鳞茎之战

紧凑型荧光灯在聚光灯下，禁止使用白炽灯
从2014年1月1日起，美国不再生产40瓦和60瓦的白炽灯

这是乔治·w·布什总统2007年签署成为法律的效率标准的一部分。此前，政府法规在过去几年中逐步淘汰了70瓦和100瓦的灯泡，但由于40瓦和60瓦的灯泡在家庭中使用更频繁，这项禁令将会更广泛地受到影响。到目前为止，这项禁令几乎没有引起人们的注意，因为商店仍然有库存的白炽灯泡。一旦商店里现有的白炽灯库存售罄，消费者将不得不在更节能的灯泡中做出选择，包括卤素灯泡、LED灯泡和节能灯。关于CFL灯泡一直有很多争论，许多消费者对其更高的价格、效率效益和汞含量持谨慎态度。还有一个问题是，使用节能灯的光线质量往往更亮，许多消费者(包括我自己)在使用荧光灯时感到越来越头疼。幸运的是，这项技术在短时间内取得了长足的进步，节能灯现在销售的是暖色调版本，而不仅仅是标准的强光。节能灯的打开速度也比以前快得多，所以你不必在灯泡打开时站在黑暗的房间里20秒。虽然节能灯的价格可能略高于白炽灯，但15瓦的节能灯的寿命在8500小时之间，而60瓦的白炽灯的平均寿命约为1000小时。最初购买节能灯时你会花更多的钱，但随着时间的推移，更频繁地更换白炽灯最终会更加昂贵。 The average lifespan energy consumption of a CFL is around one-fourth the consumption of incandescent. Unlike CFLs, incandescents produce light by heating the metal filament inside the bulb. When electricity passes through the filament, its temperature rises to 2,300 degrees Celcius, with the heat causing the filament to glow white-hot and emit light. But only 5 to 10 percent of that electricity is transformed into visible light. In other words, incandescents don’t convert heat to light very efficiently, and much of the energy is wasted. CFLs are made of glass tubes filled with gas and a small amount of mercury. They produce light when the mercury molecules are excited by electricity running between two electrodes in the base of the bulb. Mercury emits ultraviolet light, which in turn excites the tubes phosphor coating, leading it to emit visible light. A study in 2012 published in the journal Photochemistry and Photobiology shows that CFLs are best used behind protective glass covers, or behind lamp shades. Long-term exposure to naked CFL bulbs may cause skin damage similar to damage from ultraviolet radiation. There has been concern over the environmental impact of mercury in CFL production. Around 50% of energy produced in the U.S. is generated by coal-fired power plants. When coal is burned, the mercury naturally contained in the coal releases into the air. Using energy-efficient CFLs reduces demand for power, which in turn reduces the amount of coal burned by power plants and the amount of mercury emitted when coal is burned. So while mercury may be present inside a CFL bulb, incandescent bulbs result in more emissions at the power plant, which is a more harmful consequence to overall air quality. Each CFL bulb contains about 5 milligrams of mercury. If a CFL bulb breaks, it’s important to take safety precautions when handling a broken bulb, but keep in mind that not all the mercury in the bulb dissipates when a bulb breaks. As long as a child does not ingest any liquid that may come out of the bulb, they will not be exposed to toxic levels of mercury. Researchers have noted that it would take weeks for a child to be exposed to mercury vapor, which would mean a broken bulb would need to be left in a room for over a week. Provided you clean up the bulb promptly, and protect yourself by using rubber gloves (which are recommended for cleaning up incandescents as well to prevent cuts), there is no risk of mercury exposure. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlines very specific requirements for disposing of CFLs, since dumping them in landfills is harmful for the environment (http://www2.epa.gov/cfl).

当节能灯停止工作时，最简单和最安全的处理方法是把它放在塑料袋里，带到你家附近的家得宝或洛斯，在那里他们会免费为你回收。