Compact fluorescent bulbs: Handle with care

Good link, I didn't know that.

The article says that different brands use different amounts of mercury - all them tiny amounts. But there's been a huge rush to buy up these bulbs all over the world. Recycling them is a hassle because they break easily. And, technology advances............

Lotta places round here do recycle them, k, and they don't burn out too often, so it's not a continual problem. I called the Cambridge recycling hotline, when I first heard about the mercury and they gave me a list. A lot of the places that sell them also take back the dead bulbs. True Value Hardware (Tags in Porter Square) comes to mind. Maybe Home Depot (tho I'm not sure I remember that accurately). Try your town's reclycling line, if one exists, and they can probably give you a list near you.

I like them, among other reasons, because I've got the dreaded middle-aged eye, and need brighter bulbs. Now that most sockets in lamps are rated 60W or less, a 60 watt incandescent bulb just doesn't cut it--I can't read with one without strain, but a 100W equivalent fluorescent only actually uses 23-25W, so I save CO2 and still read comfortably. Go curls.

They should/could probably post that where they sell them, so you know when you buy them where you can take the dead ones.

Username, thanks for the tips. I bet the cambridge recycling center will recycle them soon if they don't already. And, I visit that place regularly during the warmer months, so I'll ask them.

They did a piece on this on NPR, too. The worry is that many people around the world, including those of us here in the US, will be lazy about it and toss them in the trash.

Mobile phones ditto. Computer monitors, ditto. The very small amount of mercury in each bulb is miniscule compared to cadmium/lithium in a cellphone battery.

I still don't like those flouro globes. The light is flat and lifeless.

Better get used to it, Builder. Isn't Oz going short and curly soon?

Quartz halogen 12 volt downlights are all the rage here, littlek.

The funny thing about the short and curly flouros is, they rarely fit inside standard light fittings.

Maybe the Oz ones are different. I've replaced amost all of my incandescent bulbs with the fluoros and they fit in almost anything, from swingarm Luxo-style lamps to the popular pharmacist lamps to regular table lamps to the in-ceiling mounted can type fixtures with standard base sockets, with very little problem. Some of the earlier generations of the bulbs were bigger and more strangely shaped, and started slowly, had to warm up to deliver full light output, and flickered. But they don't anymore. I also like the light--it's much closer to incandescent spectrum, not the AWFUL cool white fluorescent spectrum. They also look kinda cool just by themselves, in a bare socket, with no shade, which neither standard fluoros nor incandescents do.

I have the glass globe fittings here, and the standard flouro bulbs won't fit.

Just finished a renovation job, and the seventies satellite fittings they won't fit neither. Maybe I just got unlucky twice, Username?

Oz isn't 60Hz, 110V is it, Builder? Maybe that alters the shape. Dunno.

It's perhaps interesting as well to read more about the "Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive".

50 Hz, 240 V.

The larger (sorry, brighter) bulbs are friggin huge.

Might as well just go with a flouro tube on a batten fitting.

I think MA State Law lists flourescent bulbs as one of the items that must be recycled. I know they are required to be recycled in Braintree, Dedham and Littleton.

More should be advertised on it though. The big tubes are hard to disguise unless you break them first. The compacts would be easily hidden in any trash and most people probably don't give them any thought. There are no signs mentioning them at the recycling center I use even though they have signs for everything else. I should make a note to mention it to them the next time I'm there.

I'm with you, Builder. I'm trying to keep an open mind, people keep telling me how wonderful the new ones are, and I'm all for the energy-conserving aspect. Last week I went to a friend's house and had a 2-hour discussion under fluoros. It was during the day, the windows were open, it wasn't the only light source. Still hated 'em. These were the brand-new, "soft," supposedly fabulous ones.

I'll keep my mind open, still not impressed.

For what it's worth, soz, for me, the light quality is way better from the circular fluorescents that the twisty ones. The make circular ones that screw into a conventional socket too, but there's a clearance problem on some applications.

I've replaced all of the bulbs in my house with flourecents with the exception of a motion activaed haolgen that is outside over the driveway. They do take a few weeks to get used to just because the light is different.

The only place i'm discouraged is the one in the front porch light outside. It works but it isn't nearly as bright as the old 75w incandescent that used to be in there. From inside the house, you can't even tell the light is on any more.

I have no idea what the direct energy savings for my place might be but not having to replace burned-out incandescents every 4 or 5 months is a very nice side benefit. The compact flourecents have been lasting upwards of 5 years.

we have converted almost all our lights to the circular fluorescent ones along with halogen track lights in the kitchen ceiling.

When in doubt, go for the downlights in 12 volt.

Quartz halogen globes last for ages, and the light is better than flouro.