walmart pushes cfl's!

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in Energy Use & Conservation #1
well, if they are evil theyre doing some good!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/business/02bulb.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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  • Roderick
    Roderick Solar Expert Posts: 253 ✭✭
    #2
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!

    Good heavens, I'm sheltered!

    In my area of California, CFL's are all over the place, in every drugstore and supermarket. With the seller's rebate from the local electric utility, I've seen them at 2/$1 or even 3/$1 at local stores. I thought everyone used them, but apparently not. All my friends seem to use them. Maybe I just know a lot of treehuggers?
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #3
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!

    I work in retail, here in Canada and am seeing more people all the time buying them. Most people seem to know about them, having heard by word of mouth. Most who use them, love them and are really taken with the low energy consumption, some are scared off by the price, between $2 and $20 each, depending on the make and model, and there are NO rebates. However there are a very few, generally seniors, who for reasons unknown to me, actually claim to hate them. Also, among those who don't buy CF's, is a sizable number who can't or won't look at the long term savings, opting for the initial "savings" of a 60 cent conventional bulb.
    Overall, our sales of regular light bulbs has fallen off dramatically over the past couple of years.
    Wayne
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  • crewzer
    crewzer Registered Users, Solar Expert Posts: 1,832 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!

    This is apparently big news. In fact, last night's NBC Nightly News included a short report on this very topic.

    Home Depot also sells 6-paks of 14 W CFL's (~US$ 10), and Ikea sells "mini" CFL's (down to 4 W) with the mini-base (candelabra?). We have five 7 W units in the light bar in our sons' bathroom -- a total of 35 W -- and they sometimes complain about "too much light"...

    Note: Fluorescent lamps contain mercury and, when they die, they should be recycled and not just thrown out in the trash.

    Regards,
    Jim / crewzer

    Edit: Typos corrected
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #5
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!

    the lowest i have is 7w candelabra's. wheres ikea i would love to get some 4w ones.

    good point, i find that they lights go quick in our bathroom so i have a box of cfl's im filling up ready to be recycled.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #6
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!

    We sell both 7 watt standard base and also 4 watt, which unfortunately only available to us in candelabra base. I love the 4 watt units and they get the most use by far in my house. The 4 watt ones we get also have a glass cone-like cover, which shields it from cold wind when used outside, but for inside use, I break away this cover, to expose the actual tubes and that just about doubles the light available to the room. I was rather shocked that lamps toted as highly energy efficient, would be covered so poorly with regard to light transmission. Wake up Sylvania!
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  • Brock
    Brock Solar Expert Posts: 639 ✭✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!

    I am with you Wayne. I use those 4 watters all over and do the same thing, pop off that plastic cone. The kitchen chandelier has 8 candelabra bases and all have 4 w CF in them without the cone. Works out great and only using 32 watts. Actually I often twist out the top 5 bulbs so only the bottom three are on, still plenty of light. Now I only wish they had really short candelabra base ones. I have resorted to popping the base off so the tubes are loose and can lay sideways in the ceiling fixtures because they are to "tall" regularly.

    I got my 4w ones at Home Depot.
    3kw solar PV, 4 LiFePO4 100a, xw 6048, Honda eu2000i, iota DLS-54-13, Tesla 3, Leaf, Volt, 4 ton horizontal geothermal, grid tied - Green Bay, WI
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  • crewzer
    crewzer Registered Users, Solar Expert Posts: 1,832 ✭✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!

    Mattl,

    IKEA is a Swedish-based "some assembly required" furniture store. The closest one to you may be in CT. Here's their website for reference: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/

    HTH,
    Jim / crewzer
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #9
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!

    talk about strange coincidence. my inlaws down at the cape (cape cod) were just telling me over holidays about this store where they bought their new desk (nice!). no kidding, its one and the same. yea theres one near boston at least.

    i know what you guys mean about the small wattage ones: i have those 7w everywhere theyre ideal for so many places , now ill get some 4w too. dont know about you guys but i have a big box of "regular" lightbulbs down in the basement doing nothing.
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #10
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!

