Green Science Online Blog

Will CFL Recycling Regulations Reduce Savings for Consumers?

This month, Maine became the first state to pass a law requiring compact fluorescent bulb manufacturers to pay for a mandatory CFL recycling program.

CFLs are highly efficient alternatives to standard incandescent light bulbs.   But all CFLs contain toxic mercury, which is released into the environment when the bulbs are crushed and broken in landfills.  The mercury can percolate down into the water table and out into streams and rivers, where it builds up in the tissues of fish.  When humans and other predators consume the fish, they risk mercury poisoning.

A recycling program would set up central collection sites where homeowners can drop off burned out and broken CFL bulbs.  The bulbs would be shipped in sealed containers to a recycling plant for processing.  Most of the mercury in the CFLs would be collected and reused.  The rest would go to hazardous waste disposal sites.

The program would be financed by CFL manufacturers.  Unfortunately, that cost would probably be passed on to consumers, which creates a problem.

Many consumers are turning to CFLs to help save money on utility bills.  But with a price increase caused by the new recycling regulations, will they see their savings evaporate?

And more importantly, are other energy efficient lightbulbs, such as LEDs and energy saver halogen bulbs, which don’t contain mercury, realistic alternatives to CFLs?

For help in converting your entire home to energy efficient light bulbs, download my electronic book, The Energy Efficient Light Bulb Buyer’s Guide.

Choose the right energy efficient light bulb

The greenest energy source is the kind you never have to use.  Or, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, “A kilowatt saved is a kilowatt earned.”

Those who want to save money on electric bills (and those who want to reduce their carbon dioxide footprint)  need to convert their incandescent bulbs to energy efficient light bulbs.  But which type is best? CFLs? LEDs? Or is there another choice?

Now available from Green Science Online Publishing, The Energy Efficient Light Bulb Buyer’s Guide is ready for instant download.

Click here for more information on how to save money and energy with energy efficient light bulbs.

By now, all our readers have heard of the FOOD vs. FUEL controversy. Does the large-scale production of biofuels from corn and other crops help or hurt people and the environment? Have we created a world-wide food shortage and increased water pollution by trying to decrease our dependence on oil, as well as our carbon dioxide “footprint?”

There are no easy, quick answers to this question–no snappy sound bites. The solutions will only be found in rigorous, peer-reviewed research, private investment in development, and many years of time. Meanwhile, what should we citizens encourage our political representatives to do?

For one thing, don’t panic. And don’t try to overhaul our entire energy economy overnight by piling on crippling fuel taxes and legislating drastic quotas for renewable fuel percentages that nobody realistically expects to be able to meet.

And for another thing–let’s ratchet down the mud-slinging. Both sides have valuable input. Let’s hear respectfully from ALL the parties involved.

Whether of not you are concerned about Global Warming caused by carbon dioxide and other “greenhouse gases” released through human activity, one thing’s for sure:

Reducing the amount of energy wasted in our homes is good for the planet–and for the wallet.

Your monthly home energy bills may be costing you more than your car payment. And even though oil prices are down, rates for electricity, gas and heating oil just keep climbing. There’s nothing you can do about the prices–so you’ve got to drastically cut the amount of energy you use.

That’s why I’ve created an electronic (downloadable) book, giving home-owners and renters all the facts about how to save energy and money with energy efficient light bulbs.

Click here for more information about The Energy Efficient Light Bulb Buyer’s Guide, and start saving energy and money today!

The Renewable Energy Solutions E-Book was written by a family who has lived “off the grid” for over 14 years. This book was not authored by rocket scientists–just “regular folks,” that know how to KISS, “Keep it Simple, Stupid.”

The writers didn’t spent tons of money to create what they needed. If they couldn’t build things themselves, or find them at a reasonable price, they just didn’t do it.

They have reused and recycled wherever possible, to keep costs down, but also to keep toxic chemicals, such as lead and sulfuric acid in batteries, out of the local landfill. They point you to resources for finding free solar panels, batteries and wind towers.

According to the authors, this downloadable book is designed for the beginner who wants to get started in renewable energy, and who wants freedom from the electrical grid, while making a difference for the environment.

To download this e-book Click Here

Although this e-book is written from an environmentalist perspective, it doesn’t major on inflamed hype and doomsday predictions about man-made global warming causing the end of life as we know it.

Instead, the Renewable Energy Solutions E-Book does what it says: It focuses on SOLUTIONS to higher energy costs for the average homeowner.

