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By Kirk Myers, Seminole County Environmental News Examiner This article, the second in a series, focuses on the misleading performance claims surrounding the “more energy efficient” compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs now replacing traditional incandescent bulbs. These potentially harmful mercury-filled lamps (see my previous column describing the dangers) are being forced on consumers by the U.S. congress with support from the Green Lobby and light-bulb manufacturers like GE, Sylvania and Phillips. These and other manufacturers stand to make huge profits selling the more expensive CFLs (more on that issue in my next column). There is a growing body of evidence...

The EPA thinks it's worth spending billions of dollars each year to reduce already minuscule amounts of mercury in the outside air. So why is it trying to shove mercury-laced fluorescent bulbs into everyone's homes?

In what critics call a classic case of the government working at cross purposes, Washington is forcing residents across the country to install mercury lighting inside their homes while phasing out mercury lighting outside homes to protect the environment. Yes, you read that right. In 2005, Congress passed a law banning mercury vapor streetlights – two years before it banned incandescent light bulbs in favor of mercury vapor compact florescent bulbs. Under the Energy Policy Act, signed by President Bush in August 2005, manufacturers cannot make or import ballasts for mercury vapor lights after Jan. 1, 2008. According to the...

House democrats blocked the repeal of the light bulb ban. A majority of Americans oppose the government’s unpopular and unnecessary ban on incandescent bulbs and infringement on choice. On January 1 2012, 100 watt incandescent bulbs will become illegal, with lower wattages to follow. The democrats just voted to give jobs to China.

New evidence of CFLs causing fires -- even exploding -- as well as new environmental concerns have come to light since my article The CFL Fraud published.  Here are some of the additional fires:  "I had one of these CFL's in my garage socket, and it blew a component (not the glass corkscrew) and caught fire.  Fortunately, I was standing four feet away at the time.  I turned off the power and smothered the bulb with a towel." LINK "I heard a sizzling sound like bacon, looked in the direction of the sound and watch the CFL burst into flame...

Light bulbs rely not only on simple materials but on esoteric ions and compounds. And while we take their emissions, visible light, for granted, the inner workings of these deceivingly simple gadgets depend on the complex behavior of electrons. We’ll discuss four types of light bulbs:incandescent bulbs, halogens, fluorescent lights (including CFL’s) and LED’s. A) INCANDESCENT BULBS The light bulb of the short-lived variety, is the traditional tungsten incandescent bulb. Inside the glass, electricity flows through a thin filament of the element tungsten (chemical symbol, W, for its old name wolfram). Because the wire is so thin, resistance is high,...

The answer to the above headline is "a whole Congress" (and a senseless president "W").  As Stephen F. Heyward noted the other day, the ban of the incandescent light bulb — thanks to the federal mandate of compact fluorescent light (CFL) for all Americans starting in 2012 — will be the stupidest "energy conservation" law since Jimmy Carter spearheaded the national 55 mph speed limit. I'd rather wear a sweater. We can only hope this scheme will be much less short-lived. Writes Heyward: We’re going to sock it to industry with new air-quality regulations to reduce airborne mercury, but we’re going to subject...

Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) has announced that he plans to introduce legislation to reverse the ban on incandescent light bulbs which is scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2014. The ban was included in a comprehensive energy bill that President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007 as an amendment, and was intended as a means of saving energy and limiting pollution. Senator Enzi’s repeal legislation, the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act (BULB), S. 395, has 27 co-sponsors, including Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), the latter of whose office issued the following statement...

California's utilities are spending $548 million over seven years to subsidize consumer purchases of compact fluorescent lamps. But the benefits are turning out to be less than expected. One reason is that bulbs have gotten so cheap that Californians buy more than they need and sock them away for future use. Another reason is that the bulbs are burning out faster than expected. California's experience is notable because energy experts have placed high hopes on compact fluorescent lamps. Often spiral-shaped, they screw into existing light sockets and offer energy savings of about 75% over traditional incandescent light bulbs. Many nations...

Three years after he led the charge to require consumers to ditch their comfortable old incandescent lights in favor of those twisty CFL bulbs, Rep. Fred Upton now wants to be the man to help undo that law as the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That about-face is not unique among lawmakers looking to atone for stances they've taken over the past decade as they seek to gain top posts in a decidedly more conservative Republican Congress, but his reversal underscores how intent the GOP is on proving it has broken with past practices. "We have...

Why is the incandescent light bulb ban such a lightning rod for Tea Party-inspired remorse from big government Republicans? Simple: it's a liberty-stealing assault on our privacy and common sense, outrageously expensive, and doesn't solve any of the problems it's intended to fix. That's only for starters. The most egregious feature is that the ban makes fools of the American people who willingly succumb to such nonsense from Washington, DC. Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI) campaigning to advance his chances in ascending the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee now says he'd open hearings to reconsider the phase out...

