I don't know what flourescent compacts you're using that have warm-up periods, but mine are instant-on; at least, I've never noticed a lumen-count variability in them. Now, yes, the light is more blue-spectrum than traditional incandescents, but that's actually quite "correctable" simply by utilizing indirect lighting techniques. (Shine the light onto a wall or floor, so that it 'spills out' in a more natural manner.)
But either way, there's something much more ironic about all of this that adds to it, and demonstrates even further the sheer idiocy of government regulations on the matter.
There's a vastly better light-source in terms of "temperature" (That would be the part that hurts your eyes), and also in terms of lumen/watts (energy consumption rate), and environmental resources consumed.
http://www.theledlight.com/120-V...C-
LEDbulbs.html
These things won't burn out for *DECADES*. Is $20 too much for a light-bulb that you will never replace so long as you live, and consumes perhaps 1/10th the electricity of a traditional incandescent? (That's less than half the electricity of a compact fluorescent.)
This only reinforces your point, I suspect.
Same comment as the fellow above: WTF kind of chintzy bulbs are you using? I went and bought some just because I'm a lazy slob bachelor who likes the idea of a 2-year light bulb, and they work fine. You screw them in and flip the switch and they turn on.
Also, I think the law requires some sort of warning label if they have something as hellaciously hazardous as mercury in them. Think of the class-action lawsuits by horror-stricken parents every time the cat knocks the lamp over and the kid is in the same room. I didn't see any such on mine.... I'll look again when I get home.
At any rate, it seems to me as though you're making much ado about nothing. The fact is if we can get a third of households in California to adopt these things of their own accord, it will take that much more stress off the power grid. That's how conservation *works* -- tiny individual efforts adding up to real savings on natural resources we all partake of. No messianic left-wing BS involved.
Get a *grip*... and buy some decent light bulbs while you're at it.
Jay -- all fluorescent compacts contain mercury vapor. It's part of the technology.
Now, that being said: the argument for voluntary change-over does NOT endorse forced subsidies of FC bulbs as opposed to incandescents. IF the power companies want to subsidize them themselves, they are free to do so of course; private entity and all that jazz.
However, and here's the catch -- the actual price per unit won't ever drop if the subsidies get too high, which is inevitable under government subsidizing schemes.
And the older fluorescent compact models had a ~1.5 warm-up time. He could simply be on a slow provision chain, which frankly considering he's in Europe wouldn't surprise me one iota. Most of the production of these is done in the US anyhow.
I use one of the major European brands but I can’t tell you the name of it at the moment as I’m not at home. When I get to Berlin I can tell you. But it has always taken time to warm up. The kitchen one I turn out 10 minutes in advance for it to warm up. And the bulbs that are supposed to be the equivalent of the 100w normal bulb simply don’t light the room as much. And the main lamp I used is a floor lamp which shines it on the ceiling so is very indirect.
I also read several govt web sites promoting these bulbs and all of them say that they have to use mercury without exception. They are very open saying that no mercury free bulb of this kind is currently avialable but they hope some come on the market in five to ten years.
Please note I’m buying my bulbs in Europe which has a protected tariff on florescent bulbs limiting competition. So on the one hand the EU lunatics want to force you to use them on the other they artificially restrict supply and drive up price discouraging people from do so.
I would guess that there's something wrong with your wiring, and not the bulbs. I've switched my entire apt. and my auto-repair droplight over to compact fluorescents, as I like having a selection of spectra (easier on the eyes) and have found them to be money-savers in a year's time.
Reading your last post, it sounds as though you're buying the Yugo of bulbs. Perhaps the problem here is with trade restrictions and tariffs, not with overzealous environmentalists.
If you could purchase what we can get at Wal-Mart or Ace Hardware here in Paleoconservative Gringostan, you'd probably have written a blog post citing the switch from 19th-century incandescents over to compact fluorescents as an example of market incentives and how the decision to conserve *should* occur.
Great...now before closing on a house I need have each room checked for levels of mercury from these broken bulbs. What levels of mercury would you find to be acceptable in your child's or your bedroom?
Phil
BenK: I don't actually mind if people want to use those bulbs. I was pointing out the hypocrisy of all this. One regulation is imposed to force people to removed items with mercury while another is imposed to force people to buy light bulbs with mercury. This, we are told, is to save the planet. Then in the EU they impose another regulation restricting the competition which limits selections and drives up prices making it less likely that people will switch.
