ACM: CFL resistance
Here at ACM headquarters I am proud to announce that I have replaced virtually every CFL with a traditional tungsten filament bulb. The result?
- I can see properly in my study for the first time in 18 months (60W equivalent? Like hell) - I actually started thinking my eyesight was giving out!
- I don't have to switch on my desk lamp and go and make a cup of tea while waiting for it to "warm up"
- The dimmers work again.
- I'm no longer at risk of triggering an epileptic fit thanks to the incessant flickering.
- Spares are $2 and not $20 (and don't mention the $5 Chinese rubbish you get in Woolworths)
- Disposal does not mean releasing highly toxic mercury into the environment (remember how the EU went to such lengths to ban mercury barometers? Talk about hypocrisy).
Good riddance.
posted by Simon from Sydney at
1:40 PM
3 Comments:
I've been stashing boxes of incandescent bulbs in the attic for months now. I'm stocking up since the US guv has ruled that incandescents will no longer be sold in 2012. They'll have to pry them from my cold dead fingers. I've got boxes and boxes of 40 watt bulbs, 60 watt bulbs, and (Hee-hee!) those especially criminal 100 watters.
By
GORE LIED, At
September 17, 2009 at 11:42 PM
Good on ya!
By
Simon from Sydney, At
September 18, 2009 at 7:06 AM
Do we live on the same planet and buy the same CFLs? I don't understand this sudden revulsion against CFLs by the AGW skeptics.
The problem of mercury vapour is a legitimate concern in the unlikely (but possible) event of a smash during operation. Unless you live on an aluminium framed aircraft, it's as safe as crossing the road. There's no outcry about the mercury in normal fluorescent tubes that have been in or around our homes for 25 years. There's no outcry about the dangers of mercury every time the street lights come on at dusk, or when the MCG switch on their giant mercury vapour lamps.
But what is the origin of the ridiculous claims of CFL bulbs being too dark, taking ages to brighten, or casting an ugly-tinted light? None of the CFLs I have bought have any of these problems, and I've only bought the midrange OSRAM or Mirabella brands.
* Tonal uglyness is perhaps in the eye of the beholder but the light from "warm white" CFLs look the same as tungstens to me.
* If you can't read by the light of a 15W CFL within 10 seconds then there really is something wrong with your eyes, no fooling.
* As for warm-up times, this varies a lot between models, but you've got enough to see with in 2 seconds so I don't know what the fuss is about. The minimum necessary brightness for seeing is much less than the peak brightness - or else the bulb is too weak for the situation. Of course you must know this because you want to use dimmer switches.
On top of that CFLs last 6 times longer and use 4 times less energy than incandescents. The mercury separation/recycling facilities have yet to extend their service to domestic sources, but that's possible assuming the government stops giving contradictory advice about disposal. We still have roughly another 3 years to sort that out before the first batches of CFLs from 2001 need replacing.
Have I been astonishingly lucky with my purchases, do I have the night vision of a snake, or is there perhaps a fraction of skeptics who don't mind exaggerating to ensure the champion solutions of the enemy are hated?
-Andrew.
By
Andrew McRae, At
September 19, 2009 at 10:44 PM
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