So, are you ready to comply with the federal government's ban on incandescent light bulbs? Me neither. Starting in January 2012, a little over a year from now, the phase-out begins. Simple, inexpensive lighting will become a time-capsule item. Compact-fluorescent lights, or CFLs - the bulbs that look like a twisted ice-cream cone (and won't fit in many light fixtures where space is tight) - will become the new norm. Anyone who has priced CFLs knows they're not cheap. Supposedly they're worth the extra money because they'll last longer. That's cold comfort, though, given the dull, unnatural glow that these...

When the government regulates how much water a toilet can flush, or what kind of lightbulbs you can put in your table lamps at home, the Constitution looks pretty small in the rear view mirror. Exactly where in the Constitution does it say that it is the government's business how much water my toilet is flushing or what kind of lightbulb illuminates my household? But the busybodies in the environmental movement have folks convinced of a lot of things that just aren't so. Remember the campaign that passed the lightbulb bill? The holier-than-thou greenies told us that if we only...

What would Thomas Edison say? IBD editors: Eco-Extremism: A light bulb factory closes in Virginia as mandated fluorescents are made in China. It’s now a crime to make or ship for sale 75-watt incandescent bulbs in the European Union. Welcome to green hell. Thomas Alva Edison was a genius credited with the invention of many things — the phonograph, the motion picture, the incandescent light bulb, global warming. That last credit was given by those who rank light bulbs right up there with the internal combustion engine as ravagers of the planet.

Energy Savings: Europe's ban on the incandescent light bulb began phasing in this month, and the U.S. will soon follow. Is Thomas Edison to blame for global warming? And why are we exporting green jobs?When the warm-mongers assemble in Copenhagen this December to hammer out a successor to the failed Kyoto Protocol, no doubt their work to save the earth from the carbon dioxide that gives it life will take place under the eerie light thrown off by compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) mandated by the European Union to fight climate change. The bulbs are more expensive, costing up to...

Eco-Extremism: A light bulb factory closes in Virginia as mandated fluorescents are made in China. It's now a crime to make or ship for sale 75-watt incandescent bulbs in the European Union. Welcome to green hell. Thomas Alva Edison was a genius credited with the invention of many things — the phonograph, the motion picture, the incandescent light bulb, global warming. That last credit was given by those who rank light bulbs right up there with the internal combustion engine as ravagers of the planet. The General Electric light bulb factory in Winchester, Va., closed this month, a victim, along...

Aiming to keep the focus on climate change legislation, President Barack Obama put in a plug for administration efforts to drastically reduce energy use by lamps and lighting equipment. In the past, the president emphasized using CFLs, LEDs and other low-energy bulbs to reduce the nation's carbon footprint. But today Obama asked American consumers to remove light bulbs altogether and use night vision goggles instead. "I know night vision goggles may not seem sexy, but this simple action holds enormous promise." the president said, equipped with the high-tech eyewear. "Seven percent of all the energy consumed in America is used...

Remember all those TV segments and magazine articles that had a list of 10 things you can do to save the planet from the perils of global warming? More likely than not, one of things you were urged to do was to switch all you incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). And, if you didn't heed their advice, the government's forcing you to through the legislative process. Congress banned the incandescent light bulbs in the energy bill signed into law by former President George W. Bush on Dec. 19, 2007, which increases efficiency standards and effectively bans traditional...

They can help save money and the environment, but some say energy saving light bulbs are making them sick. The new compact fluorescent bulbs have become exceedingly more popular over the past few years—they use less energy and last up to 10 times longer. So Connie Hall, of Stacy, also decided to invest in them, too. But a week later, Hall developed a severe rash on her arm and neck. "I was kind of horrified really," she said. Already super sensitive to light, a symptom of her Lupus, Hall also became weak, tired and her blood pressure was high. But...

Researchers create mercury-absorbent container linings for broken CFLs Brown University engineering students Love Sarin (left) and Brian Lee display a nanoselenium-enriched cloth that can capture mercury vapor from broken compact fluorescent lamps. Brown has applied for federal patents covering the invention and plans soon to begin commercial negotiations. Credit: John Abromowski, Brown University With rising energy prices and greater concern over global warming, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are having a successful run. Sales of the curlicue, energy-sipping bulbs, which previously had languished since they were introduced in the United States in 1979, reached nearly 300 million last year. Experts expect...

