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21 Responses to “Upcoming Power Plant Forums”

1. Peter Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 7:48 am

   Liiiiiitle bit of topic here. Does anyone know how I properly dispose of one of these “super-efficient” light bulbs I bought that died after 2 days? I called the company for a replacement and they said “now you be sure to dispose of that properly.” Am I playing hot potato with this thing?
   Sorry so off topic but I figured someone in here would have the answer.

2. lovinglowell Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 10:31 am

   you have to be careful, because there is mercury in the bulbs. search around on-line, I saw something on TV detailing the ridiculous steps you are supposed to take to dispose of one, be especially careful if it breaks.

3. lovinglowell Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 10:33 am

   http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55213

   check this out.

4. Shawn Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 11:53 am

   Yeah, those things sure helped solve the problems of the world.

   You’ll be finding these in the landfills all over creating a new health crisis that everyone will want the government to solve.

   I say mail em back to the company who created them, and go buy some real bulbs.

5. Peter Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

   I didn’t break the thing. I just need to know who to give it to in our community.

   Supposedly, they only have a tenth the mercury of those old thermometers we all used to eat for breakfast.

   I eat a TON of fish, so I think my days are numbered as far as mercury goes anyway.

6. tim Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

   Um, either WND got taken or that woman got taken (or less generously, WND is making it up) take a look at these links:

   http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm
   http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp

   the suggest using sticky tape, such as duct tape.

7. Peter Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

   Yeah, it seems like they’re going a bit overboard. I just want to do what’s right and dispose of this thing properly. I’m all for using them until the “illuminating coffee tables” mentioned in that article come out. Now if they only had a CFL air conditioner.

8. Lynne Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

   That whole WND site looks mighty non-credible. Actually, it reminds me of a crazy conspiracy theorist guy I once worked with. Nice guy, a little loose upstairs believing all sorts of insane stuff.

   Anyway, that doesn’t help Peter much.

   I found this on EnergyStar. I also have another email in to Gunther.

   Shawn: since it’s the free market which chose CFLs over LED and other technologies (in fact, other technologies are having trouble getting into the US market because the companies that invested in ramping up CFL production are trying to keep going with it to recoup their costs before ever investing in bringing newer, maybe better products to the consumer) you mean that the government will be asked to clean up after big business, again, right? Government is used to picking up the externalities that businesses don’t want to pay for, like health care and pensions for older people, environmental cleanup, and such.

9. Peter Says:
   April 9th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

   Thanks for the info. I think I was hoping I’d buy it and not have to worry about this for 10 years. It’s just my luck to get a bumb bulb!

10. joe Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    WND is “World Net Daily,” a right-wing “news” site currently carrying a story about Barack Obama being a Manchurian candidate. It’s sort of like Lou Dobbs after he ate the brown acid.

    As for flourescent light bulbs, even if every atom of mercury from them was to be released into the air, they would still be a great boon to the environment. The amount of mercury NOT released into the air because of their reduced energy consumption is several times larger than the amount of mercury contained in each bulb.

    So, by all means, save them for Solid Waste Day, but if something goes wrong, it was still the right thing to buy them.

11. Tom Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

    Joe,
    That WND is a riot! Thanks for the laugh.

12. kpem Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    Household hazerdous waste day is on May 8th at Cawley Stadium from 9-1
    I would think they would take them then. They are not on the not accepted list. (they list mercury and mercury devices as accepted)
    http://www.lowellma.gov/eventitems/www.lowellma.gov/depts/recycle/hazmat#3

13. kpem Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 4:46 pm

    One more comment- If any of you have any good locations you can think of to post a notice about the Billerica Meeting please let me know. It is a good meeting just to get questions answere whether for or against the project.

14. Lynne Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 6:26 pm

    RE CFLs: I got an email response from Gunther but I was frantically finishing code and didn’t have time to post it. Yes, he thinks they will be acceptable at HazWaste Day. However, he listed several other places to bring them. I will post his comments tomorrow!

15. Peter Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    Cool thanks!

16. Michael in Pawtucketville Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    Maybe something good to post in the margins of this website.

    I’m still thinking about those LED bulbs. The two problems with them are that they only go up to about 70 watt equivalents and they cost so much. It’s always a chicken and egg thing. They need mass production to get the costs down but they can’t sell them in quantity because they’re so expensive. I didn’t hear about the CFL makers fighting newer technologies but it makes sense.

17. Mr. Lynne Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 5:12 am

    Here’s another new technology around the corner - Plasma light bulbs.

    http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/luxim-plasma-lifi-light-bulb-led-cfl.php

    http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/who-invented-plasma-lamp.php

18. Peter Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 7:33 am

    OMG I actually feel stupider for having looked at that “World Net Daily” site!!

    I can’t believe there’s anyone out there who could figure out how to use a computer, read AND believe any of that garbage. Basically, it’s like The Onion but even more dry, right?

19. Tom Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 7:45 am

    Peter,
    It reminded me of the Onion, too, except it isn’t supposed to be a joke.

20. Peter Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 8:56 am

    You gotta love the creationist stuff. I lived in the South for a while and had a minister friend who kept pushing these “scientific” books on me written by “real scientists,” that “proved creationism” etc. I read evey book the guy gave me out of respect to our friendship but the stuff was all completely insane!

    Just to give you an idea of what we’re actually up against, this guy said he was aligned with the democrats on all but one issue (abortion) and so he always has to vote for the republican.

21. Paige Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

    For posting- someone suggested Owl Diner, YMCA, Eliot’s hotdogs and the high school.

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