My husband Jerry and I decided to try a compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb. The spiral model fit perfectly in the fixture in the laundry room, and the 23 watt CFL lit the room as well as a regular 60 watt bulb.
Paul Ferguson’s New Year's Day speech further motivated us: where else in our townhouse could we use CFLs? The Energy Star website had the answers. Although “conventional wisdom” has it that CFLs don’t work well with motion detectors, we installed one as a test, in a fixture with a motion detector. It is doing fine so far. We now have eight CFLs in our townhouse, including in the kitchen (recessed bulbs), the master bedroom dressing area, and Jerry’s computer room. When the bulbs burn out, we dispose of them like we do other hazardous waste.
Here's another way to preserve the environment: replace paraffin (made from petroleum) candles with soy wax or beeswax candles. Paraffin is said to produce carcinogens, soot and other toxins in the same way that diesel fuel does. Available at Whole Foods, soy candles are made in the U.S. from American-grown soybeans. They are more expensive than regular candles, but last longer and do not increase the CO2 level in the atmosphere. We placed our soy candles on a candelabra in the fireplace. Looks nice and keeps the air in the house clean!
Ingrid H. Morroy
Commissioner of Revenue/Arlington resident
The Fresh AIRE initiative is so wonderful, and I'm scrambling to engage my church in as many ways as possible.
But with a reminder tonight in a story on NPR (my former employer) that CFLs contain mercury, and that they're not always easy to dispose of properly, I looked to see how I could dispose of mine in Arlington County.
I've got to say, it's currently a little confusing on the HHM (Household Hazardous Materials) page on the county's Web site. I see CFL's are accepted at "the disposal facility," but where is that?
I looked around the page, and found this info at the bottom of the page.
May I suggest that the county either move that info up, or better, create a hyperlink at each point where the facility is mentioned on that page that would jump to the address/location info and return to your reading when you close the hyperlink.
And in the interest of making how to safely dispose of CFLs widely known, it would be great if you did an article about that in the next issue of the Arlington Insider.
And (man, this is an idea with many legs): it would also be great to provide the big CFL retailers like the grocery stores, Home Depot, Lowe's, CVS, hardware stores, with pads of HHM disposal site info targeted to educate consumers that just as CFLs are extraordinary in their incredible energy savings and long life, they require little extra care in their disposal. These should be at every register and an info sheet torn off the pad to go into the bag with every CFL purchase.
Posted by: The Scarlet Liberal | February 15, 2007 at 07:48 PM