Some big retailers are promoting compact fluorescent light bulbs as a way to save energy. But improper disposal of the bulbs creates a hazard, because they contain small amounts of mercury. Recycling them is about to get easier. Home Depot, the nation’s second-largest retailer, will announce on Tuesday that it will take back old compact fluorescents in all 1,973 of its stores in the United States, creating the nation’s most widespread recycling program for the bulbs. “We kept hearing from the community that there was a little bit of concern about mercury in the C.F.L.’s,” said Ron Jarvis, Home Depot’s...

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. -- It's a message being drummed into the heads of homeowners everywhere: Swap out those incandescent lights with longer-lasting compact fluorescent bulbs and cut your electric use. Governments, utilities, environmentalists and, of course, retailers everywhere are spreading the word. Few, however, are volunteering to collect the mercury-laced bulbs for recycling -- despite what public officials and others say is a potential health hazard if the hundreds of millions of them being sold are tossed in the trash and end up in landfills and incinerators. For now, much of the nation has no real recycling network for CFLs, despite...

Here’s your “Al Gore Global Warming Question of the Day:” Is it time to panic? If you’re a Cambridge Greenie who’s just broken one of your environmentally friendly compact fluorescent bulbs in the kids’ playroom - absolutely. If you’re a rational person who can actually read a thermometer - not so much. I fall into the second category, which is why I don’t spend $10 on mediocre, mercury-filled deathsticks known as CFLs. A recent front-page story in USA Today pointed out that these “spaghetti bulbs” as they’re sometimes known, give off lousy, unflattering light; don’t work with dimmer or three-way...

They may lower your bills, but don't really do much for C02: The U.S. Energy Star program says that if every home in America replaced one normal light bulb with a fluorescent...it would be equivalent to taking 800,000 cars off the road. Sure, that sounds like a lot, but it's less than 0.1 percent of registered cars worldwide. Plus, transportation accounts for only about one-fifth of global emissions anyway. Just the increase in the amount of coal that China will burn by 2020 will send as much C02 into the atmosphere as 3 billion Ford Expeditions, each driven 15,000 miles...

The energy bill to be signed by the president today is arguably the worst piece of energy legislation ever enacted into law. It will substantially increase the price of automobiles, increase highway fatalities, increase fuel prices, worsen air pollution, and force consumers to buy products (like super-efficient light bulbs) that they manifestly -- and for very good reason -- do not want to buy. It will transfer huge amounts of wealth from the consumer to the farm lobby in the course of promoting a dubious product -- ethanol -- that will make energy supplies less reliable and greenhouse gas emission...

We've been looking in to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) to reduce energy consumption for lighting. Here's what we've learned so far. Manufacturers say that a 13-18 watt CFL produces light equivalent to a 60w incandescent bulb, an 18-22w CFL is the equivalent of a 75w bulb, and a 23-28w CFL is the equivalent of a 100w bulb. This is based on the "lumens" rating on the side of the box. In real life, CFL equivalent replacements do not seem quite as bright as incandescents, so you might end up replacing a 60w equivalent with a 75w equivalent and so forth....

How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent light bulb? About US$4.28 for the bulb and labour -- unless you break the bulb. Then you, like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, could be looking at a cost of about US$2,004.28, which doesn't include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to health. Sound crazy? Perhaps no more than the stampede to ban the incandescent light bulb in favour of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). According to an April 12 article in The Ellsworth American, Bridges had the misfortune of breaking a CFL during installation in her...

In a few weeks the US Congress is likely to vote to phase out the standard incandescent lightbulb within a decade. The frantic race to see who can best appease the global warming alarmists will claim another victim, the friendly glow of the direct descendant of Thomas Edison's filament-based light bulb.   Why would the humble lightbulb, a staple commodity that has raised the standard of living throughout the world, be in the bullseye?  It was the incandescent electric light bulb that abolished the tyranny of the night. Our 19th and 20th century ancestors believed it one of the greatest...

Mercury is poisonous, but it's also a necessary part of most compact fluorescent bulbs some scientists and environmentalists are worried that most are ending up in garbage dumps. Mercury can also damage the kidneys and liver, and in sufficient quantities can cause death. some of the mercury emitted from landfills is in the form of vaporous methyl-mercury, which can get into the food chain "Disposal of any mercury-contaminated material in landfills is absolutely alarming to me," said Lindberg, emeritus fellow of the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. "I have CFLs throughout my house," said Lindberg, who lives...

They have to be left on all the time, they're made from banned toxins and they won't work in half your household fittings. Yet Europe (and Gordon Brown) says 'green' lightbulbs must replace all our old ones. Every day now we are being deluged with news of the latest proposals from our politicians about how to save the planet from global warming. We must have 'a new world order' to combat climate change, Gordon Brown proclaimed yesterday. We must have strict 'green' limits on air travel, proposes David Cameron, so that no one can afford to take more than one...