I Hate Fluorescent

August 31, 2009 / 2:27 pm • By Dr. Melissa Clouthier

The government needs to keep its nose out of my business. It’s the small things that are especially irritating. For example, I will have to use fluorescent lighting here soon:

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 will effectively phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2012-2014 in favor of compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs. Other countries around the world have passed similar legislation to ban most incandescents.

Will some energy be saved? Probably. The problem is this benefit will be more than offset by rampant dissatisfaction with lighting. We are not talking about giving up a small luxury for the greater good. We are talking about compromising light. Light is fundamental. And light is obviously for people, not buildings. The primary objective in the design of any space is to make it comfortable and habitable. This is most critical in homes, where this law will impact our lives the most. And yet while energy conservation, a worthy cause, has strong advocacy in public policy, good lighting has very little.

You know who won’t have to use these abominable lights? Rich people. Rich people currently import mega powerful flushing toilets. They will import incandescent lights.

I say, stock up on incandescent lights and be prepared to make a fortune on the black market for incandescent lights. Good grief.

Oh, and Illinois is upping the tax on booze by 90% tomorrow. What will people there do? Go across state lines and buy copious amounts of alcohol, of course. Idiots.

Posted in America

  • ClaudiaGo

    I am a Facilities manager and all I hear are complaints about the poor lighting from Flourescents…so employees bring in their own incandescent and halogen task lights so they can see what they are doing! So much for saving energy! Of course all those pols in the old capital buildings aren’t required to “upgrade” to the standards that the rest of us have to comply with!!!

  • http://www.justgrits.wordpress.com Obi’s Sister

    We’ve been stocking up for a while. One thing many people don’t get about flourescents is they flicker when they weaken. Flickering lights are bad, especially in the home, when you have a child with photo-sensitive epilepsy.

    Government morons.

  • O Bloody Hell

    It’s more important than that — the supposed saving in the home is likely very doubtful.

    I have not verified this is the case with CFLs, but I see no reason to presume otherwise:

    Fluorescents work best (in terms of energy savings) in areas where the lights go on for a long time, and stay on constantly — kitchens and bathrooms should generally have both in-place, since sometimes you go in there for a while, other times you’re going in for 30 seconds and walking back out. This is due to the way fluorescents work, which is that they use a large “spike” in starting up and after that use notably less — hence any start-stop-start activities actually use MORE energy.

    The typical “savings” come only if the light is on for something in excess of 5-15 minutes, depending on who you talk to (again, I have not verified the numbers for CFLs, but the behavior is unlikely to change, though that time-to-savings may change).

    The other element, of course, is the fact of the presence of mercury in CFLs.

    If a bulb breaks, especially around children, you should clear them out of the room and open the windows to actively ventilate the place, as the mercury content released into a typical household room, dispersed evenly into the air of the room, will put the ppm above allowable OSHA limits for lab tech exposure to mercury. And children are known to be far, far more sensitive to mercury than adults.

    I won’t go into the issue of mercury in landfills when people start disposing of these things en masse in 3-5 years, but that, too, is going to be a major concern — and will no doubt require a Federal Mercury Reduction Act to fix that problem.

    All for a chimerical “energy” savings that the sheer cost of electricity will do a remarkably effective job of producing without some BS federal intervention to cause it., and to cause still more problems that require federal intervention to “fix”.

  • http://shakeypete.blogspot.copm Peter

    I’m curious about all these new poisons they’ve figured out. When I was a kid a broken thermometer was a big deal and we played with the mercury for hours. Then, as a teen I used mercury to get the lead our of gun barrels. Of course from the age of about twelve on I cast lead alloy bullets, too.

    Now it seems that lead and mercury are horrible poisons, killing any child that gets within a mile and a half of the merest trace.

    Were we just tougher than kids today or have the powers of those awful poisons multiplied? Or is the government shoveling horsecrap again?

  • Shon Bury

    It takes exactly 5 minutes to get accustomed to the light difference.

    CO2 emissions are dramatically reduced by converting even a single household.

    Facts are your friend…

  • http://crankytutor.blogspot.com Cranky

    Shon Bury, you’re right about one thing: facts ARE your friends. And you dismiss them.
    How on Earth did you come up with the claim that it takes “exactly 5 minutes” to become acclimated to the CFLs, for starters? Or did you just make that “fact” up?
    You ignore the very valid and very real concern of people whose medical conditions make CFLs dangerous for them. Have you ever seen a child have a seizure?

    Your casual dismissal of real people with real concerns simply because they do not agree with you is a perfect example of why The Left is out of touch with the rest of us.

  • Shon Bury

    Epilepsy is found in roughly .5% of the population. I was referring to average people who have no problem acclimating to the light. Nice try, tho, Cranky…