Cool, can't wait! CFL revolution!

[Smitty]

Before Clean-up: Ventilate the Room

Have people and pets leave the room, and don’t let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out.

Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.

Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.

Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces

Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.

Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.

Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the glass jar or plastic bag.

Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug

Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.

Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.

If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.

Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.

Disposal of Clean-up Materials

Immediately place all cleanup materials outside the building in a trash container or outdoor protected area for the next normal trash.

Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials.

Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.

Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug: Ventilate the Room During and After Vacuuming

The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window prior to vacuuming.

Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.

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[Lena]

I have long hated the CFLs. They make me sick and are getting harder to avoid these days.

Here is an article I wrote awhile back summarizing many of the facts and studies out there. If you have pets it is especially worth a read. Many people don’t know that the sound frequency CFLs let off is within many animals’ hearing range.

The danger of compact fluorescent lighting

Let the revolution began:-)

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[KBear]

Don’t forget to lick your fingers!

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[dawsonct]

Don’t worry, once they have figured out how to disperse the light from LED’s, and reduce the cost, CFL’s won’t be around anymore.

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[Smitty]

I sure hope you are right, dawson.

It seems to me that not only is this going to be a pain in the a$$, but the overall environmental benefit is negligible at best when you factor in the disposal of all the cleanup materials and fuel wasted driving to the disposal facility.

Some things sound good at first, but after you dig a little deeper……….

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[dawsonct]

Yup, we always need to weigh our technological advances between their environmental costs and benefits.

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I actually checked the thread because I thought that something was going on in the Canadian Football League, like they were going to try to expand into the U.S. again.

MAJOR disappointment, Smitty!

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[Smitty]

Ha! That’s what comes up first when you google it too.

Those Canadians would never postpone a football game because of snow, I tell you!

I also don’t think the NFL could get away with naming a team the “Eskimos” either, but the Edmonton First Nations doesn’t fit on a jersey.

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[dawsonct]

I think Eskimos is FAR less offensive to indigenous North Americans than the name Redskins.

I really find that offensive, and I am a MAWM.

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[Smitty]

Good point.

Although I must say this lutefisk eating, krumkake loving MAWM has never been offended by the Vikings….

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[hooper1961]

dawsonct – i agree with you led’s are hopefully right around the corner. consumer reports (yes i have a prescription to it) has conducted initial reviews. led’s are available but the lighting is not great yet and the price makes them not pencil out.

cfl’s have come a long way in the last decade and the led’s hopefully will improve and become cost effective.

note: led’s are making their way into industrial, street lighting and signals (lowers energy and maintenance) applications

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[redblack]

fiber optics can help disperse LED light, but right now it’s less than cost-effective.

interesting clean-up instructions, though. where did you cut’n’paste from, smitty?

i don’t mean to be dismissive, but anyone who has ever worked on an older car’s A/C system or an old household A/C unit has probably inhaled about 200 CFL’s worth of noble gases.

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[Smitty]

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp

Sorry, should have linked the first time.

Heard it on talk radio (go figure) and snoped it.

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[miws]

And to think I used to intentionally break the long F96T12 fluorescent tubes.

Not in the course of vandalism, but to make sure all of the glass, white powder, and unbeknownst to me at the time, Mercury, all ended up inside the dumpster, and not 4/5 in, 1/5 outside on the ground.

This was back 12.5+ years ago when I worked in the parking business, and some of the location had fixtures that used those long tubes.

They were longer than the dumpster, (although almost fit in corner to corner), so the trick was when the dumpster was empty, so that I had the hard surface of the floor of the dumpster to tap against, was to gently position the tube in the dumpster, turn my head away and close my eyes, and tap….tap…..tap….tap….. until thing thing finally broke. Hopefully, and thankfully most often, the end inside the dumpster would usually break without the whole thing shattering, and once I heard the “pop”, I’d continue tapping it until it broke down enough to fit in the dumpster.

The other most common fluorescents in the garages was very basic F40T12, (think shop light size). They, of course, were small enough to just toss in the dumpster in their entirety.

And don’t get me started on fluorescent tubes getting busted by CB whip antennae, and all of those tiny, tiny shards of glass, and the white powder raining down all over the parking garage floor. And Customers’ cars! >_<

Mike

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[Kevin]

LED’s are already here! SOME are still kind of expensive, but there are others that are quite reasonable.

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The “good” CFLs sometimes had a 12,000 + hour lifespan, but many of the new LED’s are rated at 30,000 – 50,000 hours, and use only a fraction of the power that the CFLs used.

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I used to figure getting about 2.5 years out of a CFL with a 12,000 hour rating, figuring an average of being on 12 hours per day.

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Even if you just figure 30,000 hours on an LED running 12 hours per day, you will be looking at a life span of almost 7 years!

