Green to excess

[eyeofskye]

I've just received another pack of free compact fluorescent lightbulbs from my electricity supplier. I'm getting about six a year from them and I've had four from motability and more from some other group I can't remember.

I have a mound of the things, how many do they think I can use in a year? I've got fluorescents in about everything you can put one in and they just keep on coming. Has no one told them they last a long time? I almost feel obliged to leave the lights on to try and wear them out.

There, I feel better now.

 

[Tumbleweed.]

I'm just jealous! Where's mine?

Save them - you may have a lifetimes supply.

 

[parish]

Which is doubly daft as they (are supposed to) last several times longer than normal bulbs.

Stick 'em on eBay

I'm thinking of stockpiling tungsten bulbs ready for 2011 - should make a nice profit

 

[eyeofskye]

I'm thinking of stockpiling tungsten bulbs ready for 2011 - should make a nice profit

I'm certainly thinking of doing it for my own use. Bulbs that come on with a flicker or in microseconds (in the case of LEDS) shock my brain. Tungsten is much kinder.

There also still problems with CFLs that remain to be solved. The high power variants have tendency to have very short lives unless extremely well ventilated even a plain conical shade without holes at the base can be enough to see the 23W ones out. And so many of them are NOISY. I find the buzzing hum that some create unacceptable in a reading lamp. The cheap ones are the worst. The cheap ones are the ones these companies keep sending me (