all over the place. :D


:hahaha: me too.

We have them in all our lights and I have honestly not noticed any difference in the lighting they put out. We just got them a few months back, so I am guessing the newer ones are improved. I also don't notice any sounds, and DH is very sensitive to sound.

I have had some spirally ones burn out.

Once, one of them had a funky smell when it did.

Anyway, I haven't noticed them lasting longer than regular bulbs particularly and I am worried about them breaking as I mentioned in the OP. I also don't like hanging on to the dead ones to take to a toxic drop off place (you are not supposed to put them in the garbage). I have a dead one sitting in a box right now.

The overhead ones DO flicker and sound weird. I wasn't even thinking of those!

Hmm..INteresting..dh just came home with a bunch of the compact flourescent bulbs lat night and swapped them out. hmmm...we'll see:)
I'll have to have a look at the packaging etc.

I think the new ones are alot better than they were even a couple of years ago. We only have incandescants in a couple of fixtures that have dimmers on them and so won't take CF bulbs.

Kerri

We have put in five solar tubes so it reduces the amount of light we need. We don't have to turn on the lights as soon in the evening as we did. We have CFB in a lot of the rooms where we don't sit for long... our closet, the bathrooms, garage etc. We have more incandescent (not very many) in the bedrooms. I have daylight style ones in my sewing room.

I have noticed a big difference in the different types too. We have some in an overhead light which are dreadful, but I think that is in part because of the sensor switch they are on, I need to switch them out.

The biggest difference for us is not the bulbs, but having sensors and timers on the switches for the lights that get left on the most... e.g. kids bathroom and bedroom.

ah i didnt realize from the OP that we were talking about compact flourescent bulbs, i thought we were talking about the long tube ones - those give me a headache and the pulsing/buzzing sound drives me batty. i havent been around a compact flourescent as of yet..

ah i didnt realize from the OP that we were talking about compact flourescent bulbs, i thought we were talking about the long tube ones - those give me a headache and the pulsing/buzzing sound drives me batty. i havent been around a compact flourescent as of yet..

the long bulbs they have in offices and schools give me headaches too.
when we moved into this house there were flourescent bulbs in all the fixtures and they were still that bright color that gives me headaches and makes my skin look green. Sawyer went out and bought all new bulbs that are still flourescent but have yellow light like normal bulbs and I don't have any problems at all with them. You might have been around some and not even realized it! :)

the long bulbs they have in offices and schools give me headaches too.
when we moved into this house there were flourescent bulbs in all the fixtures and they were still that bright color that gives me headaches and makes my skin look green. Sawyer went out and bought all new bulbs that are still flourescent but have yellow light like normal bulbs and I don't have any problems at all with them. You might have been around some and not even realized it! :)

those long tube fluorescents make me look green, too, especially in the winter when i'm not nearly as tan (don't flame me, i don't try to get a tan, it just happens after about 5 minutes in the sun...and we're outside a lot). call me vain, but i hate going into buildings that have that kind of lighting for that very reason. makes me feel like i look sick. my old OB actually asked me if i was sure i was feeling okay because i "still look a little green." i was like, "um, yeah, it's because of how your lighting looks on my very olive skin." :rolleyes:

I hate them too... but we have really badly placed windows and lots of rain so we tend to use light bulbs more than most people. I buy cheap ones and we are super careful about use. nak

Honestly; I walk around in the dark. We are such early risers, we rarely use lamps at all. If it's dark out, I go to bed.

In the winter when we lose the Sun at 5:30, we use the cfb's in lamps that are on for longer periods of time.

I acclimated the kids early on in life that we, as a collective, feel an entitlement to light. Our ancestors made do with a few candles in a shared common area. Our culture is very different, with multi bulb light fixtures in entry ways for little more than decoration and the entire family spread out throughout the big house... each in their own room with their own personal light source.

Honestly; I walk around in the dark. We are such early risers, we rarely use lamps at all. If it's dark out, I go to bed.

In the winter when we lose the Sun at 5:30, we use the cfb's in lamps that are on for longer periods of time.

I acclimated the kids early on in life that we, as a collective, feel an entitlement to light. Our ancestors made do with a few candles in a shared common area. Our culture is very different, with multi bulb light fixtures in entry ways for little more than decoration and the entire family spread out throughout the big house... each in their own room with their own personal light source.

That is a very interesting point. While I do try to conserve energy and am conscious of every light I use I hadn't thought about it to that extent.

One thing that I really want to do is put those solar tube sky lights in our bathrooms. I never liked the look of the part that is in the ceiling but I think they are so great. My fil has one and I always reach to turn off the light when I leave because it works so well. Cost is the only issue right now.