Nobody that I know likes the light produced by compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). I don’t like the 60Hz flicker that accompanies them, and the color is very displeasing. I’ve given them a chance more than once, but even my kids complained about the light quality. So I used them where we’re generally not living, reading, eating, cooking. I’ve been using them outdoors (but they take forever to warm up in the cooler seasons), and in rooms that we don’t spend much time.
They may cause migraines. They contain about 5mg mercury per bulb, requiring that they be disposed of at CFL recycling locations — inconvenient enough that many people will just toss them into their regular garbage and end up in landfills. What’s so environmentally friendly about that?
So now they might cause cancer?
Energy saving light bulbs ‘contain cancer causing chemicals’:
Their report advises that the bulbs should not be left on for extended periods, particularly near someone’s head, as they emit poisonous materials when switched on.
Peter Braun, who carried out the tests at the Berlin’s Alab Laboratory, said: “For such carcinogenic substances it is important they are kept as far away as possible from the human environment.”
Ann Althouse also justifiably rants about the activism that never ends. It’s always something that has to be made a big deal out of and the activists have to force their conclusions on the rest of us.
So before we have an adequate replacement for the incandescent bulb, politicians around the world are banning them and trying to force people into using fluorescent bulbs or alternatives that just plain suck!
Don’t take my choices away from me! Let the market deal with it in it’s own way, and when we have viable alternatives, people will switch to the best product that saves them money, is safe, and provides them with sufficient quality light.
If the government is going to mandate them, then consumers no longer have a choice. Manufacturers won’t have to expend any real effort to improve their CFL products or develop alternatives. If consumers don’t have a choice, where is the incentive to innovate?
UPDATE: Amy Alkon recommends a place to get a good deal on incandescent bulbs if you want to start hoarding them by the hundreds.
UPDATE: Don’t expect the GOP to come through for us on this one either.
. You’ll burn more calories if you’re standing and moving around a little while you’re working. You don’t have to worry about an expensive ergonomic chair. It’s apparently better for your back, and you probably have less of a risk of throwing a clot from your butt to your brain, resulting in a stroke.
