The CFL Scam

No, I'm not talking about the Canadian Football League ...

Compact Flourescent Bulbs. These are the light bulbs that your government, pushed by eco-nazis, is forcing you to use instead of good old fashioned light bulbs.

If things keep progressing as they are, in a couple of years it will be illegal for you to own or use a normal light bulb. It will be illegal for manufacturers to make normal light bulbs. Indeed, many manufacturers have stopped making them, and what is on the shelves and in warehouses now is it. Once they are gone, you will be forced to buy CFLs.

The selling points the left is using to force these things on us are:

1) CFLs use considerably less electricity to operate than incandescent bulbs.

2) CFLs last much longer than incandescent bulbs.

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Who can argue that those two benefits would be good?

Well, here is the reality of CFLs:

1) CFLs do use less electricity when compared one to one with incandescent bulbs. How much less - well that is open to interpretation.

2) CFLs generate much less light per bulb than normal bulbs. For instance, if you use a 60 watt incandescent bulb, and switch to a CFL bulb, you will get 50% less light. Now, that is not a scientific number derived by testing and published by the government or CFL manufacturers, it is real world experience from my Mark One Eyeball in my living room.

3) CFLs last a fraction of the time an incandescent bulb does. Again, firsthand experience is a whole lot more telling that the lab numbers. I have external floodlights on my house. I had normal bulbs that lasted 10 years in one of these fixtures. I replaced one that burned out with a CFL. Then I replaced it again about 6 months later. Then I replaced it again about 5 months later. Where an old style bulb lasted 10 years, I'm on my third CFL bulb in about a year. (And I use factory brand name bulbs - not off brand) (BTW, related to 2) above - I was using 75 watt rated incandescent floods. I had to replace them with 120 watt CFLs to get the same amount of illumination.)

4) You can not throw away a CFL (legally). They are poisonous, and considered hazardous waste. If you drop and break one on your floor, you are supposed to call a hazmat team to clean it up. I am not kidding!

So, you have to pay more for the CFL bulbs initially. You may have to buy more of them, if you are forced to add light fixtures to get the same amount of illuminiation you are used to. You will have to buy them much more frequently due to failure. You are supposed to pay to have them recycled, and face a stiff fine if you are caught not disposing of them properly. If you drop one, you are supposed to pay for a hazardous materials handling firm to come out and clean it up.

Every stinking one of these points is geared towards making you pay more, either to the government, manufacturers, or cleaners.

The fact that these things contain mercury and are hazardous to the environment immediately cancels out any 'green' benefits.

So, why are they forcing this on us?

Like so many other things the government does, if you want to know the real reason, follow the money:

Manufacturers, like GE, make tons more money on CFLs. GE is in bed with Obama and the far left part of our government. GE spends millions in political donations to make sure the politicians they buy and pay for help their business. So ... politicians force us to give more of our money to GE (and the other companies that support those politicians).