    In reading the article I was surprised that there are folks who don't like CF's.

    Is it a problem that they are manufactured in Asia? Isn't 90% of everything else on the shelves at Walmart?

    I guess I put people who are opposed to energy saving in the same catagory as smokers and drivers who buy premium gasoline when their cars run well on regular.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #11
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!

    It is not the people that pay their own way deciding how to spend their disposible income that bother me as much as folks that tax us (at the point of a gun) and use our money to finance their lifestyles:

    http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2106003.ece
    Blair environmental adviser commutes by air
    By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
    Published: 27 December 2006

    A top adviser to Tony Blair on sustainable development and the environment has been accused of undermining government policy on curbing aviation pollution after it was revealed that he makes a 500-mile round trip by jet from Birmingham to Edinburgh each week.

    Richard Wakeford, a senior civil servant in charge of the Scottish Executive's environment department, commutes to work in Edinburgh every week from his home in Gloucestershire producing an estimated 90kg of carbon dioxide.

    Over the four years of his contract, Mr Wakeford is likely to travel as many as 94,000 air miles getting to work, accounting for approximately 17 tons of carbon dioxide. The figures do not include his weekly 100-mile round trip to Birmingham airport from his home outside Cheltenham, or the 20-mile round trip between Edinburgh airport and the headquarters of the Scottish Executive.

    He refused to move to Scotland when he became department head nearly two years ago for "family reasons".

    ...

    Richard Lochhead, the environment spokesman for the SNP, said Mr Wakeford's choice of travel was hugely embarrassing for Scotland's Environment minister, Ross Finnie. "How on earth can he persuade the rest of the working population to review how they travel to work to help the environment when the head of his own department flies?"

    Mr Wakeford, who joined the Scottish Executive in early 2005, put forward a Scottish Executive plan for sustainable development within months of his appointment. According to minutes of the meeting, members of the Executive discussed cutting their own air travel but decided that it would inconvenience themselves or their staff too much. "The positive value of a signal to the wider public sector should be balanced against the potential detrimental effect on the conduct of business and convenience for staff," they said.

    Regarding not liking CFL's--I certainly don't like the color of them--And the few that I did like, they changed the formulation (without any change in packaging or marking) to that same color of "tan" that every other generic CFL is... Still, virtually every light I use for any period of time are CFL's.

    And, because the generic CFL's are $0.50 to $1.00 per bulb (the state of California makes our public utilities over charge us on our electric bills, then "gives" subsidies to sell CFL's below cost), vs $10-$20 for the nice colored lights, I will continue to go with the less expensive CFL's (and I have a whole pile of them stockpiled as I buy a box whenever they get rebated--teach them to mess with the free market :-P ).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    #12
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!
    Brock wrote:
    I am with you Wayne. I use those 4 watters all over and do the same thing, pop off that plastic cone.
    Anyone deciding to pop off that cone, use caution. Apparently the ones Brock has, have a plastic cone, however, the Sylvania ones we have in Canada have a glass cone, which is solidly anchored with white silicone seal, into a grove in the base and I actually have had to break the glass in a vice and pick out the pieces stuck in the silicone, with pliers. I use a vice to give me controlled pressure, so I don't also bust the tubes.
    Wayne
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  • Brock
    Brock Solar Expert Posts: 639 ✭✭✭✭
    #13
    Re: walmart pushes cfl's!

    Actually I have both the glass ones and plastic ones. The plastic ones are much more easy to pop off. The funny thing was when I got the glass ones I assumed it was plastic, put it in the vice to squeeze it a bit and POP, it came off alright. Fortunately the rest stayed intact. On the glass ones I then cut near the base of the glass, still in the plastic to get the covers off, you just have to be careful not to cut in to the electronics ;)
    3kw solar PV, 4 LiFePO4 100a, xw 6048, Honda eu2000i, iota DLS-54-13, Tesla 3, Leaf, Volt, 4 ton horizontal geothermal, grid tied - Green Bay, WI
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