Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Posted in
Environment
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Products
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When low-wattage light bulbs -- first in the form of fluorescent bulbs, and then in the form of LED bulbs -- came on the market, I was thrill. But I have begun to realize that those bulbs are having a negative impact on the environment. (LED stands for Light Emitting Diode.)
Fluorescent bulbs have mercury in them. The amount of mercury is small enough that if a fluorescent bulb breaks in your presence, it is not likely to hurt you. Nonetheless, the penetration of mercury into the environment could build up over the years if we continue to use fluorescent bulbs.
Both fluorescent and LED bulbs have more electronic circuitry in them than incandescent bulbs do, and that means that when they burn out, more electronic waste goes into a landfill.
However, the real impact from these alternative bulbs comes from the LED variety. LED lamps are made so that the LED elements are part of the lamp. When the diodes burn out, the entire lamp has to be thrown out. There is no way to screw in new diodes.
I recently bought a really sleek, beautiful LED lamp from Amazon. It is very well made. But I realized after I got it that when the LED's burn out, I'm going to have to trash the entire lamp, even if the rest of the lamp is working fine. That's just wrong. There should be a law against that; but our U.S. government is so dysfunctional, with environment-hating Republicans in control, that there is no hope that appropriate legislation will be passed.
I had a similar experience with the first LCD computer monitor that I bought, a monitor made by Planar. LCD monitors have a back-light which illuminates the image. When that back-light burns out, the entire monitor must be trashed. And that's what happened: This fabulous monitor, which had a really great picture, is now sitting dead in my apartment, and for no other reason than the back-light died. Everything else about the monitor works perfectly. Once again, a law is needed: LCD monitors should be warranted for twenty years, and manufacturers should be required to stock the parts needed to repair old models. I contacted Planar to find out if they could repair the monitor, and they said they no longer had the parts to do so.
Mankind is destroying the earth's environment. Frankly, I don't think the earth is going to be livable for much longer. We have the technology to stop the environmental degradation, but few manufacturers are willing to use it, and governments are too timid to require them to do so.
Fluorescent bulbs have mercury in them. The amount of mercury is small enough that if a fluorescent bulb breaks in your presence, it is not likely to hurt you. Nonetheless, the penetration of mercury into the environment could build up over the years if we continue to use fluorescent bulbs.
Both fluorescent and LED bulbs have more electronic circuitry in them than incandescent bulbs do, and that means that when they burn out, more electronic waste goes into a landfill.
However, the real impact from these alternative bulbs comes from the LED variety. LED lamps are made so that the LED elements are part of the lamp. When the diodes burn out, the entire lamp has to be thrown out. There is no way to screw in new diodes.
I recently bought a really sleek, beautiful LED lamp from Amazon. It is very well made. But I realized after I got it that when the LED's burn out, I'm going to have to trash the entire lamp, even if the rest of the lamp is working fine. That's just wrong. There should be a law against that; but our U.S. government is so dysfunctional, with environment-hating Republicans in control, that there is no hope that appropriate legislation will be passed.
I had a similar experience with the first LCD computer monitor that I bought, a monitor made by Planar. LCD monitors have a back-light which illuminates the image. When that back-light burns out, the entire monitor must be trashed. And that's what happened: This fabulous monitor, which had a really great picture, is now sitting dead in my apartment, and for no other reason than the back-light died. Everything else about the monitor works perfectly. Once again, a law is needed: LCD monitors should be warranted for twenty years, and manufacturers should be required to stock the parts needed to repair old models. I contacted Planar to find out if they could repair the monitor, and they said they no longer had the parts to do so.
Mankind is destroying the earth's environment. Frankly, I don't think the earth is going to be livable for much longer. We have the technology to stop the environmental degradation, but few manufacturers are willing to use it, and governments are too timid to require them to do so.
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