On replacing light bulbs

21 Jun 2006

Got questions about the environment? Ask Umbra.

Dear Umbra,

I am reluctant to switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs because that means tossing out not only used-but-still-working incandescent bulbs, but also the brand-new bulbs I have waiting in the closet. Is it really a positive effect overall when we're reducing our carbon emissions but adding to landfills?

Julie
Pittsburgh, Pa.

Ask Umbra continues below

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Dearest Julie,

Damn fine idea ... don't know why I didn't think of it myself.

The gummint says, if every American household replaced five incandescents with higher-efficiency fixtures or bulbs, it would keep a trillion pounds of greenhouse gases out of the air. You tell me: would you rather have a full landfill, or have the Arctic devoid of ice? Climate solutions take precedence over garbage-production concerns, particularly when the garbage is relatively harmless.

I don't advocate throwing away your old bulbs, and I'll get to that in a moment, but were you to chuck them I would not shudder. Toxin-containing refuse, on the other hand, must be attended to, natch. Regular readers of Grist know that trash that requires special care includes home electronics, especially computers and cell phones, household chemicals, paints, heavy metals, and -- wait for it -- compact fluorescents. Doesn't mean you can't get these items out of your house, just means don't throw them in the garbage.

Goodbye, old friend.

Photo: iStockphoto.

Your old bulbs may still have a place in your household. Compact fluorescents, though definitely fab and effective and important, are still a bit more expensive than incandescents. They're worth the money -- around 75 percent more efficient! -- but I wonder if you have the cash to replace all your incandescents in one fell swoop. Also, your ordinary, run-of-the-mill CFLs aren't useful in every light fixture: they can't be used in enclosed, recessed fixtures (too hot), and only certain types work with dimmer switches and outdoor fixtures. CFLs also aren't necessarily good for locations where you turn on the light only briefly, such as a coat closet, because they can take a few moments to reach their full brightness.

In sum, do all you can to replace incandescents with CFLs. But you will likely still have some use for your old bulbs. If you don't think that's the case, try donating them to a local organization. And if all else fails, you have my permission to gleefully throw them in the garbage. After all, that's where they'd eventually end up anyway -- and a lot sooner than those long-lasting CFLs. (Besides, what's more satisfying than the sound of breaking glass?)

We should be thoughtful about producing innocent trash, but not think so hard that we stop ourselves from advancing climate solutions.

Lumenly,
Umbra

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Please send Umbra any nagging question pertaining to the environment -- but first check out her FAQs!

The claims made in this column may not reflect the views of this magazine. Neither the magazine nor the author guarantees that any advice contained in this column is wise or safe. Please use this column at your own risk.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

Comments: (19 comments)

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Who can argue?

You can get ones for dimmers - this is big news; just about the only thing that was stopping the nay-sayers from still well, saying "nay" - you can get tiny little ones, you can get ones that come on straight away, you can get them in different colours(!), you can get ones that only need you to change the top bit!!

If you need any more convincing go to http://www.greenshop.co.uk/acatalog/Low_Energy_Light_Bulbs.html (not an ad, just an example from the UK)

Go on! And while you're about it tell everyone else that they have no excuse not to change.

And to everyone in the UK, there's no excuse not to change to an electricity supplier that provides 100% renewable power (don't know if that's the case in the USA / Canada / Rest of Europe - I hope it is).

Keith
http://www.theearthblog.org
http://www.reduce3.com

Keith Farnish www.theearthblog.org

by farnishk at 1:57 PM on 21 Jun 2006

Just Screw It

My first experience with compact fluorescent bulbs was using them in my bathroom. They wore out in two or three months. I checked with a few people and was told that compact fluorescent bulbs wear out very quickly when they're turned on and off a great deal.

Does this sound correct to you good folks out there who know about this stuff? Thanks.

by Shelley at 3:36 PM on 21 Jun 2006

Score a bargain

Sadly, by far the cheapest CF lightbulbs are found way out in the 'burbs, at IKEA, that temple of big-box.

If it assuages your conscience any, though, you can remind yourself that IKEA is actually the world's largest tax dodge, er, charity.

by Payton Chung at 9:08 PM on 21 Jun 2006

Goofy commercials too.

Their furninshings are cheap, in every sense of the word. You get what you pay for with IKEA.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 10:06 PM on 21 Jun 2006

Don't all bulbs have mercury?

I work as an environmental consultant and we encourage our clients to dispose of all bulbs, including incandescents, as 'hazardous waste' due to their mercury content. My impression is that incandescents are not guaranteed to pass a TCLP test, so it is safest (for people and the environment) for the bulbs to be disposed of as hazardous waste for proper recycling. Unfortunately there are not many programs in the country for residents to recycle their incandescents, but hopefully there will be soon! I don't think people should be encouraged to dispose of their bulbs in the trash if there are chemicals in there that we would not want leaching into our water supplies, etc!

Anyone else with thoughts/knowledge on this subject?

thanks,
Melissa

by paradoxish at 7:13 AM on 22 Jun 2006

All bulbs? Not incandescents.

