Invent the Future Contest: Stop Waiting - Be Green Today!

This video was made as entry to the Invent the Future contest. For more information, go to www.inventthefuture.ca.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs use a quarter as much electricity as incandescent bulbs and last ten times as long. So why aren't you using them?

CFLs contain only 0.4 milligrams of mercury, which is about the size of the head of a pin. So the energy you save by using a CFL actually saves mercury, because it means less mercury is being produced by burning coal to produce electricity. (British Columbia imports electricity from Alberta, and Alberta burns a lot of coal to produce its power.)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• compact
• fluorescent
• light
• bulb
• cfl
• electricity
• energy
• environment
• green
• invent
• the
• future

[aspieresearchmom]

But CFL is in your home. And if the bulb breaks, your home is contaminated , not "green" . It would be better to eliminate the coal fired plants and the CFL bulbs altogether. Stop mercury , period. Otherwise , it is psuedo "green".

[thephatbunny]

Thanks for the thoughts.

I don't think it's fair or wise to write off a technology because it is imperfect. It's far better than the alternative, and there's nothing better (at least, nothing cost-effective that's better). If you are always waiting for the perfect technology, you'll never improve.

And if the bulb breaks, stand back for ten seconds and clean up the glass with a damp cloth. You will not be affected in any way, because the amount of mercury is so incredibly miniscule.

[kaloriblossom]

There's a secret of CCFL's which applies to British Colombians you may not be aware of.

CCFLs are more efficient, which means they produce less heat. This means that when you switch to CCFL you're heating bill will go up because your thermostat will need to produce more heat. In BC 80% of our electricity comes from clean hydro, but 95% of our heat comes from gas oil or wood furnaces. I've done the math and it looks to me like if all of BC switches to CCFLs our greenhouse emissions will rise.

[aspieresearchmom]

"thephatbunny I don't think it's fair or wise to write off a technology because it is imperfect. " I used to think that too, I grew up in the Space Age, and it was fascinating . But some people said we should find technology to feed the world and stop disease instead . I tend to agree with the latter now, because I have seen technology abused for profit instead of for people for too long now.

[Tedsuzan]

My library was giving out thos kinda light bulbs...I like it when people think practical...