"Green energy-efficient" light bulb BURNS DOWN house!

So what is the real cost of all this environmental foolishness and totalitarian regulations that have reached into people's own homes?
Under current law, Americans will all soon be forced to buy energy-efficient lighting. I think we can expect to see a lot more house fires in the near future.


Energy Efficient Bulb Burns Down Home, Family Loses Everything
Cumberland Times, April 30, 2008, by Kevin Spradlin

When Rick Jenkins began replacing the common, incandescent bulbs around his house with compact fluorescent lamps about 12 months ago, he didn't give much thought about saving the environment.

Instead, the Bel Air resident and Pitt-Ohio Express truck driver just wanted to stop buying light bulbs so often. Any environmental benefit, he figured, was a side effect.

That was then. A week has passed since a fire destroyed his split-level home on View Crest Drive. Rick Jenkins, wife Angie and 6-year-old daughter, Haley, lost everything but their family pooch, a 2-year-old goldendoodle. Fire investigators determined the fire was caused by a CFL connected to a dimmer switch. Packaging on many types of CFLs includes a warning not to connect them to dimmer switches.

Now, just the notion of twisting in the curlycue bulbs is a real-life nightmare.

"I wouldn't recommend them to anyone," Jenkins said Monday afternoon, bearing a strong odor of smoke after meeting with contractors at the site of the fire. "They aren't worth the cost."

Damage to the Jenkins home is estimated at $165,000. While friends and loved ones are aiding the family, Jenkins is a bit in awe about how the fire started in the first place.

"I don't read light bulbs," Jenkins said. "I wouldn't think I'd ever have to."

Jenkins said many packages containing CFLs promote in large letters they can replace a "standard" light bulb. The fine print, however, includes some of the conditions in which they must be operated. [Only buried in the fine print] does the packaging warn that outdoor lights must be enclosed - Jenkins did have a globe over his outdoor CFL, where the fire originated - and not to use them with "emergency exit fixtures or lights, electronic timers, photocells or dimmers." Philips brand CFLs also include warnings on the outside of the package while GE prints a warning on the bulb itself. On much of GE's packaging, the bulb can be seen without having to be opened.

Despite a very difficult week, Jenkins doesn't blame the light bulb for the fire. He said he's "not the type" to file a lawsuit over the issue but that people should be careful - and read the warning label - when buying anything that gets plugged in.

http://times-news.com/archive/x1540421978



"Bulb explodes without warning," reported NBCactionnews.com, May 21, 2010.
"Tom and Nancy Heim were watching TV recently, when Tom decided to turn on the floor lamp next to his recliner chair. 'I heard this loud pop...I saw what I thought was smoke, coming out of the top of the floor lamp,' says Tom. Nancy suddenly found glass in her lap. She says, 'I did not see it. I just heard it, and I noticed I had glass on me.'"
http://www.kshb.com/dpp/money/consumer/dont_waste_your_money/cfl-light-bulb-risks

On February 23, 2011, TV NewsChannel 5 in Tennessee covered "a newly-released investigators' report that blames a February 12 fatal fire in Gallatin on one of those CFL bulbs." Ben Rose, an attorney for the rehabilitative facility in which Douglas Johnson, 45, perished, said, "This result is consistent with our own private investigation. ...We have heard reports of similar fires being initiated by CFLs across the country."
http://www.newschannel5.com/story/14089367/disposal-of-cfl-light-bulbs-not-environmentally-friendly

On February 15, 2010 a TV station reported a fire in Hinsdale, Illinois from a CFL plugged into a dimmer. Channel 2 CBS reporter Anne State said the producer of the news program tried to find a CFL that could be used with dimmers but discovered they were "very hard to find and cost more."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad7vhHfjgC0

Many people have had bad experiences with the "energy saving" CFL spiral bulbs:

A video where a man shows and tells how a CFL bulb caught fire in his bathroom and did serious fire damage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bubJX-m_HSs&feature=related

CFL's can explode and cause fires:
http://lightbulbchoice.com/articles/cfl_fires.pdf

 

Prove it was the design and not a defective individual bulb. The article even states that a lot of problems seem to occur with the Globe brand. Then prove people were safer using traditional incandescent bulbs. You also should address whether the light fixtures themselves or the wiring in their houses were the cause or could have contributed. With a product like a light bulb, that are going to have hundreds of millions being used across the world, you're going to have a few duds. It's inevitable, which is why you need to show that older style light bulbs were at least somewhat safer, and then contrast that with the huge amount of energy savings you're going to get with CFLs. A couple bulbs by themselves don't measure out to be much more than a trifle, but millions of them being used in place of traditional bulbs will reduce the load on the electrical grid, lowering demand, which could drop the price a bit.