If the bulbs I had emitted the same light and didn't annoy me when reading and got bright immediately I wouldn't mind them one bit. I had large ones in two businesses in two different countries that had better light and didn't hurt my eyes. I didn't mind them and used them all the time for hours on end when working.
I specifically used the regulations of the people involved to show the troubles they impose on people involuntarily. I didn't say what to do to clean it up if one breaks but what a govt. agency said you must do. I assume all cost/benefit studies were done on what it costs to use the two different bulbs under working conditions. The one may end up cheaper. But how many per thousand meet an unfortunate accident and then impose much larger costs to clean up. Costs which I bet are never added to those numbers that are touted.
So I'm trying to get people to see a broader picture. To see how the intention of "saving the planet" is not leading down to coercive measures telling you what kind of light bulbs you can use and the problems and costs that can be imposed on people against their will. I would leave people fre to use or not use them. And at this time with the choices I had in Europe I wouldn't use them.
BTW i know I bought two different brands in Europe. One brand was sold by Ikea and the other was another brand at the local hardware store. I may be wrong and won't know till I'm home again but I think it was Osram (if that is brand?) That is what comes to mind but I can't guarantee I'm right there.
I'm also confused. I bought a fluorescent bulb because I heard it had a more neutral light, lasted longer and used less electricity. I bought a 60 lumen bulb and first thought it was too bright but I eventually got used to it. There is no "warm-up" period to speak of, the light is on instantly. I also like how it's white light instead of yellow light. The brand I got was GE, what was yours?
Nacim: As I said there were two brands. I think one was Osram but I'm not sure they may be the regular bulbs I bought as a replacement. I can only check when I get back home. I do know I bought them at Ikea in their light section and some I bought at the only hardware store in my area of the city.
I understand that bulb manufacturers are developing an incandescent bulb that equals CFLs in energy savings. They're supposed to be available around the time the proposed incandescent ban in California would take effect.
To quote someone I read in an article regarding the CFL debate; "We didn't need government regulations to switch from dial telephones to touch tone. People just adopted the new technology".
The same should be done in regards lightbulbs.
I am back in my own flat and recovered from the trip which was far longer than necessary. I checked where I kept bulbs and didn't find any. I may have packed them elsewhere and I'm still unpacking those boxes. But I did speak to a UK friend and she uses the new bulbs in a couple of locations in her house where she needs light constantly. She says none of the ones she has light up instantly, they all require warm up periods and they are all dimmer than the bulbs they are supposed to replace. She says she can find some that light up instantly but they cost £10 per bulb or around $20US.
I know one brand was sold at Ikea. I think it is marked Ikea brand but don't know who produces them. My UK friend says she thinks her brand is Phillips. I also read one UK reviewer who is praising them and says they "turn on instantly" but doesn't mean what I mean at all because he later says that after a few minutes they get much brighter. As I said, they need to warm up first. But he says his bigger bulbs needed time to turn on which is not what I experienced. I only experienced the delays necessary before the light got bright enough to use.
All I can say on reading by them is that they annoyed my eyes and I won't use them for reading because of that. However, that well could be an individual issue dependent on the one's eyes. A factor that a ban on the other bulbs won't take into consideration.
wow. this essay sounds like a rant from a coal-fired power plant operator.
i've been using these bulbs for nearly ten years and in that time haven't broken one. i suggest if polluting is a major concern you explore ways to safely recycle them.
Actually Jack, I have six coal powered plants. I keep them in the kitchen since I ran out of room in the lounge which is where I keep my chemical factory. As for the waste uranium I generate in my bathroom nuclear plant I just throw it in the playground around the corner. Makes it much easier for parents to find their kids in the dark.
I have used them in the USA for about 5 years (due to local, rural energy costs which have risen 50% in that same period). I have tried a few brands and while most have lasted well, the main killer is vibration.
The ones on the porch go out within a few months from the wind apparently. Regular old school bulbs work until the wind blows and they are powered.
I have one which I bumped a few years ago in the basement which still works but I would not expect it to to continue to work if the wind blew on it even once since it dangles somewhat from its' ceramic fixture by two wires.
I can see eventual mandates for consumers to be liable (years down the road) for their proper use. They will probably create bucket-loads of laws to make you clean up broken bulbs IAW their procedures which will cost ridiculously and employ many promised, new 'green jobs'.
Thanks a lot, Obama.
Obama = One Bad-Assed Mistake America
*To be sure, this is not all his fault but it gave me a chance to spew the truth about 
**Obama shows as a typo to my spellchecker and I refuse to add it!!
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