Yesterday while the kids were playing together a compact fluorescent light bulb broke at their feet. Buddy scooped them up and took them outside. Luckily they were still mostly dressed from our walk earlier. I covered my nose and mouth and threw out some additional clothes. It took some time to clean up because I was trying to be pretty thorough. It broke near the play kitchen. They were frozen by the time they came back in. Buddy had already been disappointed with the CFLs prior to this incident but this really sealed the deal. The mercury vapor I think is even more dangerous than injected mercury. The light bulbs just don't live up to their long life promise. Our electricity bill doesn't reflect any savings. From our standpoint they're starting to become a dangerous scam.
Nyla and I went out to the grocery store early yesterday morning in the hopes of beating the rush. Instead I joined the crush of people who were doing Thanksgiving shopping. I couldn't get near the meat because the line was too long to enter that area. The checkout line snaked around the bread aisle. It was so busy. I had less than 20 items so I used the much faster self checkout. We're not going to have a big Thanksgiving this year. How much turkey and stuffing can the 4 of us eat. Instead we'll donate the money we would have used in creating a large feast to a food bank.
We're still all a little sick here. Well Buddy more so since he is in the middle of it. I can't believe what a long cold this has been. Nyla feels the best so far. She has a little bit of a runny nose. Bohdin has a bit of a cough. I have congestion and a cough. I don't think colds can last forever. Surely I'm in the home stretch by now.
6 comments:
I was not happy on the cost of the things in the first place, how can that translate into any savings if you spend 8 dollars for 3 bulbs that will save 37 cents a year in electricity for 5 years? Plus you place your family and yourself in jeapordy if one breaks, which you can bet over half the users of these things DO NOT EVEN KNOW ABOUT!!!!! And your senators and representatives want it to be mandatory to use these, making incandesants illegal!
http://www.reason.com/news/show/119332.html
your .37 numbers is a bit misleading if you do the math. Each bulb uses about 20% of the energy of the previous light bulb, so a 15 watt CFL is as bright as a regular bulb, but uses 1/5 the energy.
So lets say you save 45 watts every hour you use the bulb (0.045 kWh). Lets say that electricity costs 9 cents perk kwh (.045 *.09 = .00405 cents per hour) that is not much, but it adds up. If you use it for 4 hours a day that is 1.62 cents per day. If you have the bulb for a year you just saved $5.90 per bulb.
Plus they are supposed to last longer. I haven't changed a bulb in my house in over a year. I think the number do add up quite a bit, but then again if you leave you 500 watt computer running 24x7, you just spent all your savings.
We bought the Costco bundle so it was less than one dollar per bulb.
Electricity is pricier out here and the fees are outrageous so that makes our bills large. Off the top of my head about 40% of the bill is fees. I may be exaggerating a bit but it is quite high. I can't check right now.
Buddy's environmental science degree hides the fact that he is really an environmental ruiner.
ruiner?
who is making these bulbs??
China?? anyone ELSE??
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