We've used CFL bulbs in my house for over half a decade. In my sincere opinion(though I will be honest and say that light bulb technology is not something I have studied in depth), they are better. They use less power, they seem to last longer, and they are cool looking. I'm not part of a grandiose light bulb conspiracy, just a dude with light bulbs in his house.

 

Good old SNOPES
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/cflbulb.asp

Mind you incandescent bulbs caused more than a few fires in their day

http://www.economist.com/node/17493459
http://buellinspections.com/incandescent-bulbs-and-fire-hazards

 

I doubt the safety record of CFL bulbs will ever really improve, considering that they are all made in China and most of them use inferior electronic components in the ballast base. While many of the incandescent bulbs were actually made in the USA, it was nearly impossible for the American factories to compete with China making CFL's since their manufacture involves mercury, and taking the appropriate worker and environmental protections costs a lot of money. Not that Chinese factories have to worry about such inconvenient considerations.
http://www.politicalforum.com/envir...uffer-mercury-poisoning-cfl-bulb-factory.html

Most everything that comes out of China is junk.

There is only one CFL manufacturer, Lights of America, whose bulbs are assembled in the US. But many of their parts still come from China. All the major brands, Sylvania, GE, Philips, Maxlite,Westinghouse, TCP, Feit, Greenlite, Satco and Globe to name a few, have their bulbs made off-shore.

 

The fire issue is simple - lobby your congress to put legislation in place to ensure the ballast is fire proof and then make them in America yourself

 

But many of them also have poor power factors, meaning they cause additional energy to be wasted in the power line transmission process - energy that never actually reaches the bulb. (for a much more detailed explanation: http://www.fluke.com/Fluke/caen/com...ws/energy-waste-you-didnt-even-know-about.htm )
Just correcting for the power factor distortion ends up costing the utility company more than the cost of the CFL bulb itself. More CFL's being plugged in will raise the cost of electricity for everyone else.

And, CFL's gradually lose their light output, becoming less efficient over time.
http://www.richsoil.com/CFL-fluorescent-light-bulbs.jsp

If you want to buy CFL's in your own house, go ahead. But do not force higher priced "energy efficient" bulbs on everyone else when they give off a different quality of light, and have their own unique disadvantages and (in the case of CFL's) dangers.

 

I always check out this website before buying any products in energy saving - http://green-energy-at-home.com/energysmart-cfl. My personal favourite is the Energy Smart CFL lightbulb because they're as bright, if not brighter, than a standard bulb and they're low on power usage.

 

I suggest you get your information from somewhere else too, because that site doesn't even mention the fact CFL's are not appropriate replacements for regular bulbs in several places throughout your house (ceiling fans, outside lighting in cold climates, refrigerator bulbs). CFL bulbs are not really the best choice for closets because by the time they have warmed up and reached full brightness, you would have already found what you were looking for if it had been a regular incandescent bulb. And because the light in the closet is not on very long, the energy savings might never pay for the price of the energy efficient bulb. The Australian health ministry site says that, because of the higher levels of UV which could cause skin irritation or redness in some people, typical spiral CFL's may not be appropriate for exposed lighting, reading lamps, or night stands:



This type of light fixture allows light to be emitted from the CFL to directly reach people in the room.





Picture to left: The CFL is completely enclosed within the opal sphere (lamp shade). But this may also make higher power CFL bulbs burn out faster because it is in an enclosed fixture and can overheat.
Picture to right: The light is emitted up and out of the lamp shades to reflect the light from surfaces (ceiling and walls)

Of course, sunlight also has UV, but it is not a good idea to constantly be exposed to direct sunlight all day either.

 

I read this and thought - you have GOT be kidding!! I mean HOW????? And sure enough the link did not support your statement

Hint:- leaving a light socket unplugged but turned on will not let electricity drain out............

No one is forcing anything on anyone

 

People can vilify the green movement all they want.

Efficiency is a matter of national security. We could be energy independent in 5 years if we wanted to, we just need to increase our efficiency.

We are using Eisenhower era power generators FFS!!

