Global Warming and what you can do to against it
in [Mac Systems]
|
From: VAXman- on 19 Jan 2010 16:48 In article <1jckd5i.fjs950vsr28sN%nospam(a)see.signature>, nospam(a)see.signature (Richard Maine) writes: >Kurt Ullman <kurtullman(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >> In article <1jck9jm.1pv5h8o8br0acN%nospam(a)see.signature>, >> nospam(a)see.signature (Richard Maine) wrote: >> >> > And that's not even counting the fact that the mercury emitted from >> > coal-burning plants is in a far more dangerous form than that in a CFL. >> > It isn't as though anything we do is actually creating or destroying >> > mercury. The total amount of mercury in the world stays the same (to a >> > very good approximation; I think it safe to neglect meteorite impact, >> > transmutation, etc.). But coal-burning power plants put it into the air >> > in a very bioactive form; yes, that makes a big difference. >> I have seen this expoused, but never actually backed up with actual >> research. (Haven't seen the opposite backed up either in the interests >> of full disclosure). Any place I can go that would be give me an >> authoratative discussion of this? > >I didn't keep the citations, so I can't point you at anything definitive >right now, but I once did trace it down. Being a retired engineer and >thus into that kind of checking, I even did some back-of-the-envelope >calculations to verify that the orders of magnitude made sense. They >did. > >I also played enough with balls of mercury as a kid to have some notion >that there must be forms of it that aren't all that horrid or there >would have been a whole generation of retards (one could argue... :-)). >Our high school, and I think most high schools of the era, had a jar of >it in the chem lab and I think everyone played with rolling balls of it >around on their hand, as it was sort of odd. Teachers even encouraged it >as an illustration of diferent liquid properties. I probably wouldn't >really sugest doing that, but we got by with it because it isn't very >bioactive that way. I have a pound of reagent grade Hg. Extra for my Hg barometer. As I kid, I would dissolve Hg in nitric acid and then, drop a clean, shinny new penny into it. The Hg would bond to the surface. It was fun handing these to the school lunch room cashiers who would invar- iably assume they were dimes. After about an hour or thereabout, the Hg would oxidize and it would look like a dirty penny. Strangly, no one became mad as a hatter from this. >If mercury in your house and eventually landfills really upsets you, go >after thermometers and thermostats. Not that they use a very bioactive >form, but the amount of mercury involved is indeed quite substantial. >The amount in a single mercury-switch thermostat is far larger than the >amount in all the CFLs you will likely see in your lifetime unless you >work in a warehouse of them or something. I've checked that calculation >also. Heck, I had a mercury switch thermostat until a few years ago. I >don't think they do that for new ones, but there are still an awful lot >of existing ones installed. I could look and see the fair-sized blob of >mercury in it. I could then do my back-of-the-envelope volume and weight >computations from that; if you do such estimates, recall that mercury is >heavy. Specific gravity about 13.6 IIRC. So a small-looking blob weights >more than you might think. And people would stick mercury thermometers >in their mouths; still do. Again, you probably won't find much if >anything in the way of new mercury thermometers, but the odds of a >diligent search finding one somewhere in the average household must be >pretty good based on my observation. Remember to check all kinds of >thermometers: air, medical, cooking. Hg itself is not so much of a concern. It would be the salts created when Hg comes in contact with acids in the landfill. These then will leach into the drinking water supply. -- VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)ORG http://www.quirkfactory.com/popart/asskey/eqn2.png "Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"
From: John Varela on 19 Jan 2010 17:01 On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:23:37 UTC, "Ed H." <fake(a)notreal.net> wrote: > In article <00A97BDA.E5B03378(a)SendSpamHere.ORG>, < @SendSpamHere.ORG> > wrote: > > I've, personally, not found these compact fluorescent lamps to have a great > > lifespan either. Cost-per-relative lifespan is still higher than the tried > > and true incandescent lamp. I've been using them but I'm not, as yet, sold > > on any benefit. > > That's not been my experience. They seem to be working ok for me and > the prices have come down quite a bit. Using about 1/4 the amount of > power and the longer lifespan makes them a pretty good bargain, IMO. > > > I'm lighting, not lightning, my office with white LED rope > > lights. Brighter than the compact fluorescent for the power consumed and I > > will wager I'll see longer lifespan too. > > I haven't used the LEDs but have heard good things about them. > Ultimately they may be a better choice. My experience has been that they don't last as long as incandescents. That may be because I've been buying the relatively cheap blister packs of a half-dozen CF bulbs not made in USA. For the last several months I've been writing the installation date on each bulb--CF or flourescent--that I install. We'll see how that goes. In a year or two I might have some preliminary data to report. -- John Varela Trade NEWlamps for OLDlamps for email
From: VAXman- on 19 Jan 2010 17:52 In article <dxizd0mOwXzR-pn2-44d3T9OwjIJu(a)localhost>, "John Varela" <OLDlamps(a)verizon.net> writes: >On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:23:37 UTC, "Ed H." <fake(a)notreal.net> wrote: > >> In article <00A97BDA.E5B03378(a)SendSpamHere.ORG>, < @SendSpamHere.ORG> >> wrote: > >> > I've, personally, not found these compact fluorescent lamps to have a great >> > lifespan either. Cost-per-relative lifespan is still higher than the tried >> > and true incandescent lamp. I've been using them but I'm not, as yet, sold >> > on any benefit. >> >> That's not been my experience. They seem to be working ok for me and >> the prices have come down quite a bit. Using about 1/4 the amount of >> power and the longer lifespan makes them a pretty good bargain, IMO. >> >> > I'm lighting, not lightning, my office with white LED rope >> > lights. Brighter than the compact fluorescent for the power consumed and I >> > will wager I'll see longer lifespan too. >> >> I haven't used the LEDs but have heard good things about them. >> Ultimately they may be a better choice. > >My experience has been that they don't last as long as >incandescents. That may be because I've been buying the relatively >cheap blister packs of a half-dozen CF bulbs not made in USA. For >the last several months I've been writing the installation date on >each bulb--CF or flourescent--that I install. We'll see how that >goes. In a year or two I might have some preliminary data to report. There's a shop lamp in my garage -- 8' fluorescent. Those bulbs are still burning 20+ years since moving in. The CFs need to show me the same longevity before I'll be sold on them. -- VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)ORG http://www.quirkfactory.com/popart/asskey/eqn2.png "Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"
From: JF Mezei on 19 Jan 2010 17:52 VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote: > As I kid, I would dissolve Hg in nitric acid and then, drop a clean, > shinny new penny into it. The Hg would bond to the surface. It was > fun handing these to the school lunch room cashiers who would invar- > iably assume they were dimes. After about an hour or thereabout, the > Hg would oxidize and it would look like a dirty penny. Strangly, no > one became mad as a hatter from this. Last sentence should read "Strangely, no one *else* became mad as a hatter from this" .... .... images of Mr VAXman looking like Frankenstein in his evil lair filled with old VAX computers with all sorts of flashing lights, conjuring up more devilish plans to poison people, with sounds of an evil laughter echoing throughout the lair :-)
From: JF Mezei on 19 Jan 2010 17:55
John Varela wrote: > My experience has been that they don't last as long as > incandescents. That may be because I've been buying the relatively > cheap blister packs of a half-dozen CF bulbs not made in USA. The original CFLs from europe really did last a long time. I still have such bulbs that would be more than 10 years old by now. The newer ones from china are not built to last. Had one catch fire. (caught it in time before it caused any damage, but the fumes were terrible). I suspect China has found an innovative solution to toxic landfil: Just put the stuff in manufactured goods that are exported all over the world (including food :-) |