For some information go here and read
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/hzwstman/bulbs2.htm
Another interesting site is:
http://www.newmoa.org/prevention/mercury/lamprecycle/tclp.cfm
I find this interesting especially because they point out that, even if a "green" flourescent has passed the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure test, if they go to an incinerator, all the mercury, etc. gets into the atmosphere anyway.
But incandescent bulbs do not contain mercury, and are not subject to the TCLP test.

by slurpee55 at 2:24 PM on 22 Jun 2006

compact fluorescent bulbs and DSL connections

I bought a 3 pack of these a while back. I was going to use one for my outside night sensing garage light that switches on in the evening. Strangely, every night around the same time (but getting a bit earlier each night - it was last Fall), the DSL connection for my internet would go down and we couldn't figure out what was doing it. Then I realized the only change had been the new fluorescent bulb I put in. Sure enough, whenever this turned on, the DSL connection would be affected. I searched on the internet and found it also happened to others. Maybe not everyone will experience this, but sadly I had to do away with them - gave them to my in-laws to use. Hopefully our next house won't have this problem.

by Hotspur2001 at 1:42 PM on 23 Jun 2006

Donations

Don't donate your old incandescents to a local organization! Yikes, get rid of it, either throw it out or recycle it if you can (as previous commentor pointed out). If you're gonna donate something, donate a CFL!

Environmental Associate Kingston, NY

by Jessica Barry at 12:16 PM on 28 Jun 2006

This info is out of date..

This light bulb info needs to be updated. You can buy Compact f. bulbs for recessed lighting, no problem. I just bought a bunch at my local home "depot". Just read the side of the box.

Also, the days of the bulbs taking a split second to light are over. The technology has improved greatly over the past five years. Also, you can now get smaller ones that will fit in places the older longer ones wouldn't! As someone mentioned above, you can get them for dimmers. Soft light is also available. And, though I haven't seen them in stores yet, they now come in those big round bulbs that people use for their strip lights in bathrooms!

by SteveO at 7:03 AM on 08 Jul 2006

Next Cool Light LED

I just installed some of LED floodlights in my home. They are low level lighting, but use less energy than CFL, like 8 watts. They are expensive, about $40 a piece, but they are new. LED last much longer that CFL. Don't think they are ready for prime time yet, but early adopters should be buying them and checking them out.

by ffletcher at 10:14 AM on 08 Jul 2006

The meaning of the joke

Let me repeat the joke:

How many environmentalists does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: 100. Ninety-nine to stew about the ecological and philosophical impacts of the move, and one -- who also happens to moonlight as a convivial advice columnist -- to climb the ladder and just freaking do it.

The point, it seems, is that the preponderance of environmentalists love to engage endless discussions about the environmental impact of screwing in light bulbs, while doing nothing meaningful in that regard.

Now the joke wouldn't be funny, you know, if the core observation within it weren't true. I think the truth of it comes out in the reflection that we're discussing the environmental impact of screwing in lightbulbs, instead of discussing the impact of the system as a whole. In this case, the system as a whole is the electrical grid which powers the light bulb once we srew it in and flick on the switch. Without the grid, no light bulb, no "energy saving," no light-bulb jokes.

Oh, sure, energy-saving lightbulbs are nice, but isn't it the electrical grid, among the other grids (e.g. the transportation grid, the air traffic grid, the monetary grid, the military grid), which dominates the world. Isn't it that which has forced us into this ecological crisis where we consume 85 million barrels of oil every day and can't stop?

You may now go back to your regularly-scheduled conversation about light bulbs.

http://www.dailykos.com/User/Cassiodorus

by LegumeSam at 11:28 AM on 08 Jul 2006

Push You Pull Me

Thanks Sam for writing about talk about talk.

With all this talk about global warming, we have now evolved into talking about talking. It is all just talk. There still is no walk, no work.

And the band plays on...

by sunflower at 1:14 PM on 08 Jul 2006

Thanks for noticing, Sunflower

there is, however, a fundamental message I am trying to convey beyond my talk about talk...

Behind the messages of "cutting carbon emissions" or "ending oil dependence" (while leaving everything the same) is a fundamental misconception that keeps us from doing anything.

Our global civilization does not consume 85 million barrels of crude oil every day because of some objective human need for the substance. Thus the stock "solutions," e.g. mandating cuts in "carbon emissions," or developing "carbon-neutral" energies, are only going to have a minimal effect upon the overall situation.

The reason is that, under capitalism, 85 million barrels of oil are not consumed because there is some objective human need for the substance. Not with half the planet's people living on $2/day, no. No, 85 million barrels of oil are consumed every day because the money to buy 85 million barrels of oil is chasing that oil. Production under capitalism chases "effective demand," which is a number to be calculated by multiplying the number of paying consumers by the price of each quantity of product to be sold. The number represented by effective demand has a hallowed place in every accountant's balance sheet: I believe it's called "receipts."

We will not, I repeat, not get out of our fix without some reckoning with capitalism. If we continue to deny that we are under capitalism, then, eventually, capitalism will come to us.

http://www.dailykos.com/User/Cassiodorus

by LegumeSam at 9:50 PM on 08 Jul 2006

"disposability"

Lovely, LSam, wonderful observation stemming from a rather depressing joke. And Sunflower apparently agrees/agree.

