OT - CFL's, The China Syndrome

[Red Green]

Time for another porking from China.

BEIJING - In the name of fighting pollution, China has sent the price of compact fluorescent light bulbs soaring in the United States.

[Frank]

Yahoo article has glaring error. I think their quote for a single bulb is actually for a 4 pack. Plus, 40 watt cfl's cost about 3 times that of 60 watt.

Th GE coffee analogy is downright stupid. Just because one minor component is inflated, that does not mean price increase would apply to the whole package.

GE used to make good products but I understand GE now stands for Good Enough, as the product will only last as long as the warranty.

[Larry Fishel]

3 pack of decorative bulbs. No mention in the article of what they used to cost, but they're over 3 times the price of spiral "40W" CFL's on HD's site...

On HD's site, 60's are $6.50 for a 4 pack vs. $5.90 for 40's. (For the cheap, spirals.)

[Andy]

I don't know squat about light bulb pollution, but I know a lot about light bulb prices...

I can buy a 4 pack of incandescents for about a dollar at a LOT of places.

I can buy a 4 pack of 60w CFLs for about $5 at Home Depot.....

I have used the Home Depot CFLs throughout my house, and others, to replace incandescents in the places they are most useful....

A few dollars for everwhere in the house they are needed. I'll probably save it in a year just on electric. I don't have to worry about the wife turning off the lights when she leaves the room....

I can light my entire attic, about 5000 sq ft, for the same current that it would take for 2 of the 100 watt bulbs, and if I forget to turn it off overnight, I don't go bankrupt..... and I don't have to install any additional circuit breakers or increase the wiring infrastructure...

So, while I ABSOLUTELY HATE the government telling me what to do in my house.... once I tried it, I really like it.......

.... and I am looking forward very much in them telling me what other crap I have to do........ I'll try it, and, maybe , I'll like that , also.....

The flush toilet thing, after 10 years, finally turned out OK....... With the increase in food prices, I find out that the toilets seem to flush better......

:>)))) Andy in Eureka, Texas

[Larry Fishel]

He meant that if the rare-earths made up one percent of the cost of the bulb originally, a 1000% percent increase in their cost only means a 10% increase in the cost of the bulb. (By using an analogy about a

1000% price increase in an end product rather than a small component, the article suggested that the cost of bulbs had increased dramatically.)

No, I don't know what percentage of the cost really is rare-earths and the article didn't speculate, but I bet it's not a lot. I'm sure it's much more meaningful in things like windmills with huge rare-earth magnets.

[Frank]

Wiki has a good article. Chinese got monopoly by undercutting prices but they don't have but maybe 37% of the worlds supply and their price increase will bring others back on line.