Lightbulbs

[marie83]

Just read a post on another non-bird related forum that normal lightbulbs are hard to find/withdrawn (not sure which) but I've also read in the past that the fumes from the energy saving ones are deadly to our feathered friends if they get broken but it looks like that soon I might not be able to get replacement "normal" bulbs.
This worries me as I'm prone to breaking things...

I haven't done any research on this as yet but was wondering if anyone else had who can offer thier thoughts?

Thanks

[cml]

I have done some research, and the fact is, there isnt any good solution.

Normal bulbs are being phased out world wide, and the replacements, low energy bulbs and LED bulbs are both bad alternatives, especially so with our pets in mind. The problem is, they are the only replacement available, and its hard, if at all possible to get regular bulbs nowadays.

The low energy lights contain mercury, and the gases released from a warm bulb that breaks are very dangerous, to human and animal alike. The reccommendation is to close the door, evacuate the room for at least 20-30min, and thoroughly air the room by opening windows etc, then carefully clean where the bulb broke. Google this for more info.


LED lights on the other hand present an altogether different problem; flickering. This is a concern for both humans and pets, but perhaps pets even more so. There are reports that show that constant flicker have detrimental effects on humans and on pets which eyes' "update" quicker than ours, I think the problem is worse. LED lights flicker because they run on DC, rather than the AC you get from your electrical net. Most cheap lights solve this problem by using a "direction correcter", for lack of the correct word, and thus only lets through half of the AC, creating a pulsed DC. This leads to flickering. Some more expensive and modern LEDs use a condensator to parry for this, by loading the condensator and realising this current, they mean to minimize flickering. From what I understand they fail quite badly at this still, and flickering is still a big problem with many LEDs.

So what to choose?

Honestly, I dont know. I use a combo right now. At least modern low energy bulbs dont flicker. But at the same time, I'd hate to think what would happen if one broke. But I dont want to put my birds through constant flickering either.

I really dont have a good answer for this, if anyone has a solution, Id be thrilled if you share it with us all, I think this is important for both us and our pets.

EDIT: edited the time reccommendations for low energy bulbs.

[cml]

I just want to add that I believe that phasing out old bulbs is a good strategy in principle, just that the alternatives are lagging behind atm.

Sustainability is very important imo, and is our generation's biggest concern. We need to solve a lot of environmental issues world wide, and this isnt just limited to CO2, but infact a whole lot bigger and scarier. The more you educate yourself in the area, the scarier it is. CO2 might be media's favorite thing to play at, but its just one aspect. Guarding our energy consumption is very important, and lots of other things as well.

Im getting a bit off track here, but just wanted to point out that I am not against energy saving, rather the opposite really, but I dont like the current alternatives to light bulbs!

[marie83]

Hmmm, do old style lightbulbs store well? apparently there are still a few places stocking them. I was thinking about putting together a bulk order to manage for as long as I can by which point there would hopefully be an alternative....I still have a couple of old style bulbs left as spares but who knows how soon they will be used.

I know I sound crazy but I really am terrible for breaking things. Obviously they dont need changing as much so there will be less opportunity to break one and I would be super careful but theres not just me here, what if the kids throw something to the other one and hit the bulb? or one shatters somehow because of a fault? Frankly if even humans need evacuating for a period of time then what hope do our parrots stand? especially when we can't just usher them out immediately cuz we have to get them in travel cages, grab food for them etc.
Maybe the dangers are exaggerated by scaremongers but I really wouldn't want to take the chance.

[marie83]

Oh absolutely agree that reducing our footprint is the right thing to do and it takes lots of small steps to do so but just getting people to switch stuff off when not in use would do alot more good than releasing bulbs which are toxic.
That said we have really good natural light coming in from dawn til dusk, then we tend to only have light in the room on so its pretty dull in here after dark, there are exceptions to this but the general rule is we use the least we can. We've had the heating on about 3 times in the past few months, once was only to help ollie as he was really bad a few days ago.

[cml]

The reccommendations seems to have changed with modern low energy bulbs, so ive edited my original post. Apparently its 20-30mins now, as mercury levels are much lower in modern bulbs.

Also, only warm bulbs are dangerous, (but you need to sanitize after a cold bulb as well), as the mercury is in gas form in the warm bulbs, but liquid in cold. I took away that part from my original post as well.

The danger lies in the glass actually breaking when the bulb is warm, and not if it just stops working.

[cml]

Also an interesting side note is why they are allowing mercury light bulbs, when mercury is such a known toxic substance.

It comes down to numbers. The fact is that the savings from using a low energy bulb is so much greater than a regular bulb that the mercury released from producing energy for normal bulbs outweighs that of the mercury in new bulbs, hence they allow the new technology and bulbs which despite containing mercury, adds less mercury to the environment. At least thats the argument Ive heard, and it kinda makes sense, but I still dont like it. They are replacing one bad thing with another, it would be better to make a new type of bulb that werent as heavy on the environment, and less energy consuming.

[marie83]

Thing is how many people actually dispose of stuff correctly? at least if mercury is being released in normal bulb production its more likely to be dealt with in a safe manner than people chucking loads of bulbs out in the trash.

[cml]

Thing is how many people actually dispose of stuff correctly? at least if mercury is being released in normal bulb production its more likely to be dealt with in a safe manner than people chucking loads of bulbs out in the trash.

Its not the production of normal bulbs marie, sorry if i was unclear, but rather the energy production required for the additional energy a normal bulb requires.
That mercury is unfortunatly released into the environment as well .

[marie83]

Ahh sorry I misunderstood, as I said i've done no research as yet, just reading through what you know and reading it wrong at that! lol.