 

Even the some of the links they are quoting are talking about improving the whole system to be more efficient and somehow that is BAAAAAD!!

 

Short answer is that the ballast in the base of the CFL distorts the wave of alternating current flowing through it. The voltage lags behind the current:

from wikipedia:

This means that the power company has to generate more current to compensate for the losses in transmission, but the actual wattage reaching the consumer does not change.

Really? Then why did 193 Democratic congressmen refuse to repeal the light bulb efficiency mandate that incandescent bulbs will not be able to meet?
http://www.politicalforum.com/envir...-will-soon-ban-regular-light-bulbs-fails.html

Americans may have noticed that 100 Watt and regular (non-halogen) 70 Watt bulbs have already dissappeared from storeshelves, all part of the gradual "phase out" mandated under the law. The law also gives the Energy Secretary (who was appointed by Obama) the power to ban 150 Watt bulbs (not usually used in peoples houses) if too many are being sold. Regular 60 Watt bulbs will be phased out next, eventually followed by halogen.

In the meantime, the "high efficiency" 70 Watt halogen bulbs cost 1.75 each, whereas the old 100 Watt bulbs could in a value pack only 25 cents each. And because the halogen filament operates at a higher temperature, it has a shorter life.

 

A CFL is a capacitive load, while all the motors in your house (refrigerator, washer/dryer, A/C, various fans) are inductive loads.

Which draws more power? The motors. After adding in the CFLs, your house will still usually be an inductive load. Whichever (inductive or capacitive) an individual house might be at the moment, the total neighborhood load will be inductive.

The effect of the CFLs is to bring the power factor back towards 1.0. That is, the power factor of the CFLs is _increasing_ the efficiency of the grid by making the total load less inductive.

 

That may be true when the capacitative and inductive loads are in series, but electrical outlets are wired in parallel, so they will not "cancel out" eachother.
Another thing to consider is that the appliances with motors do not tend to be on at the same time as lighting - washing machines or vacuum cleaners are only left on for a short periods of time during the week.

While the power factor effects of CFL's may be relatively small, compared to certain other household appliances, the energy savings of CFL's are not very big either (regular incandescent light bulbs typically consume only 15% of a home's electricity usage).

 

I don't get people that seem to delight in any faulty green technology, like they take pleasure in trying to point out weaknesses because they're in love with old technology that is wasteful and toxic. What's worse is when it's a hoax or a twisting of statistics and personal anecdotes in order to smear green technology. It's disgusting and detrimental to society and the planet. ****

I have to wonder if some of these people are employed by the energy industry because they want people to use more energy.

 

The only reason I am delighting in faulty technology is because this technology is being FORCED upon me. Let consumers choose whatever type of light that best fits their needs and preferences, and you will not have people fighting this.

You can't see that the new technology is more wasteful in many situations? Why does it make sense to use an "energy efficient" bulb at night when I am also using a portable electric heater in the room? The old bulbs are not wasteful at all, as long as you turn the light off when you are done. I have stockpiled the old bulbs and will be using them till kingdom come, but will I will still be using less electricity than most of the people who switched to CFLs. No, I think it is the CFL bulbs that are wasteful, since they contain all those electronic parts, and since the bulbs often have a way of burning out long before their claimed lifespans.

As for toxic, don't you realise that it is the "energy efficient" CFL bulbs contain toxic mercury? but even more worrisome result are untold mercury discharges in China. And no, the old bulbs do not result in more mercury release, and certainly not where I live because none of our electricity comes from coal.

Yes that is bad. This is exactly what has been done to promote the new energy efficient bulbs. It's a hoax on a massive scale because it doesn't save the average consumer money. Neither will it help the environment as much as is frequently claimed, it might even be worse. The worst part of it all is that my taxpayer money is going to miseducate consumers and spread deceiving information.

If there is even a 0.1% chance that a CFL bulb might burn my house down, whatever energy savings there are alleged to be is just not worth it. After all, it's going to take a whole lot of energy efficient bulbs to offset the CO2 emissions from a fire, not to mention all the fuel burnt by the fire truck that has to come, and then there's the manufacture of the new construction materials... wouldn't you agree?

