[ale] OT CFL cleanup / LED light bulbs starting to become affordable

[Adrya Stembridge]

I bought six CREE 60w equiv bulbs for my house.  I ordered the cool
version, and the light is brilliant.  Great to work by.   The warm version
would probably be better for a casual non-work environment.

I'm pleased with the purchase, but won't get more until the price drops
quite a bit more.   The energy savings between CFL and LED is minimal.


On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 12:16 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <
atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Just wanted to drop a note about some LED light bulbs I've seen recently.
>  As you may know, the manufacture of incandescent light bulbs is being
> phased out.  The best current alternative is the compact fluorescent (CFL).
>  These work well, and use about 1/4 the energy of an incandescent.  The
> problem is that they have toxic mercury.  If you break one, you have to
> take special steps to avoid exposure to mercury or mercury vapor.
>
> You can find info here:
>
> http://www2.epa.gov/cfl
>
> I had the (not) fun of experiencing the cleanup procedure the other day.
>  I dropped one of these and it shattered.  I put on vinyl gloves and
> removed every fragment I could find.  I then wiped the carpet with a damp
> paper towel.  I then vacuumed, even though the epa would rather you not,
> since almost all the residue was gone and I knew there were shards of glass
> in the carpet.  I then threw the vacuum bag away (it needed it anyway).
>  Finally, I ran the whole house attic fan to ventilate the house for 1/2
> hour.  They recommend venting for several hours if practical.  What a pain.
>
> There are no really good alternatives.  However, LED light bulbs are
> starting to become affordable.  I saw an ad from newegg that said they have
> 30W equivalent bulbs in a 6 pack for about $ 5 ea.  Also, I was surprised
> to find that there are some interesting alternatives now appearing at home
> depot and lowes.  Home depot has two products from CREE.  One is a 40W
> equivalent bulb for $ 10 and a 60W equivalent for $ 15.  I'm waiting for
> affordable 100 W equivalents, but they're still about $ 45.  So, we're
> getting there.  I moved to all CFL a couple of years ago.  I'm not quite
> ready to jump to LED yet, but maybe the prices will keep dropping.
>
> If you decide to buy some of these, there are at least three things you
> need to consider other than cost.  First is size.  Some of these are longer
> and / or wider than standard bulbs.  Second, are they omnidirectional and
> do they cast shadows?  Some bulbs have part of the bulb structure obscuring
> the bulb and would cast shadows in certain areas.  Third, are they
> dimmable?  Dimmability is a big advantage that incandescents have that most
> fluorescents don't.  Some of the new LED's are dimmable.  But, look at the
> specs.  Some of them require new advanced dimmers.  The CREE ones I
> mentioned, however, are dimmable with conventional old style dimmers.
>
> Also, the manufacturers like to play games with longevity ratings.  One
> will say 10 years, another 20 years, etc.  This is useless.  You have to
> find how many hours per day they're figuring.  Usually, it's 3, sometimes
> 6, etc.  The Philips CFL's I just bought are rated at 11 years, at 3 hr /
> day.  (The bulbs in my living room and work area run much more than 3 hr /
> day.)  If you do the math, that works out to 12,000 hours.  The cheaper
> CFL's may be rated only for 8,000 or 10,000 hours.  A LED should last
> 20,000 hours or more.  There are 8760 hours / year, so if you're running a
> bulb 12 - 24 hours / day, expect lots fewer days out of it.
>
> Home depot will recycle CFL's for you.  Lowes might but I don't know.  I
> don't know of any easy way to recycle bigger circular or straight
> fluorescent tubes.  I wish I did, as there are a few fixtures in my house
> that use these.
>
> Has anyone else had experience with the new LED bulbs?
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
>
> --
>
> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
> Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.
>
> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very
> quickly.)
>
> Ron Frazier
> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
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