So much for Obama and ilk being good stewards of the environment. The irony of it...
It turns out this green energy they keep touting isn't so green after all.
by tootired2care 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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WTWizard
There are other "green(??)" things that are a complete flop. Solar power is one thing. But, you probably have things you put in your own house, thinking they are green. In fact, the old-fashioned version is becoming hard to find, and illegal in many countries. They are called compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Which come with problems. For one thing, there is mercury. Granted, not as much as in the big fluorescent tubes. However, if you bust one indoors, you need to vent the room. Open the window where the bulb is, get a fan to blow the air out the window, and open another window to let fresh air in from the other side. Let this run 15 minutes, while you clean it up. If it's a cold bulb, most of the mercury is in the base with the remainder in the tube. Picking up the base and most of the glass will get 90% of the mercury out, while airing out the room will get rid of 90% of what's left. Use a damp paper towel to clean the smaller pieces, and seal and dispose of them outside immediately. The scare is that you need to rip out carpet, and avoid sweeping the bulb. Usually, the amount of mercury left will be extremely tiny.
A hot bulb (one that has been running) has most of the mercury in the tube, as vapor. Open the windows as above, and vent for 15 minutes. Pick up the base and glass, and you probably got rid of most of the mercury. Bear in mind that what's left will probably be less than what is in your mouth, or if you bust a mercury thermometer. However, these things do add up in time.
Dirty electricity is another major problem. This can give you headaches, aggravate mental and emotional problems, and may affect you spiritually. It creates problems on the power grid, wasting energy there. It also aggravates eye problems. These things also give dirty light--flickering, and the spectrum is horrible. Even those 2700 K bulbs (which approximate incandescent) are horrible, even compared with incandescent bulbs of the same brightness.
Another problem is what happens when they blow. Incandescent bulbs usually pop as the filament breaks, often emitting a bright spark within the bulb and then going dark. CFL bulbs often emit smoke, and they are not unknown to emit flames as well, when they blow. A dimmer switch increases the risk of a fire. Incandescent bulbs can be dimmed. CFL bulbs that can be dimmed usually work poorly on a dimmer, and cost a lot more. (Some, even more than a LED.)
And you cannot turn them off and on all the time without ruining the bulb. If you switch them off and on a lot, you lose much of their life. To the degree that they are no better than an incandescent bulb in terms of life. It also wastes electricity each time you turn them off and on, though not as much as the big fluorescent bulbs. You also need to waste electricity warming them up before you actually need the light, unless you need time to adjust to the brightness. With incandescent and LED, you can turn them off and on a lot without ruining them or wasting more electricity, and they are instantly at full brightness.
Next, look at the energy used to produce and deliver these monsters. Usually they are made in China, which uses a lot of energy to transport them. Making them uses much more energy than making an incandescent, and this can make up the difference of what you use at the bulb. With LED, at least you are using even less energy at the bulb, no interference with the power grid or dirty electricity, and fewer bulbs.
I am sure there are other "green(??)" products that are nothing but greenwashed. But I, for one, will not buy compact fluorescent bulbs after hearing that they are nowhere near as green as they were billed. Rather, I will spend the extra and buy LED lights. Bonus: The spectrum of my LED lights is 5000 K (you can get the 2700's too), which is closer to natural daylight (which is 6500 K).
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tootired2care
Good points WTW. I hate flouresent lights in the house it is the most dingy and ugly light, and the gubermint wants to force this toxic crap down our throats.
I've always liked the really bright as the sun halogen torch lamps. They really have the best light quality which I'm a finatic on. A couple of months ago we needed a new lamp for our den. It was quite a chore to find anything on the market that could even come close to the light output of the halogen torch lamps. I finally found one but I had to pay a hefty price for such a rare gem. My advise is buy the good lighting products while you still can, guns too.
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botchtowersociety
When people say how green some energy sources are, they often exclude mention of the polluting manufacturing procedures required to produce them.
