The Truth About Fluorescent Lighting

[foliageofluna]

I can't sleep, so you guys get to watch this video that my boss showed me today where a member of the House of Representatives expressed his dissention regarding the bill asking for the removal of incandescent lighting in the U.S. Since I've been in the lighting industry about a year, I've learned /alot/ about this kind of stuff.

Watch this.

Comments

[kirianth]

Yeah, I'm don't think passing a bill mandating fluorescents is a great idea (as he says, it doesn't seem quite Constitutional), but I think his reasons against it could be much improved. But it does make sense that we should think about how to use what energy we produce now more efficiently, rather than hoping that someone will come up with a cure all for the future. Whatever future source for energy we find, we'll still need to use it efficiently.

And yup, I know the mercury thermometers are phased out, but it was pretty common, and thus, a known danger. Mostly I am also appalled that people who push fluorescents, don't also kindly remind users of how to handle it. I mean, electricity is also really dangerous, but we all use it anyway!

I haven't had the misfortune to break a bulb yet. (Of any kind.) I haven't had to change one, either.

As an aside, as I know it, xenon lamps are arc lamps, which have their own set of precautions in operation. Both those and halogens get pretty hot, which causes lots of pressure to build up, and if -those- break, that's not pretty either.

Future in lighting may be in LEDs... :D

[aellya]

Actually, I can firmly attest to the fact that I don't like flourescents because they hurt my eyes. I'm always turning them off at work because I perfer no light at all or natural light to the light of the flourescents. They really do make my eyes ache and give me freaking headaches all the time. I suffer from chronic migraines so anything that triggers them just annoys the shit out of me. Unfortunately I have one in my kitchen I can do little about. I have considerd just putting a floor lamp in there and never using the overhead because I hate hate hate it's constant erratic flickering due to the fact it doesn't seat right in its notches and the illumination of it kind of sucks something awful too.

I have found that I really like those incandescents that are painted a faint purplish white one that are advertised as providing clean light. I have them in almost all of my lamps.