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Unscrew America: Fun with Compact Fluorescents

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.19.08
Design & Architecture (lighting)

2008-02-17_142425-Treehugger-unscrew2.jpg

The case for compact fluorescents is so convincing and the tired old reasons not to use them so, well, tired and old, that it seems pointless to bother trying anymore, we are down to the "pry incandescents from my cold dead hands" gang.

But some do keep trying; the latest venture is Unscrew America, a tongue-in-cheek site prepareed by the producer of An Inconvenient Truth Lesley Chilcott and Austin's SG&M Idea City.

2008-02-17_142202-Treehugger-unscrew-america.jpg

It is less offensive than the FLICK OFF campaign, and contains a lot of good information, taking on all of the shiboleths and myths from mercury to flickering. It also has really annoying music as the default (turn off the sound) and anyone over 30 is going to go nuts over the navigation, so I really don't know who it is directed to. A lot of hard work though, at ::Unscrew America

Comments (11)

That is a great website. The sounds are loud enough that it drew a crowd around my desk...and kept the crowd.....

jump to top Lucas says:

This is really cool. Maybe this refreshing approach while work better than the same old approach, which never broke through.

just checked out the site... seems really to be geared to be entertaining to teens and earlly 20-somethings... it was interesting, though.

jump to top liz [TypeKey Profile Page] says:

An excellent example of "Mystery meat navigation!" I'm sure there was great info in there...somewhere...but I couldn't find it.

Maybe it's the "over 30" effect.

jump to top Viktor says:

fun looking site but good god the NAVIGATION! rollovers are ok to an extent but if you bump the arrow off the info icon the information window disappears and you have to engage the icon again and hear it's annoying comments. good info though. treehugger you were spot on with your review!

jump to top nina says:

"tired old reasons not to use them so, well, tired and old"

As someone that has replaced about 80% of my bulbs with CFLs I always find it tired and old that people repeatedly claim that CFLs can truly replace incandescents, despite the fact that their problems are repeatedly pointed out. So having to sound tired and old (which I do feel today)...

- There is not an economic, reliable and available dimmable CFL.

- CFLs are not suitable for all form factors such as smaller bulbs and certain types of spots.

I have some ceiling fixtures which are so tight that the size difference between a CFL and the equivalent output incandescent means the CFL doesn't fit.

jump to top RhapsodyInGlue [TypeKey Profile Page] says:

I think you can replace almost any lighting fixture with a CFL bulb--we have been able to do this in our house save exactly one light: our kitchen has track lighting with little halogen bulbs that are very bright and I found equivalent CFL's at Home Depot but it wasn't bright at all with them in the kitchen. SO, I left one bulb and changed the other 3 to CFL's -- BRILLIANT! That one light left has been more than enough. --other than that every single light bulb in our house, including the inside of our refrigerator is now a CFL bulb.

jump to top Jeff says:

I think you can replace almost any lighting fixture with a CFL bulb--we have been able to do this in our house save exactly one light: our kitchen has track lighting with little halogen bulbs that are very bright and I found equivalent CFL's at Home Depot but it wasn't bright at all with them in the kitchen. SO, I left one bulb and changed the other 3 to CFL's -- BRILLIANT! That one light left has been more than enough. --other than that every single light bulb in our house, including the inside of our refrigerator is now a CFL bulb.

jump to top Jeff says:

"- There is not an economic, reliable and available dimmable CFL."

Liar. Or dope. Dunno which, don't really care.

Here they are, been out for over 5 years, and guess what, I've been using them for over 5 years:

http://www.goodmart.com/products/bulb_compact_fluorescent_screw_in_base_dimmable.htm

The TCP ones.

jump to top Willy Bio says:

Willy,

About a year ago I did a lot of net research on dimmable CFLs. I found people mentioning that they had purchased ones that either burned out quickly or didn't work reliably with particular types of dimmers... there are different types. Further, many of the dimmables I found stated in their specs that they were not meant for use in "enclosed" fixtures.

Here in CA one can often get regular CFLs for under a dollar in 4 or 6 packs at Home Depots, Targets, etc.

Ordering online, paying 8-10 times as much (with shipping), from a company that I don't know, on a brand that I don't know to hope that it works with my dimmers in my "enclosed" fixtures...

I'll stick by my assessment.

But thanks for your kind words.

jump to top RhapsodyInGlue [TypeKey Profile Page] says:

This website is about CFL's AND LEDs... in equal measure... so why did you focus on one, and not the other? Are you for nuclear power? ;o)

jump to top RemyC [TypeKey Profile Page] says:

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