Anyone want to train a hidden camera on a lamp next to some fake diamond jewelry? Sounds like a good project for a David Horowitz style undercover sting.

I'd meet them in the lobby with a bag of my old bulbs and take the new ones up to install myself.

I thought I read a story a few months back about an energy/utilities company sending its customers compact florescent light bulbs in the mail and then charging some stupid fee monthly that ended up costing 3x as much then buying them at a hardware store in the end. Whoa, sorry about the killer run-on sentence...

Anyone remember that?

@GavinEstecado: not sure which company that was, but fairly sure it was here in Maryland...they all managed to find some way to line their pockets in the name of promoting energy efficiency, either giving away lightbulbs or coupons and then charging everyone a fee that more than paid for the cost of it.

@GavinEstecado:

Yeah there was a company sending them out then charging it on the bill, someone called and complained and they were forced to return the money iirc.

So these bulbs... I don't know about in new york but here in Los Angeles I went to my local Home Depot 3 days ago and bought 3x 4 packs of the equal to 60 watt ones and 3x 2 packs of the equal to 100 watt ones for like $2.86 each pack. And these were nice and came in a biodegradable easy to open and store square cardboard box rather than the P.I.T.A blister packs that take up too much space.

These bulbs are cheap, replace them yourself. Unless your a business with florescent bar lights, SoCal Edison replaces those for free here. A local business owner I know took advantage of that offer and saved a nice chunk of change, lowered the heat in her store (net cafe, so any amount of less heat helps) and helped the environment.

@GavinEstecado: that story was here:
[consumerist.com]

Who leaves $20k worth of jewlery just sitting out?!

PG&E has the same program in California. Someone came to our office offering the same thing, and we referred him to the building manager. The owner ultimately agreed and within a week, all of our building's old fluorescent tubes were replaced with newer, more efficient versions. I understand that the owner is happy with the savings.

Unless your disabled or really old you should be able to change your own light bulbs.

CFL bulbs really are not that expensive. They have them in bulk packs at Lowes and Sam's.

... and require Hazmat should you break one. I can't believe Pres. Bush signed their mandatory use into law.

For those not up on current events, they have an extreme amount of mercury in them which, when shattered, requires about $2,000 of cleanup.

I dunno if I would trust anything from a company called "Conned."

CFL's (most of 'em, anyway) still don't work with dimmers and X10, though. I probably save equal energy by dimming my lights than by changing to a full brightness, low energy bulb. Plus -- you know -- remote control and programmability.

@jdmba:

No they don't. They contain less mercury than a mercury thermometer.

@jdmba: 4.0 mg of mercury isn't really an extreme amount. $2000 USD for that amount of cleanup though is about right. If I recall correctly the instance you are refering to was on Berber carpeting. Had the bulb broken on a less absorabative surface it would probably have been less.

It's important to remember that all Fluorescent lamps (not just the compact ones) contain mercury.

@valarmorghulis: Plus it's mercury vapor for which standard procedure is to open the window.

@jdmba: Not according to Snopes [www.snopes.com] and Treehugger [www.treehugger.com]

Here is the latest Gov study about the CFL breakage:
[maine.gov]
It makes it sound not good. They do say consider disposal of the carpet if it is on carpet.
Referenced from the EPA which based its recommendations on the above study:
[epa.gov]

@jdmba: Let me get all Wikipedia on you and say, "Citation needed". From a reliable knowledgeable source, not someone hysterical.

The tag on this article says "con ed", shouldnt there be another n where that space is?

ZING!

A lot of thermometers have mercury in them, too, and people stick 'em where the sun don't shine. As long as you're careful in the handling of said item, it's not really the terror that people make it out to be. My CFL bulbs seem a lot sturdier and less prone to breaking than a standard light bulb anyway.

i used to play with mercury when i was a kid. Big 'ol blobs from things like mercury switches. never killed me.

i call bullshit on a cleanup required. seriously people, there is more mercury in your fish and chips lol

home depot collects used CFL bulbs for recycling.

I don't know about in the US but here in the UK we get free bulbs quite often from places like our electricity suppliers. I know my mum has gotten loads.

Whilst I see the problem for the elderly/infirm or disabled changing their own bulbs but it might be better to ask for the bulbs and ask a trusted friend/relative/neighbor to put them in for you, minimising access to the home for strangers.

The idea of replacing lightglobes has to do with Carbon Credits. The cost of replacing a light globe might be only $1 in bulk, but the carbon credit might be worth $10. It is a strange world, but that is how things go. In some parts of the world, the Boy Scouts are being paid $2 per globe to replace light globes in houses.

@GavinEstecado: TWO utilities in MD are running that scam - we give you light bulb, and you HAVE to pay for them in your monthly bill. And the state utility commission has ruled they have the right to do this.

@jdmba: That myth has been debunked on this very website. [consumerist.com] Please stop spreading this lie.

