Monday, March 07, 2011

Molon Lumen!

Over at the Newbius Papers, the idea is advanced that because hippies want to register your guns, then hippies should have to... register their compact florescent light bulbs. Because CFLs contain mercury, get it? So they're dangerous, like guns!

First, I like CFLs for a lot of applications, such as any light you basically want to leave burning. They're the berries for a back porch light. More importantly, though, I like freedom, so I don't like the idea of registering anything. Not guns, not CFLs, not even filthy hippies or nosy statists.

Telling people what kind of light bulbs they have to buy is for commies.
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21 comments:

Larry said...

Eh. They're ok until the temps get way down low.

I like CFLs just fine for some things. I DON'T like having them forced on me.

7:18 AM, March 07, 2011
Tam said...

Me neither. There's a lot of things I hate CFLs for, like most lighting chores, f'rinstance. They suck at lighting chores that have a heavy off-on cycle, and the quality of the light blows for reading lamps...

7:20 AM, March 07, 2011
North said...

I like flipping my light switch on and waiting for the lights to come on. *click* 1..2..3..4..5..6 Oh, now I can see a little...

7:23 AM, March 07, 2011
Divemedic said...

I like the LED lamps better. I just wish they were a bit cheaper.

7:24 AM, March 07, 2011
Jay G said...

Problem with the LEDs, as they're finding out here in the winter, is that the LED lights in traffic lights don't get hot enough to melt snow.

Not something you think about - until you're sitting at an intersection with no one sure who has the right-of-way because the light is completely covered.

7:48 AM, March 07, 2011
Blackwing1 said...

Funny how the collectivists embrace "choice" only when they agree with the choice being made.

We've been using a CFL as our front porch light for several years now...it's on all the time. Our porch isn't heated, but the base of the bulb generates enough warmth to keep the bulb going even when it's -20F outside. I cranked through the numbers...at 11 watts, for 24 hours a day for 30 days a month, it takes about 7.9 kW-hr to run it. Even at our peak rates of about 9 cents/kW-hr, that's around 71 cents a month.

But our basement is heated only with the waste heat from the boiler and hot-water-heater. Not enough to keep it warm. That's where the 100-watt incandescents are used. In this climate, turning 95% of their energy use into heat isn't a bug, it's a feature.

BC-Hydro did a study several years back showing that in cold-weather climates (Minnesnowta certainly qualifies) CFL's are a net energy loser rather than saver. My guess (totally unsupported by facts) is that anywhere north of 35-degrees latitude in this country would find the same result.

But statist-type collectivists have never cared about facts and data, only control.

8:14 AM, March 07, 2011
Ritchie said...

Is commie light bulb. Is not available.

8:23 AM, March 07, 2011
2yellowdogs said...

Which is why I'll never buy a frickin' Audi. That "green police" commercial totally pissed me off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxTNZUhesZk

What patchouli-scented freak thought sinking a few million into that noxious piece of agitprop would be a good thing?

8:40 AM, March 07, 2011
North said...

"the LED lights in traffic lights don't get hot enough to melt snow."

I think there is a huge untapped market for glass globular heating elements that screw in where the bulbs used to fit. Manufacturing them could be done in the U.S. They could be made with less sophisticated equipment than the LEDs, simpler, and less industrial waste.

8:58 AM, March 07, 2011
Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

@ North: Looks like somebody in Germany already thought of that to get around the EU's ban. They call it the Heat Ball.

We could use a manufacturer and distributor in the US, though.

9:12 AM, March 07, 2011
Newbius said...

http://newbius.blogspot.com/2011/03/perhaps-i-should-have-closed-sarcasm.html

WV=turnpaco: the border is the other way...

9:56 AM, March 07, 2011
Aaron said...

In Michigan I've never been able to have CFLs in outdoor applications survive longer than a year. Even with the tops covered and protected from snow they die unlighted deaths, cold, dark and alone. Great idea but they're not durable enough to survive.

While you save on electricity with the CFLs, the much higher bulb price over the incandescants makes them non-economical if they don't outlast a winter.

The one place I like CFLS is that I can overdrive indoor light sockets to get more light where its needed.

A 40 watt max socket can hold a 26 watt CFL giving 100 watt equivalent of light instead of just an 11 watt / 40 watt rquivalent CFL bulb. More light is good and I save money at the same time.

