Ordinary fluorescents are better
by Milos
(Serbia)
There is a lot of hype about CFLs nowadays, but ordinary fluorescent tubes are better. Why? Because they don't come with extra plastic and electronics, when you replace a burned out tube you don't replace electronics and plastic, so less material needs to be produced, transported and disposed of.
Efficient lighting can lower CO2 emissions but not significantly because lighting doesn't use that much energy, especially in a home. Office buildings, shops, etc. are a different story cause office lights must be about 4 times brighter then those in your average living room. An average home probably uses 10-20% of its energy on lighting, even if they have incandescent bulbs only, so CFLs or fluorescents don't make large difference.
A ban has its advantages and downsides. It is a good idea to switch to more efficient lighting (or any other type of appliance), and CFL/regular fluorescents have much longer life. A ban is the only way to make people switch to them. There are few downsides of the ban, CFLs are not suitable for every application. You don't want them in your bathroom (especially if you like hot steamy baths) because they don't like humidity (like any other electronic device), or in places when they will be switched on and off frequently. The problem is that a CFL can be switched on limited number of times before it burns. According to some websites, CFLs or fluorescent tubes can be switched on about 2000 times, some brands claim that their tubes can do 10,000.
Whenever you switch it on a number of atoms gets knocked off the electrode (sputtering). If you put a CFL in your cellar and it works for 5 minutes every day it won't save you any energy before it burns out. So there are still good uses for incandescents.
If we want to reduce CO2 emissions we should focus on the greatest polluters first - cars, heating, etc, and we should look for ways to make them more efficient and we should look for ways to produce clean energy. CFLs can make a small difference, but thats not nearly enough.
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