Here is a light-bulb-related complaint that I have with our consumerist society: I mourn (well, not deeply and not long, but yes, it is true) when I look at an extinct light bulb, before I chuck it. The glass is so carefully and elegantly constructed, as is the metal screw-in base. And there is so far absolutely nothing wrong with them. And yet, just because something in the middle is mortal and has perished, the whole thing must be chucked, and unjustly treated as trash.

How can we support a life-style, in which effort and intelligence and art go into the making of every part of every device and tool and instrument that we use, but when one single part goes bad and renders the device ineffective, we toss the whole thing into the trash, and go out and buy another?

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 4:00 AM on 09 Jul 2006

The Meaning of the Joke

I think the meaning of joke is that we environmentalist enjoy thinking and expressing our ideas,and we do that a lot. In fact when we think it is time to get serious we just raise the level of discussion, like to our economic system or the electricity grid and given time some version of what is the work of God and what is the work of mankind.

But we don't get to the business of getting the bulbs replaced, getting rid of old refrigeration equipment, planting shade trees, deploying shades, installing solar hot water systems, venting attic spaces better, using drip irrigation, growing at least some of our own food, canning our own produce, making 80% of our own meals in our homes, limiting our driving to less than 5000 miles a year, and those other practical things that we should do and show others how to do.

We can make strides in conservation and efficiency but it is boring work, but in the end we can meansure our efforts and see that we have made a difference.

by ffletcher at 12:19 PM on 10 Jul 2006

Are You Experienced?

And my favorite: Recycle the dryer for indoors clothes lines.

by sunflower at 12:42 PM on 10 Jul 2006

Use those old Lightbulbs for something good!

Old incandescent lightbulbs have a great number of purposes that can be much more creative than putting them in either landfills or designated waste disposal places. Light bulbs can make great Christmas tree decorations or even decorations year-round! Set up a light-bulb memorial tree on which you can hang your old lightbulbs and decorate them with pictures or colors or whatever. Invite your friends and neighbors to change their lightbulbs and put their old ones on your tree. Displaying the tree in your house is a great way to spread the word about CFL's!

Even better than donating incandescents to homeless shelters etc, spent $20 on buying them new, fluorescent light bulbs and give the gift of energy savings to everyone.

by itseasybeinggreen at 9:31 AM on 13 Jan 2007

LED = DISTRACTION

I just installed some of LED floodlights in my home. They are low level lighting, but use less energy than CFL, like 8 watts. They are expensive, about $40 a piece, but they are new. LED last much longer that CFL. Don't think they are ready for prime time yet, but early adopters should be buying them and checking them out.

To the best of my knowledge commercially-available LED bulbs currently use more energy than CFL's per unit of light output, not less. OK, LED's have some directional characteristics which CFL's don't which makes them handy in small flashlights etc. but in almost any domestic lighting scenario CFL's are better energy performers. Spend $40 if you wish for an 8-watt LED but a 6 watt CFL costing $4 will give the same amount of light and use less electicity. LED's may become a better environmental deal than CFL's some day, but don't hold your breath. Listen to your Auntie Umbra and replace your incandescents with CFL's now!

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

by spaceshaper at 2:14 PM on 13 Jan 2007

Just do it.

Just don't rush out and buy the cheapest cfl crap you can find.

There are CFL's for all types of fixtures. Our utility offers 39 different styles. Some work great some don't. Typically you get what you pay for except when you buy the 50 cent incandescent you are agreeing one, either not to use it or two, to pay on average $25 more in energy costs. Easy monthly payments. That's what everyone likes...

So when you purchase and install CFL's write the date, the source, and the warranty expiration date on the base and keep your receipts. If and when a cheap lamp fails or you don't like it take back and make them give you another better one.
Sooner or later the retailers will stop selling the crap that people don't like. Ask them when they are going to start a CFL recycling program and make them take them back. They take back used motor oil now a days. They can recycle spent CFL's.

Even better yet, write or call your government representatives and ask them to tax the incandescent light bulb. The Incandescent light bulb is 125 and the CFL is 20. It's about time the old 90% wasted as heat technology were retired to make way for innovative new solutions. We could use the taxes (maybe 6 billion per year) to encourage alternative energy and level the playing field, and put $150 billion spendable after tax dollars back into everyones pockets and dramatically reduce CO2 and need for new coal fired power plants while we figure out this distributed net metering solar energy alternative energy business.

How many legislators does it take to change a light bulb? One in California wants to do it by 2012... it's at least a start.

How many Boulder hippies does it take to screw in a light bulb? None. Boulder hippies screw in solar powered hot tubs. If they want to change a light bulb with a CFL, they just hold one up and wait for the world to revolve around them.

Sunwave Spectrally Enhanced 25 Watt T8 Lamps 1-866-4Sunwave Most light - Least Energy - Win the energy reduction race and green up your bottom line.

by SunWave at 10:53 PM on 05 Feb 2007

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