I hear the buzz and it is unacceptable.

It doesn't matter because in the future all light sources will be a combination of LED and some flat display technology currently used for monitors, such as OLED. Large panels of it should replace sections of drywall and display low-level ambient lighting. They will be able to change colors according to mood That is my position and I'm sticking to it.

Glatt - too funny, and I thought I was going nuts! I thought I was the only one that could hear that sound. I'm getting used to it so it doesn't really bother me anymore.
tw - I am having trouble understanding how Walmart took the lead in this - that just doesn't seem to float. Why didn't the manufacturer just go to other retailers or advertise directly to consumers??? Sounds like another conspiracy theory to me.

My wife can hear a high-pitched buzz outside Costco that's apparently designed to drive away pests of some kind.

Regarding flat lightsources, I've always wanted to mount a flourescent light source in the 16"s between the studs in a regular interior wall.

Prove it. Cite. You made the emotional decision that people don't flock to the savings because of shape and stated it as fact. You do that a lot.

Now, there are other reasons not to use those bulbs. One is, as I stated before, the inconpatability with dimmers. UT mentioned it too.
Another is the lamps with multi level switches or touch switches.
Also, the color of the light the bulbs emit is harsher.
I understand you don't think any of those reasons are rational, nor should my choice be based on anything but energy/money savings. And you think i should get all in a lather over a lightbulb that I can operate for 8 hours every day for what, 20 bucks a year?

Don't lecture me on how "if everybody". If everybody wore the same clothes and drove the same car....no, took the same bus...yada yada yada. I'm not everybody. Sometimes I don't even feel like being a part of everybody.

I'll buy bulbs based on the criteria I choose and you Vulcans can do what you want. :idea:

Those pests are loitering teenagers.

Now they use that same pitch as a cell phone ring so it goes off in class and the teacher can't hear it. If someone did that when I was in high school, blood would be spilled. So inconsiderate of other students.

I believe that particular cell-phone ring is from a hacked mosquito-repelling device or something.

I read that the sound came from some store that plays that high pitched noise to keep teenagers from loitering while not affecting the adults since they can't here it.

Grossly inefficient at lighting. However, they are excellent heaters! Almost 90% of the energy consumed goes into heat.

Well, not quite true. Most people I know, myself included (as well as I know myself) object to the color or quality of fluorescent light. As a photographer and former gaffer I am acutely aware of the qualities of light. That being said, I've installed a lot of compact and not so compact fluroesecents in and around my home. I have also played with using various colored gels to modify the color of the light.

As to the issue of dimmers, what Yesman said has been true in my exp. about using the lamp in a dimmable circuit w/o dimming. i.e. at 100% I've seen ads for dimmable compact fluroescents, but they are always OS when I get to the store.

Oh yeh. the LED technology is fantastic. I'm stoked.

seriously

We have switched to compact floresent in just about every lamp, the ONLY complaint is that the out side lites take a little while to get warmed up , I have been useing a floresent drop lite for YEARS , they are less sesaptable to breakage , cooler , and the lite is LESS sharp than incandesant blubs (easyer on the eyes in a dark scale pit ) , also you can warm up your hands ( a little ) with them . A year or two ago we got sideing ( with extra insulation ) Eglass windows ALL around (not cheap but our windows SUCKED( and leaked ) And I HATE painting a house !!!) , we can tell the difference onour utility bill last month it was $ 125, last years for this month was about $180 .

At one of my customers ( a steel mill ) they are grinding up old tires and injecting them into the steel , tires are about 80% carbon and 10% steel ( both of these comoditys they have to buy ) the State bought them the grinder and is giveing them a BIG tax break to try this , so far they are happy with the results , they go thru about a full barge of tires a day .

To appreciate how business works -to appreciate when innovation is stifled; read Clayton Christensen's Innovator's Dilemma. Markets demand new technologies from legacy companies only when the power exists to do so. That is what Wal-mart has been trying to do. Ironically, another company I have had so much respect for since it was called Dayton-Hudson, instead, fears to demand innovation.

That fluorescent bulb has been available for at least five years now. Their advantages far outweigh those so grossly inefficient incandescent bulbs.

Meanwhile how old is the technology? Fluorescent lamps had been demonstrated before Edison invented his bulb. The technology is that old.

What I do to save energy:

Switch off TV/ DVD at the plug every night and in the morning when I leave the flat
Same with the extension cord that powers my reading light/ hairdryer/ phone charger - only switched on when in use
Also phone charger removed from socket when not in use (as it's on a multiple socket cord)
Lights only on in rooms which I am in
Switch off cooker 5 mins before end of cooking time
As lightbulbs blow I am replacing them with energy efficient bulbs. My reading lamp (which I have on instead of the overhead, not as well as) has a bulb in it that outlasted both my marriage and subsequent relationship

I've just done a big wash, but next time I wash my clothes I will try cold water. I'm dubious as to whether it will work as I sometimes have to wash clothes twice even at 40 degrees. Feedback from this post suggests to me it's my washing machine rather than the temperature that's the problem though.

I also need to check out the recycling collection service again. When I moved in I kept putting the wrong things in the box and putting it out on the wrong day - it was never collected so I gave up. Without a car it's difficult to recycle anything myself, so I must make more of an effort to let the council do it for me.

In carbon footprint calculators I score well for not owning a car and not going abroad on holiday. This is usually hammered by living alone and things I cannot change in a rental property (baths not showers, no cavity wall insulation, old boiler etc). I would like to come and live in someone else's house to salve my conscience please.