10:04 AM, March 07, 2011
GuardDuck said...

In Soviet US, you warm CFL.

11:08 AM, March 07, 2011
og said...

Our local power company thinks that 110 volts is fine +/- 20%. So sometimes we have 80, sometimes 150 volts. Makes it hard to keep CFLs functioning. And they won;'t work outdoors in northern Indiana winters.

12:04 PM, March 07, 2011
Borepatch said...

Sigh. I must admit to sometimes wistfully daydreaming of Concealed Statistics Licenses, with a requirement for Safe Statistics Classes and Safe Statistical Storage at home and on the Intarw3bz ....

For the children, of course.

12:13 PM, March 07, 2011
NotClauswitz said...

We live in an All-All electric Every-Everything, there's radiant heat IN THE CEILING (and 12-foot ceilings...), and only a 1/2-inch gas line dribbling to the water heater. Built in the late 70's when Nuke Power plants down in San Onofre was expected to build-up, double-up all along the Coast. Never happened because Teh Hippies like to KILL things so they can wear the Big-Hair-Shirt (not to be confused with a wookie-suit). Sometimes the PG&E bill is Double-Sagans, so we replaced everything with CFC's where we could, and save about $80/month... Still have some wicked halogen lights though.

12:35 PM, March 07, 2011
Brad K. said...

I have baby chicks coming, and I can't find a 150 watt CFL heat bulb any where.

Oh, well, I guess that means maybe 1/2 the chickens in the US won't be here next year. Thanks, B. Hussein Obama.

But I do think CFLs should be registered with the EPA. I mean, look at Missouri, with its law requiring you to recycle used flourescent bulb - it is illegal there to discard two or more. Not good news when a cold spell hits.

Everyone, please check up on the rules for disposing of a used cfl - you are required to use a mason jar for each bulb. I suppose the jar and lid manufacturers are happy about the switch to cfls.

12:43 PM, March 07, 2011
mc said...

LED's are progressing quickly. There is a method of putting nano size holes in their casing and dramatically increasing their output without mitigating their longevity, I think a university in Scotland figured that out. Any fan of gadgets and flashlights has seen great recent progress.

The dopes in congress have had greased palms and closed minds to stick it to us.

Closing American factories and making the toxic multi-part CFL's in China while ignoring the disposal problems and wildly varying quality issues. A big green lie. Thank you Immelt, you sycophantic jackass. What was Welch thinking?

This is a tar and feathers issue in my book. Particularly because the typical congresscreature would not know nearly as much as the comments section here, let alone enough to merit passing legislation.

2:17 PM, March 07, 2011
Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

"LED's are progressing quickly."

I love the LED bulb that I have, but they're still not quite ready for prime time, for 2 big reasons:

1) Brightness - the brightest LED bulb I've found so far that is readily available* is a 60 watt equivalent. AFAIK, there are no 100 watt equivalents available at all, yet. This makes their suitability for replacing incandescent bulbs limited.

2) Cost - That 60W equivalent I mentioned? It's almost $50 for one bulb. Sure, you'll eventually make that up in reduced power usage** and the cost of all the incandescent replacement bulbs you won't have to buy, but you run into the problem that plagues any investment - paying that initial cost. I can't afford to spend the $50 now to come out ahead later.

They're great, and they'll keep getting better, but LED bulbs right now only have limited utility.

* By "readily available," I mean that the average consumer can find one at their local Lowe's or Home Depot, on Amazon (or similar), or near the top of the first page of a basic Google search. Because the average consumer isn't going to put much more effort into looking for it than that.

** You might. I'll only see it in the summer, until I can upgrade from the electric baseboard heat that I have right now. Until then, the energy I save from not using an incandescent bulb that "wastes" energy as heat is energy that has to go right back into heating my house because those bulbs are not generating that heat. YMMV.

3:31 PM, March 07, 2011
Anonymous said...

I'm for registering statists. Unlike guns and lightbulbs, statists actually are dangerous to society and should be monitored closely. -- Lyle

5:37 PM, March 07, 2011
Robert said...

I just bought another fourty 100 Watt incandescents yesterday. I plan on buying a few boxes a week until I have at least a few hundred of them.

8:15 AM, March 08, 2011

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