GE frees CFL lighting from the tyranny of ugly
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted December 11th 2008 10:32AM
posted December 11th 2008 10:32AM
Was it Arthur C. Clarke who said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic? If he was correct, it would follow that GE's new Energy Smart CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulb is most magical. A true product of "ecomagination" (their word), the imagineers (Disney's word) at GE have taken the their tried and true CFL hardware and housed it in the form factor of a traditional light bulb. Of course there are already a vast number of options for homeowners wishing to go green on the lighting front, but we're hard pressed to find something that works across the board in traditional lighting fixtures (at least without looking awful as it does so). The product gets its national outing at Target on December 28, and starts popping up at more retailers over the coming months. To tide you over until then, we've provided some earth shattering video after the break.
I am so sick and tired of GE and their "green" shit. Global warming is a huge HOAX. The largest perpetrated on mankind, next to WMDs. There are web sites out there that dare to debunk this crap too.
http://www.discussglobalwarming.com/blog
http://www.newsbusters.com
to name a couple. I see absolutely NO reason that our nation will continue without some sort of revolution. The fraud and corruption is out of control. Not only are we losing our rights like crazy, we've just been fleeced by a fraud (Obama), who isnt even eligible to be our president by way of the Constitution.
Wake up people. Stop running in packs and start using your brains. You're all being duped.
Don't forget fluoride! I only drink mineral water or rain water, because of the fluoridation of our water supply. I have to watch out for my precious bodily fluids.[/sarcasm]
Nice html tag fail Joe.
Yes, because I really believe that there is a tag that makes text look sarcastic. It's not at all because tone is difficult to convey through simple text, and putting the fake tag there makes it quite clear. I just suck at knowing my tags. Thank you for your enlightenment.[/sarcasm]
I will never think the same about light bulbs again. This is awesome!
http://WhatsYourLightingStyle.com
If you want to talk about more attractive CFLs look here
http://www.plumen.com/
that is just a traditional lightbulb
IKEA has had these for years.
95% of the lighting in my house comes from can ceiling fixtures (in every room). I changed all of the standard R38 bulbs out with lower wattage halogen bulbs since you get more lumens per watt with halogen + I like the 'cleaness' of the color. I also changed every light switch out with quality dimmers. Other than when I cook and shave, it is rare that I ever have any lights on at full power. At night, the few that are on are usually set to around 30% full brightness since I don't like my house looking like a retail store. Outside of the laundry room and closets, CFL's would never meet my needs - and yes I know R38 CFL floods are available, but they will never be able to be fully and smoothly dimmable. I've seen dimmable floods and they're not much different than a 3 way bulb and they require special, very expensive dimmers.
Option 1.- The poster doesn't travel to Europe.
Option 2.- The poster doesn't look at lamps when he travels.
Go to the philips homelighting page
Lol at "Earth Shattering Video"
Philips Halogena Energy Savers use 30-40% less energy than incandescent bulbs, contain NO mercury, and last for 2 years. I think it's a great alternative to CFLs.
http://www.lighting.philips.com/us_en/products/halogena_energy_saver/household.php?main=us_en_consumer_lighting&parent=7593748565&id=us_en_products&lang=en
So what? Is it still loaded with mercury or whatever? If I bust it in my kitchen, can I just sweep it up and be done, like the incandescent?
Truth is, I can't. It's toxic waste every time one of these CFL's break, and it's toxic waste when they're thrown away.
So, hey, everybody: go out and buy these until there's nothing but CFL's and then sit and wait for the "big story" that they're really toxic and must all be replaced with a NEW big fix...
Show me a video of how to clean up a broken CFL bulb and maybe I'll come around to it.
These have been around for a long time!! Atleast in sweden lol, think u can get them at IKEA. There are all shapes and sizes, all inclosed in the lamp, no external things
Is this news, Ikea have sold light bulb shaped CFLs for many many years. Try googling CFLs before posting an article about them, this is the bloody internet you know !
Maybe they can use their ecomagination or a percentage of their profits to clean up the PCBs they dumped into the Hudson River basin!
It's amazing how the simple design of the light bulb has been left practically untouched since Edison's design.
Had similar ones from ecobulb here in nz for at least 5 months. I got some since they are supposed to be the "best" available.
Still have a warm up time with a colour shift over it, still are more pink then a normal lamp and still dont seem to last any longer then an incandesent when switching often, which being energy efficiant means you do.
I don't see how this is a complicated engineering feat that would require patents...
Step 1: Create cylinder shaped glass with round bottom.
Step 2: Insert fully assembled CFL light inside tube.
Step 3: Heat open top of glass cylinder and bend it inward so the whole piece becomes shaped like a lightbulb.
Step 4: Solder the leads and place the screw cap on.
Step 5: ????..Oh wait.. Yeah. PROFIT!
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80087650
Are these the same fluorescent bulbs that contain mercury? Have we learned nothing over the years? This is just another example of environmental marketing that has the reverse affect on the environment in the name of profit, if these bulbs contain mercury.
If these bulbs contain mercury then how will we dispose of them? How much more mercury contamination will result? If these big corporations are aware of the potential for environmental dangers then they should be boycotted.