%100 LED

[Reloadron]

Originally Posted by screwballl

if yuo need all that light eating up your power bill, go for it...but most fixtures I see take multiple bulbs... in the case of my ceiling fans, each have 4-5 bulbs, the outside floodlights are usually 2 per fixture... so you can't really go by that output entirely unless it is used alone in a room.

25W incandescent = ~210 Lumens (8.4 Lumens per watt)
9W LED = ~450 Lumens (50 Lumens per watt)
CFC = 50-100 Lumens per watt

I will still not put those fluorescents in my home, especially with younger children

I was just comparing source to source as to what you get as to actual usable light. I am an advocat of the technology, I just don't see where it has evolved to be practical for home lighting needs yet, other than a nite-lite.

Now on the other hand where I see the LED really in use is new automotive tail lights and traffic lights. There is considerable cost in changing traffic lights and the new LEDs really shine in that area. Both very practical and efficient.

The flourscent issue is a matter of choice and I can understand the concerns with small children. Flourescent gas tubes have always had that trace amount of mercury. Mercury has overall always been around and only recently has there been so much concern. As a kid all home thermometers were mercury filled before they went to red dye in alcohol. The house in NY I grew up in had asbestoes shingles and I likely ingested my share of lead paint chips. (Which now that I think about it may explain a few things today).

Ron

[Lead Head]

Lets not forget those Honeywell thermostats with mercury filled tubes either!

[Quakindude]

Man, I had an Aircraft thermometer in my house once trying to test the ineffectiveness of my A/C unit. The wife dropped it as she was handing it up to me and it shattered on the floor. There was a lot of liquid mercury that came out of that thing. I ended up just using paper towels and rubbing alcohol to clean it up. Put the 5 or 6 paper towels in a ziplock bag and threw it out with the trash. I was probably exposed to more mercury in that one incident than if I jumped into a dumpster full of CFL's with a hammer.

Some perceptions cannot be changed. Once integrated into our lives, we live by them and swear by them, no matter if they are generated out of half-truths and scare tactics.

Just look at what PETA caused when they said Milk was filled with blood products, mucus and infectious cell material. They never said that the homogenization process removed all of that, just threw it out there to try and scare people away from milk. I must have had 20 different people ask me if I knew what I was drinking back in the mid-90's when that happened. Of course, being the smartass I am, I'd just look at them and say, "After SERE school, I can eat and drink anything without worry. The extra blood is a good source of iron, the cellular material will increase my immune system like a flu shot and the mucus is just another way of eating boogers, without the sliminess. *Smacks mouth to indicate how good milk is*

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Lead Head

Those small florescent bulbs, that go into normal lightbulbs usually have mercury vapor in them. If one brakes, leave the room for a bit and open a window. Not really dangerous, unless you this weird fetish for breaking florescent bulbs?

You know it's technically illegal to release mercury in nature? :P