I have to wonder whether the environmentalists are just blind, and accept whatever the big light bulb corporations tell them about how wonderful their new (more expensive) bulbs are for the environment. You could buy the old light bulbs for 25 cents each in a value pack. Many different companies were making them, and the profit margin has long been kept to a minimum from all the competition. Under current law in the USA, by 2020 only LED bulbs will be able to meet the efficiency mandate. No doubt you know how ridiculously expensive a single LED bulb costs (right now 40 dollars for a 70 watt equivalent). So tell me, who stands to make the most money here? If profits are any motive, shouldn't you be more suspicious of the companies that lobbied for the phase out?

What's disgusting is that you support taking away my choice. The the government has set an efficiency mandate to ban a whole technology of light bulbs that we have long enjoyed for a century. Is this not detrimental to society?
Take a close look at those "green" light bulbs people like you keep touting. They're not so wonderful for the environment after all. The fact that they use less electricity is just one part of the story.

I turn off my old-style incandescent bulbs when I am not using them. They give off a nice warm pleasant pleasing glow that neither CFL nor LED bulbs can match. There is absolutely no reason for me to feel the slightest bit of guilt over how my bulbs are affecting the planet, so don't even try.

 

Is immigration a matter of national security also? I guess energy independance for your country is not so important after all, is it?
If it wasn't for all the people we have taken in from other countries, we wouldn't have had to worry about efficiency, and our country would still be using less energy than it is right now.

You be efficient if you want to. I will do my part by conserving and reducing instead.

If things are really so bad that the government has to ban light bulbs to protect the planet, if there are really so many people using up the scarce resources that I cannot enjoy a simple light bulb, then liberals should be praising genocide as a means to wipe out hoards of excess people off the face of the earth. If things are really that desperate that is.

But then again, that's the liberal mantra: "live more simply so that all may live". In other words we all have to sacrifice our freedoms, consumer choices, and standards of living, to be dragged down by the masses of third world poverty and unchecked breeding. (and no, foeticide is not an acceptable solution, if population control is absolutely so necessary, better even forced sterilisations)

 

That seems foolishly rebellious and ignorant. Guess what, we're destroying the planet whether or not human-influenced climate change is real (and it is). We have limited resources and extraction and usage of those resources causes pollution which kills us and the ecosystem. FACT, so you don't have the right to just do whatever you want with reckless abandonment. And you pick a really stupid thing to get angry and rebellious over. Do you go out and kill people with your bare hands because the government is telling you what to do by outlawing it? Do you go around stealing things because the government tells you not to? Horrible justification.

Oh noes! You have to buy efficient lighting! What a nightmare! It's like being a Jew in Nazi Germany!

wtf?

Yeah, that's a total lie. lol

You've never used them, so how would you know? Oh yeah, you read your anti-environmental propaganda and it tells you so. I've never changed a light bulb in my house since installing CFL's over 4 years ago. It's a common fact that they're more efficient. You're full of lies.

68% of electricity in the US comes from fossil fuels, and the rest still come from sources that require the use of resources, so one way or another, it counts and you're being an immature energy hog.

http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=427&t=3

lol, it might even be worse. Let's see some legitimate sources for all of your crazy claims.

You're making up stats. Your story was already debunked and someone pointed out that incandescent can start fires, so stop the BS. You're just grasping at straws.

http://life.familyeducation.com/fire-prevention/home-maintenance/47815.html

We have science to back the claims that these lights are more efficient. By 2020, there will be more LED manufactures, better technology, and cheaper prices, and seeing as how LED lights use almost no electricity, they'll better in so many ways.

Your choice affects me, so it's no longer a personal issue.

lol, no, drama queen, it's not. It's better. Let's see, less pollution means less destruction of the planet; less health problems for people dealing with air and water pollution from fossil fuels, etc.

The other part is that they eat babies!

That's nice, but that doesn't change the fact that it's incredibly wasteful when they're turned on.

Actually, there's a lot of reason for you to feel guilt, but you apparently don't care about facts. I really don't give a crap that you don't think CFL's give you the right tone. First, I'd say you're full of it or just haven't bothered to actually try the different temperatures of CFL's. Second, your desire for the perfect tone of light < the detriment to society and the environment.

 

So why not just tax those resources, or tax that pollution. What's with mandating efficiency standards? Efficiency standards, in many cases, means that everyone is stuck using more expensive products that do not work as well.

Okay, perhaps incandescent bulbs can pose a unique fire danger in closets, particularly when clothes are piled high. But other than that, no incandescent bulb in the last 50 years has ever just burst into flames by itself. Yet we have countless reports of CFL bulbs doing this.