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Find a 50,000 hour LED and now we are talking over a decade!

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The brighter 40 – 60 watt equivalent output LED’s can be found for $15 to $25. I recently bought some at Fry’s for about $14 each.

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Several years ago I found some very low output LED’s (slightly brighter than an average night light) at Wal Mart for $6 each.

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The newer LED’s are even offered in different Kelvin temperature ratings. Regular incandescent bulbs normally used in the home are generally in the 2500 – 3000 Kelvin range and that same range (warm sometimes yellowish looking light) is also available in LED’s.

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LED’s are also available in a much brighter looking (bluish white) light that is in the 4500 – 5000 Kelvin range.

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Kelvin simply refers to the color temperature produced by the bulb, regardless of what type of bulb it is.

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Expect to see MANY more LED choices in the near future. And prices eventually dropping down to what is closer to what we pay for incandescent bulbs now.

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Personally I would not spend any more than $25 per bulb for an LED at this time and only if the bulb has a 50,000 hour rating.

.

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[sunshine]

So what should I do with the ones I have and no longer want? This is so very, very disheartening.

I remember getting these free with a voucher from … was it City Light? Who championed this relationship between City Light and the manufacturers of these CFLs?

And on the subject of ethnic stereotypes and athletic teams – what about the “Fighting Irish”? May I be the first (that I know of) to suggest the “Writin’ Irish” as a PC alternative?

The pen being mightier than the sword and all, right?

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[redblack]

sunshine: don’t be disheartened. read smitty’s link to snopes.

while you have to be careful with the remains of a broken CFL, it does not pose a grave danger or require an environmental clean-up crew.

i suppose waste management or SPU would be the best place to ask about how to properly dispose of CFL’s:

http://www.cityofseattle.net/util/Services/Recycling/LookupTool/HazardousItems/FluorescentLights/index.htm

“All fluorescent lights (such as tubes and compact bulbs) contain mercury and are banned from Seattle’s garbage.

Ask about recycing where you buy, or recycle through the Take It Back Network, a group of businesses and organizations that offer convenient recycling options.

You can also take up to 10 bulbs per trip to a HHW location.”

so, onto the take it back network:

http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/takeitback/fluorescent/index.asp

the last link is a list of businesses who will take fluorescent lights.

oh, look! bartell drugs takes back fluorescent lights. so do mclendon’s and some other true value hardware stores, but not junction true value. (i wonder if they know this…) seattle lighting in SODO.

as for the broken ones, some quick googling tells us:

http://www.lhwmp.org/home/HHW/whattobring.aspx

king county local hazardous waste program says you can bring fluorescents to the south seattle transfer station:

Address: South Transfer Station – 8105 Fifth Ave. S. (south of the First Ave. S. Bridge)

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[dawsonct]

Yeah Sunshine, but those Writin’ Irish were quick to drop the pen and brawl!

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Smitty, how can Viking be considered offensive? That’s what the Vikings called themselves.

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[GAnative]

Sign me up! I’ve tried CFLs; they’re expensive, they don’t last as long as they say they will, they’re a pain to dispose of and I hate waiting for the lights to warm up so I can see.

Comedian Dennis Miller on CFLs: “I don’t care what my electric bill is; I haven’t worked my entire life so that my living room can look like a Soviet Bloc stairwell during a James Bond fight scene.”

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[dawsonct]

Of course, like most conservatives, Miller thinks that because he has money, he has the right to be a burden on the rest of society.

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“Because I can afford it” doesn’t bestow upon you the moral authority to create a larger than necessary impact on the world you live in.

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[hooper1961]

kevin – i have looked at home depot and the ones they have are pricey. any online sources or thoughts? i have a couple of places in my home where the lights are on quite a bit that could pencil out if the price and light output are right.

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[valvashon]

Here’s a simple rule for dealing with broken CFL’s: Don’t break your CFL while replacing it.

Really people, are you all that butterfingered? Wash your hands before replacing the bulb to increase your grip- or grasp them with a latex glove if you are really afraid of dropping them. Have a helper stand under the fixture with a bucket to catch the bulb if it drops (so it won’t shatter on the floor). Or, get the CFL’s with the twisty part inside of a standard bulb shaped piece of plastic. That way, a broken bulb should be self contained.

See? There’s lots of ways to deal with this. CFL’s reduce energy consumption and therefore reduce our dependence on fossil fuels (specifically, coal burning power plants) which helps reduce CO2 emissions and therefore, global climate change (formerly known as global warming).

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[JoB]

CFLs give? Me headaches and aren’t generally bright enough.

I have already begun replacing them with LEDs

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[Kevin]

Just happened to notice that Thriftway carries two different LED bulbs.

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[Author]

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