Re: Anyone moved to LED Lighting?

[don@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Don Klipstein)]

In article <hgqh89$cps$2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Robert Green wrote:
>"Chuck" <cbachmann@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>news:he643p$h5d$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>> I will stay with old fashion bulbs as long as I can. My wife can't be
>> exposed to florescence bulbs. People with immune problems (arthritis or
>> lupus or fibromyalgia) react badly to the CFL type bulbs. They emit
>> ultra violet light like the sun does.
>
>My wife detests fluorescents of any kind, especially when she's working on a
>computer.  She says they trigger migraines.  I am not sure that LEDs will be
>much better in that regard, but I am hoping they will be.  I recently read
>an article that said the recession was reducing carbon output way more than
>any other mitigation technique like CFLs.
>
>As aemeijers@xxxxxxx pointed out, it's very hard to accurately assess the
>benefit of CFLs because of the complexity of the issue.  Few models seem to
>include the fact that in the winter, incandescent bulbs actually help heat
>the home.

  Unless your heat is resistive electric heat, it saves to reduce
electricity use and use the home heating system more.

>  The true cost/benefits of CFLs over tungsten bulbs are incredibly
>complex and that allows either side of the argument to spout nearly any
>numbers they feel like.  All they need do is adjust the underlying
>parameters or ignore facts like the future cost of removing mercury from the
>enviroment the same way we're now removing asbestos.

  Compared to incandescent, on average use of CFLs actually reduces
mercury pollution, because burning coal releases so much mercury into the
environment.

>We've stockpiled a fair number of incandescent bulbs at my house, because
>like you, I believe that I shouldn't be forced to use a technology that
>makes someone in my family sick.  In a free country I should have the right
>to spend money on what I choose to, not what the government mandates.
>
>If Americans truly want to save energy, how about dimming Las Vegas, which
>is reported to consume 5 gigawatts a day to keep all those lights
>running?

  Would you believe those blinking and chasing marquee lights and the like
are mostly CFLs now?  The ones that have to blink are cold cathode, which
can be blinked with the compromise of being a little less efficient than
hot cathode.

>  I wonder how many tons of carbon are consumed by the thousands
>of people who fly in every day to gamble away their children's college
>fund?  (-:

 - Don Klipstein (don@xxxxxxxxx)