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tootired2care
This really is a fascinating subject. If you look at electric cars and how much rare earth has to be mined and energy to create the batteries it's really a travesty that people accept this a better solution to what we have currently.
http://theweek.com/article/index/216263/are-electric-cars-actually-bad-for-the-environment
Because of pollution from the factories that make batteries, an electric car has a bigger carbon footprint than a gas-burning vehicles until it's traveled 80,000 miles, according to the research, which was financed by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership.
Not only do electric vehicles produce just as much carbon in their overall cycle as internal-combustion engines, the need to replace the batteries actually makes them less green than current technology." If we want a cleaner way to get around, "the answer is natural gas, not electric vehicles.
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Jim_TX
Nothing is 100% green... except for the grass outside in your yard... and then, only if you don't use chemicals to fertilize it.
I use LED lighting in my home for three to four rooms. All three LED lighting fixtures were built up by me and run on 12-volts. The 12-volts comes from a SLA (Sealed Lead-acid) battery that is charged by a 68-watt solar panel. It all works very harmonious. The sun comes up every day, and the solar panel produces electricity that gets put into the battery. (Using my solar panel, it even charges on overcast or rainy days.)
At night (and sometimes during the day), we turn on the LED lights. As mentioned by wtwizard above, my preference is for the 5000+ Kelvin LEDs. I do not like those LEDs that are in the 3000 Kelvin range. Ick!
But. Is it 100% 'green'? No. I know that chemicals were used to manufacture the solar panel. I know that the SLA battery has lead in it. I know that chemicals were used to produce the LEDs that I use for light.
You have to pick your battles. I figure the impact on the environment for my small-scale solar lighting system is minimal. I am not using the power from the local coal-fired power plant to light my three-to-four rooms. I figure that I have reduced my power bill by about 15 - 20 percent each month. Not a huge amount, but it all adds up.
Payback for my system would be in 2 or 3 years.
The 'smile factor'? Priceless.
As for the OP and Solyndra, you will have that at many plants that manufacture goods. Many (I almost typed 'most') solar panels are manufactured in China where they do not have as many hazardous materials restrictions and laws. One of the reasons that goods from China cost less.
Locally, we had a plant that manufactured goods and did a lot of ironwork. The company sold their property to the city a few years back, and a stadium was built on the site. Much of the ground was contaminated and had to be treated as hazardous waste, and disposed accordingly. How did that company get away with dumping hazardous materials onto the ground for almost 100 years? It happens.
Regards,
Jim TX
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NOLAW
Solar Panels are the SCAM of the century*. GREEN? Yes, green is the color of the money they steal from the pockets of the morons who believe such b***s***t!
*Of course Solar Panels have a real use: In outer space.
NOLAW
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Aussie Oz
if there was no money to be made in 'green', nothing would be done.
people are getting very rich on this bandwagon. Politians jump on to get votes.
It is as big a lie as the WT in my opinion.
Oz
edit... same goes for global warming/cooling/change...all buzz words to generate $$$
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Resistance is Futile
The renewable energy industry is just a ploy to make us adopt sissy European Socialism. America is all about freedom.
We've tried solar power, it doesn't work and can't compare to the energy from coal and oil. The Sun simply isn't a long term reliable source of energy. It's a waste of time to try and invest in that industry.
I say let other countries waste their time investing in renewable energy, the public's concern for the environment will probably just fade away in the future. Let other countries waste their time investing in auto technology that increases gas mileage. I'm sure the trend of people buying more fuel efficent cars will fade away in the future as well. Then America will be sitting pretty, knowin how smart we were to not get caught up in the hype.
Our tried and try American way of gettin energy doesn't have any environmental impacts, unlike these new sissy "green" industries.
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NOLAW
Europe isn't Socialist, it has a dictatorship much more like the rest of the world-especially USA!
The Sun IS a long term reliable source of energy. It isn't a waste of time to try and invest in that industry-BUT NOT THE WAY THEY DO IT!!!
