Should regular light bulbs be banned?

Question

Should incandescent bulbs be banned for the sake of the environment? The include the 25, 60, 100 Watt bulbs, Christmas string lights, 4 watt night bulbs etc. Compact florescent and LED lights are so much more efficient and operate cooler.

Australia is already doing so.

Answer 1

CFLs contain mercury, are expensive, and the quality of light sucks!
I will never use them.

And banning??????? Please.

Answer 2

Tell you what -- show me where I can get bulbs like that and I'll start. The Home Depot near my house just started carrying the more energy-efficient light bulbs, and they only carry the standard sizes. We have a lot of fixtures that have smaller bulbs, and I have no complaints about LED Christmas lights as long as they work (and I'm betting they work better than standard Christmas light strands). So please, put up some links or 1-800 numbers we can call to get the more energy-efficient bulbs! Incandescent bulbs don't need to be banned -- people need to be educated on how much better the new bulbs are for the environment and where we can get them.

Answer 3

I agree that almost nothing should ever be banned or mandated because government regulation never helps. I do believe that there should be better consumer education out there so that people use CFLs because they want to not because they have to. My personal preference for CFLs is the GE FLE26HT3/2/SW as it has a good color temp and actually lasts a reasonable amount of time. I have some Hy-Vee branded ones and some Greenlite branded ones from Dollar Tree but it is too soon to tell if they will be ok. You are also way off base about A/C. Phase change refrigeration is actually a reverse cycle. The cycle that is reversed is the Rankine cycle that steam power plants use to generate electricity. Basically the larger the difference in temp from condensing to evaporating the more energy in or out. It isn't R410a refrigerant that causes the warmer supply temps it is the larger evaporator coil that runs at a higher evaporating temp. If you are thinking of car systems going from R12 to R134a and having warmer supply temps that is because R134a requires a parallel flow condenser. And you don't "run the living crap" out of it as A/C systems last longer and use less energy when run non stop. That is why some are multi stage or variable speed. Oversized equipment short-cycles and uses more energy overall. Think a 1 ton (12000 BTU/H) A/C @ 1000 watts on 24/7 VS a 2 ton A/C at 2000 watts on for 20 minutes and off for 15 because for the first couple of minutes of each cycle the energy is used just getting the system temps and pressures stabilized and the refrigerant evenly distributed in the system.

Answer 4

I think banning all incandescent bulbs is going a little far. There are numerous situations where CFLs don't make sense. For example, in a refrigerator or a closet. I would have to spend several hundred dollars and chuck out several perfectly fine light fixtures in which the current CFLs won't fit.

Answer 5

In Canada they are being phased out in the next 4 years.The problem is they create more pollution to make. They do not last any longer as they claim. Florescent lights contain mercury that's ending up in are landfills.Its just another get rich scheme from corporations.LED lights might be good. But not florescent lights.

Answer 6

Absolutely not. Just more "chicken-little" hype about gloBULL warming being caused by something man is doing!

There is NO mercury or phosphorous in incandescent light bulbs like there is in compact fluorescents. Also, the light spectrum emitted by incandescent bulbs most closely resembles that required for comfort by the human eye. Compact flourescents are NOT comfortable for use by the human eye and not recommended for such uses as reading or writing.

Answer 7

No. The energy efficient bulbs are coming down in price--and really do save money in the long run. Give it a few years and you won't be able to get one anyway--companies will stop making them when demand drops.

There are areas where we do need government policy changes. But let's keep that to a necessary minimum, okay? Jst passing rules when the market really can deal with the issue isn't good policy.

Answer 8

Nope! I like regular bulbs. Florescent lights should be banned. They have mercury (which is VERY bad for you), and they screw with your eyes. As for LEDs...well, I don't know anything about them. But I still prefer regular. So do my brothers, and they know a lot about electricity and light bulbs and whatnot.

Answer 9

No

There is already a great deal of mercury contamination going on with people breaking and not properly recycling fluorescent bulbs.

Making all residential bulbs fluorescent will only aggravate the problem. Better a little more CO2 than mercury poisoning.

Answer 10

Yes. But only if the older bulbs are recycled and not dumped in landfill sites.

Answer 11

those new bulbs have a lot of bugs to work out. they are too expensive and dont last as long as they claim to either.