If our incandescent bulbs are banned we won't have a choice. What really is behind this push to create more mercury hazards after so many years of trying to eliminate the mercury hazards?

Problem is, is that Maine is downwind of so many coal fired power plants that have been spewing for so many years it is hard to tell how much of the Hg came from the CFL and how much is just in their environment. Nonetheless, a very good cautionary tale.

If we're going to put these in the hands of every american, we really need a practical and reasonably safe way to clean one up when an accident happens, and a method for disposing of them.

And what about all those pesky thermometers?

We need the CFL Training and Enforcement Corps. Some big guys to start monitoring every store and back alley in the country for illegal incandescent bulb sales and a whole bunch of twits to train Americans in the proper technique for bulb disposal.

And it should be funded by a 10 cent per bulb tax on the CFLs that will be mandated to be used anyway. Increasing for inflation and global temperature variance of course.

Wonder what you would be charged with for mailing some broken CFLs to your local representatives?

We live on solar and use compact flourescent bulbs almost exclusively. While they are toxic, I gotta say...they are tough. Several times I have hit them hard enough to break the ballast off the bulb, and never broke glass...not to say it won't happen to the next guy.

The savings is huge. We have a meter that shows what anything is drawing in amps. While an incandescent draws 2.5 to 3 amps, a compact uses .8 to 1 amp.

I do agree that they need to be made safer.

Time to invest in the companies that are working on white LEDs bright enough to use for lighting.

Check out a company called Cree, for example. In a couple years they (or a competitor) will have an LED "bulb" that runs for pennies a year, lasts for 20 years, and produces virtually NO heat.

The hurdle they face is getting them bright enough. They're in use for certain applications already.

I specify _white_ LEDs because we already have _green_ ones, and a few other colors, that are plenty bright. But who wants to light their house with a green bulb?