CFLs
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Best light bulb ever will cost you $50
Remember the awesome LED that the government declared the greenest lightbulb ever? Well, you can buy it now. But you probably won’t. Because you like to do things like eat and pay rent. We knew this sucker was going to be expensive. The number that was floating around was $40, and green commentators near and […]
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Ask Umbra: Why are my CFLs burning out so quickly?
Umbra offers illumination on CFLs (fritzy and otherwise), LEDs, and halogen incandescents.
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The wrong way to recycle your fluorescent bulbs: Eating them
This video is bananas. But fluorescent bulbs are not bananas. So don't eat them, like these guys do, and also don't do any of the other things in this video. Criminey. If you do have mercury-containing fluorescent bulbs that need to be disposed of, the EPA has a guide to what you need to do […]
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Don’t tell Bachmann, but lightbulb standards were a Republican idea
Republicans have been whining about the Obama administration’s liberty-squashing decision to phase out inefficient incandescent bulbs in favor of CFLs, LEDs, and (surprise!) more efficient incandescent bulbs. But (double surprise!) the idea of requiring efficient lightbulbs sprang fully-formed from the head of a Republican, Michigan Rep. Fred Upton.
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House votes against energy-saving lightbulbs
The House passed an amendment that prohibits spending to enforce lighting efficiency standards established by 2007's energy law.
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Shining a light on energy efficiency
Our inefficient, carbon-based energy economy threatens to irreversibly disrupt the Earth’s climate. Averting dangerous climate change and the resultant crop-shrinking heat waves, more-destructive storms, accelerated sea level rise, and waves of climate refugees means cutting carbon emissions 80 percent by 2020. The first key component of the Earth Policy Institute’s climate stabilization plan is to […]
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Thomas Edison would have loved energy-efficient bulbs
Thomas Edison's great-grandson, David Edison Sloane, is not mincing words when it comes to the GOP wanting to repeal energy-efficiency standards for light bulbs:
As an inventor, Edison would have no interest in turning back the legislative clock. The wizard of Menlo Park dedicated himself to advancing human comfort, not freeze life as we knew it in 1879.
Oh snap! Edison's great-grandson just called you retrogressive.
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Critical List: U.S. nuclear plants leak radioactive materials; Big Oil is the bad guy in Cars 2
Three quarters of nuclear power plants in the U.S. have leaked radioactive tritium.
The White House promised to put solar panels on its roof by the end of spring but didn't. Come on -- the environmental community can’t even get a symbolic gesture now? Throw us a bone, dude!
Global warming was supposed to save a few lives by creating milder winters in which fewer people would freeze to death. But by 2040, deaths from heat waves will outstrips lives saved in the winter. -
Dim bulbs: Umbra on the supposed dangers of CFLs
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, My sister recently posted a story about CFLs causing cancer to her Facebook feed. Is there anything to this latest attempt to vilify the little lamps? Brian Spokane, Wash. Are these maybe not such a bright idea? More research is needed.Photo: Derek GaveyA. Dearest Brian, Those little […]