ESL — a CRT-Based Replacement For CFL Lights Without the Mercury 348
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by
Soulskill
from the yet-another-bright-idea dept.
from the yet-another-bright-idea dept.
New submitter An dochasac writes "Everyone knows incandescent lights are inefficient little space heaters which happen to convert 5% of their incoming energy to light. Compact Fluorescents (CFLs) are more efficient, but they contain toxic, brain-eating mercury and emit a greenish light. LEDs are also efficient and last longer, but if their blueish 'white' light doesn't mess up your melatonin balance, their price is high enough to wreck your checking account balance and give you the blues. A company called Vu1 has come up with something called Electron Stimulated Luminance (ESL) lights which claim to solve the mercury and price problem with a light based on Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) technology. These lights have the warm color balance of incandescents and are compatible with dimmer switches. The article has further ESL details along with an explanation of why it's still a bad idea to say these are 'trash can safe.'"
Efficiency Depends On What You're Effishing For (Score:4, Interesting)
There are still good uses for incandescents, particularly in environments where the heat is a major benefit.
As an example, my wife's theater group has a detached wooden shed which is used to store costumes, wigs, etc. She keeps a 60-watt light bulb burning in that shed to keep the place warm enough that condensation and mildew aren't a problem. Since the bulb hangs in open space from the ceiling, it's a lot safer and much more efficient than any space heater, and it's also cost effective, since, as noted, it keeps mildew down.
Warm white? Yuck! (Score:5, Interesting)
I go out of my way to find daylight or cool-white bulbs. I have been living with cool white for over 10 years and when I see a regular incandescent bulb outputting that putrid yellow color, I cringe. It is awful. This is the year 2012. Why do we still want our artificial light to be the same color of candles used back in the stupid ages?
CRTs eh? (Score:2, Interesting)
Didn't CRTs have to use leaded glass to prevent the users from being bathed in X-Rays?
Seems to me a small detail or two is being overlooked here.
Re:LED FUD? (Score:4, Interesting)
Stoners to the Rescue! (Score:4, Interesting)
You know what's high efficiency, has long term cost benefits and is environmentally friendly?
Sulfur Lamps!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_lamp [wikipedia.org]
Best use, however, is piping the light, as installing them into a room comes with many annoyances, like communication interference and microwave ballast placement. However, I must admit, they have some great uses, and currently, nothing beats them for central lighting...they glow a Fusor Test-fire purple when they first get started; how awesome is that?
selenocysteine (Score:2, Interesting)
There's some recent research suggesting that the primary harm from methylmercury is binding with selenium and preventing the formation of selenocysteine, which is an important amino acid in proteins that mop up oxidative graffiti artists and/or their handiwork.
In fish sources with a fair balance of MeHg and Se, the health outcomes of eating the fish outweigh toxicity. Fish sources such as Pilot whale with a lot of MeHg and almost no Se are really bad for your nervous system.
It might be time to downgrade the notion that Hg is a universal toxin. For thalidomide only the (S) enantiomer is teratogenic. What I didn't know until just now is that it's racemic in vivo (the enantiomers interconvert, but the en.wiki article didn't say how quickly or thoroughly).
As etiology advances, you need to keep an open mind. We should be more like the far right: Khamenei gives way to Saddam, then to Ossama, back to Saddam, and now Ahmadinejad. A nice passing play with assists all around.