A common "fact"? From where? The packaging on the light bulbs? The televised advertisements? Did you know that CFL bulbs lose their efficiency over the lifetime of the bulb, becoming dimmer? Some of these low quality CFL's can do so much faster than others. And like I have already gone over in another thread, the manufacture of LED bulbs consumes a large quantity of energy to make the aluminum for the heat sink. Efficiency has much more to do with than just how much energy the bulb runs on.

Then the law should have been made then, when the technology becomes better and the price more reasonable. It is really difficult to predict the future of technology. What if things do not improve much by then?

I have already explained that in many situations they are not wastful. I use that heat. Even if they were wastful, 70 Watts is hardly "incredibly wasteful", just as long as I turn the bulb off when I am not using it.

Are you going to ban electric heaters also? And air conditioners?

You can see why there are a growing number of Libertarians, tired of the insane government regulations reaching into every little facet of life in people's own homes.

Sure, lighting might not be an issue for you. But it is very important to some people, including me. Are you just going to disregard how this issue affects us. Surely there are things important to you that most other people do not care much about ?

When you start banning one type of product, it becomes a slippery slope. Today it is light bulbs. Tomorrow it might be guns. Or freedom of speech. Or for you liberals out there, abortion.

I would like to share little quote from Martin Niemölle:

 

If there is even a little crack in the spiral glass, this is what will happen if your CFL is turned on:

[video=youtube;Ti9WK-y1Thw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti9WK-y1Thw[/video]

It will short out the ballast in the base, and cause it to shoot out flames!

 

So you are OK with American patriots dying for your right to drive a V-8?

 

What does that have to do with forcing people to use a certain type of light bulb? Seems like a logical fallacy to try to connect light bulbs to American soldiers dying in the Middle East.

But if we are talking about oil...
America does not have to secure the middle east. If oil prices go up, that's okay. But some people do not like the free market. They think everything works better with quotas and price fixing. It's just pure stupidity to think American consumers have to be forced to use less fuel to reduce the country's reliance on the Middle East. If there is a scarcity, prices will go up and consumers will use less on their own. If an alternate technology is good enough on it's own, then the government will not have to force people to use it. Progressives just love telling other people what to do. Perhaps the USA has a problem with evil countries getting American money? Fine, put up tariffs or an embargo.

Oh wait, I forgot, greenies need all that extra electric energy to power their electric cars they want to make everyone use. So they expect us to all be forced to use inferior (and hazardous) light bulbs. I personally think the notion that electric cars could reduce energy consumption is a terrible misguided one. It is very inefficient to be converting any type of fuel into electricity, power distribution, and then power losses in battery storage. It makes absolutely no sense to be promoting electric cars while any type of fuel is still being used to fuel electric power plants. Much more efficient to just burn that fuel directly in the car, instead. Greenies are naive and ignorant, and their politicians can't be trusted to mess up important economic decisions. They have this dream about electric cars, but jumped ahead with the futuristic concept before they even bothered to make all the power plants renewable first, which is a monumental task in itself - one which I do not believe is even fully practical.

Greenies are turning off many people because of their extremism, annoying coercion, and idiotic mandates. I used to be moderately in support of environmental policies, but with all the "green" policies I have seen in the last couple of years, it has caused me to develop an animosity toward any new laws being advocated as "green". Colossal waste of money and resources, and gradual reduction in our standard of living.

But the light bulb "phase out" is the worst. They can't possibly expect us to use these awful things?!?

 

I'll tell you what, I have no problem with a free market solution here. We should create a lightbulb recycle tax. If your light bulb doesn't last for more them 500 hours, then it will cost you 1,000$ to recycle this bulb.

Is this better?

You still have a choice right?

Just like I have a choice to quit my job if i don't like the employer's demands right?

BTW, free market and light bulbs? LOLOLOLOLOL! Do yourself a favor and watch the light bulb conspiracy, and figure out exactly when and how business started designing products to fail so you have to buy another.

 

Incandescent light bulbs are only a tiny fraction of the overally energy consumption. Indeed, the vast majority of energy consumed in lighting is not even by incandescent bulbs! No whales or polar bears are going to die just because you keep using your 100 watt bulbs in your living room.

 

So you explained how we could build a incandescent bulb that would last forever, and be cheap correct?

If so would you support legislation that required a efficency standard?

Remember, it is not just the energy the bulb uses, but the energy cost to manufacture and ship those bulbs.