The book will provide all the information you need to:

• Install solar panels;
• Install wind generators; or
• Hire competent contractors to install these for you.

The authors use a combination of solar panels and wind generators to power their home off-the-grid.

The Renewable Energy Solutions E-Book comes with an 8-week 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. It can be instantly downloaded to your computer, to get you started on the path to cheaper, cleaner energy in just a few seconds.

To get your instant e-book download, Click Here!

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What’s your MOST BURNING QUESTION about home energy efficiency?

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Here’s a quick video showing how one recycling plant in the U.K. separates mixed glass, newspaper, cardboard, clothing and plastic bags.

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What’s your MOST BURNING QUESTION about home energy efficiency?

Please click here to submit your question to Green Science Online. Thanks!

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Our mission at GreenScienceOnline is ambitious. We want the truth.

There are many valid reasons to “go green.” These include political, economic, philosophical, social, religious, aesthetic and altruistic. All good reasons, all worthy of discussion and action.

However, here at GreenScienceOnline, we have chosen to focus on green science and technology. According to Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary (Merriam-Webster, Inc. 07 Jan. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/science>) “science” is the

knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through the scientific method and concerned with the physical world and its phenomena (emhasis mine).

Simply, the TRUTH. And we mean, the truth about the physical world as “obtained and tested by the scientific method.”

Not the “truth” of consensus, because in science, the majority doesn’t rule. The truth rules. And as we know from history (just ask Galileo), it may take the majority decades, or centuries, to learn the truth about a phenomena of the physical world.

We welcome your comments.

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What’s your MOST BURNING QUESTION about home energy efficiency?

Please click here to submit your question to Green Science Online. Thanks!

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This cool video demonstrates that “nothing comes from nothing,” and that we need to think about where all this stuff we are creating ends up–landfills, air, water, soil–and in our bodies. Our world is a closed system, and it’s going to take all of us–including governments, big business, and concerned citizens, to figure out how to keep it in balance.

Another thing I like about this video is the TONE of humility and tolerance. It refuses to get ugly with those that may not agree with its viewpoint. Let’s stop all the name-calling and anger, and get to work! We’ve got a big job to do!

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What’s your MOST BURNING QUESTION about home energy efficiency?

Please click here to submit your question to Green Science Online. Thanks!

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This past year, my middle-schoolers were treated to a free showing of Al Gore’s fright film about the projected impact of human CO2 emissions on global warming. They did not get to see a similar treatment of legitimate opposing scientific views.

When I studied science, “back in the day,” the concepts of peer review and the scientific uncertainty principle were fundamental.

For over 200 years, scientific uncertainty was defined to mean that, although very few things can be proven with 100 percent certainty, a scientific concept can be considered truth as long as it is 95 percent certain, and had been reviewed and confirmed by a scientist’s peers.

But something changed in the scientific community at the end of the 20th century. In an article aptly titled “The Uses of Scientific Uncertainty,” published in Rachel’s Environmental & Health Weekly on July 1, 1999, Peter Montague revealed a “revolution” that dropped the time-honored uncertainty principle.

He traced the beginning of this revolution back to 1992, when the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, meeting in Rio, declared that “lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective [my emphasis] measures to prevent environmental degradation.”

The environmental community’s disdain for scientific truth and peer review has far surpassed the Rio declaration, as we saw in the recent United Nations conference in Bali. Credentialed scientists who dispute the data massaging and computer models used to predict an imminent catastrophe, were not allowed to voice their skepticism or to present their own findings at the official forum.

In the 15 years since the Rio declaration, we see that the concept of “cost-effective” measures no longer applies to the still-disputed global warming crisis. Instead, we are all expected to ante-up exorbitant taxes to “pay” for our carbon dioxide “pollution,” and the world’s economy be damned.

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What’s your MOST BURNING QUESTION about home energy efficiency?

Please click here to submit your question to Green Science Online. Thanks!

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Welcome to the Green Science Online blog!

At Green Science Online, our mission is to educate readers about the science behind the green technology wave. What’s myth and what’s truth? What’s good science, and what’s pure greenwash? What’s intelligent green, and what’s plain ‘ole tree-hugging hype?

We aim to answer these questions here–and have some fun in the process. After all, good science doesn’t have to be boring!

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What’s your MOST BURNING QUESTION about home energy efficiency?

Please click here to submit your question to Green Science Online. Thanks!

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