Recycle your used but working incandescent bulbs!

Send them to me so I can stockpile them for my dimming fixtures!

@timmus: I miss that show "Fight Back" he use to do. It was a consumer advocate show where they reported on some of the things we get here on consumerist.

Too bad the network sponsor weren't really behind that show idea.

If you buy the CFL bulbs with the outside cover that makes them look like old Edison style bulbs you don't have to worry about the mercury leaking if they break issue since they are contained.

Our city drop off facility takes them for free. I keep a small plastic storage tub by our recycling bins to put DOA ones in.

I'll keep my incadescents (and my diamond rings) thank you very much!

Here in Massachusetts there were instant rebates courtesy of NStar at Home Depot we could use to get a serious discount. No need to deal with shady contractors.

Well, part of the problem is that the energy company is called Com Ed, not Con Ed. It stands for Commonwealth Edison.

@rubinow: Only in Illinois, in New York it stands for Consolidated Edison.

Why not just call Con Ed and ask them?

Here in CA most hardware stores have the CFLs for .99 or less, subsidized by PG&E. I saw them at Ace for .39. Some people buy them and sell them for a profit on eBay.

Hmm... my electricity provider has run promotions like this to try and get you to use less energy. Which begs the question - why does the person who sells you electricity want you to use less of it? Comcast doesnt send me free books in the mail so I watch less TV - why do utilities want you to use less of their product?

My aunt's electric company gave them free CFLs. Now I want her to check her bill to make sure she isn't paying for them. I just went to Sam's and bought a ton of them. I still have an unopen box in the closet.

Our electric company, Southern California Edison, did the same thing but they gave the bulbs to our building maintenance guy and he brought them around and installed them.

I've been looking into LED bulbs for some applications. They are even more energy efficient, no mercury worries, and last even longer. However, the problem seems to be finding ones that have the same lumens as a 60w bulb. Some of the brightest ones only produce the effective light of a 30w bulb.

@masonreloaded:

Power companies have two ways of getting power:

1:making it
2: buying it

i believe there are legal reasons they more or less HAVE to get you power unless absolutely unable to, so when they can't generate enough power, they have to buy it.... from other companies.... which charge them...sometimes alot. I am leaving blanks in there for you to fill.

One time while helping a customer at my store I got to have a fairly long chat about it. He was a senior engineer type at a local power company so it was rather fascinating. The companies will watch each others power producing ability. If a plant goes off line, they will hike up the rate they sell their power for. cutthroat business. So while the companies want to sell you as much as possible, they also want to not have to buy from competitors.

There also might be some back end kick backs for companies lowering their carbon footprints as people have been talking about earlier in this post. So there are at least 2 reasons they might want to do this.

@masonreloaded: I think that the demand on the energy infrastructure needs to be lessened. Con Ed mostly works in and around NYC and at times (like hot summer months) their infrastructure is overwhelmed. It is what would cause brown-outs. While these phenomena may be less infrequent nowadays, they are still possible. I imagine they cause equipment damage. And that damage is far more costly than replacing some silly bulbs that they order by the 50,000.

One more thing is that as demand increases, costs increase. Then customers' bills increase. Higher bills will translate to more unpaid bills in a time like this. The costs to recoup those funds is probably greater than buying the bulbs as well.

@jdmba: Here is the EPA guidance on consumers for cleanup of CFL bulbs
[www.energystar.gov]

Certainly a more detailed process than cleaning up a standard incandescent, but in the rare instance that I might break a bulb, the cleanup process is not much of an inconvenience.

@timmus: I did that once shortly after our house was built. We gave the key to the builder so that they could make some repairs after we had mved in, and we wanted to see what they were up to. They were cheap cameras, but have paid for themselves many times over. I was able to track the builder as he moved throughout the house making repairs, and we used them in the office to catch an employee with some sticky fingers.

We had a similar company come to our house but they didn't change the lightbulbs. I did a search on them on the BBB before they came and they were legit. They put a blanket thing on our electric water heater, sealed around the house where air could escape, and did little minor energy saving things for free. They gave us 2 free energy saving lightbulbs as well. If we we would have qualified, they would have blown insulation in our attic but we didn't because we had a gas heater. They said the local EC has a fund for this and everyone is elgible.

"Hi, hi, hi, may I come in? I'm really itching to install these light bulbs in your light sockets. Oh, uh, can you help me put your old bulbs in my van? It's just outside, down the block a ways. I'll just stay here and install the rest of these bulbs."

"Our city drop off facility takes them for free. I keep a small plastic storage tub by our recycling bins to put DOA ones in."

When you say DOA do you mean Dead On Arrival? If so why don't you take them back to the store for a refund? If you just mean the bulb has burnt out I thought those things were supposed to last 5 years?

I work for a company that participates in programs similar to what we're talking about here, where the utility will give away a few bulbs ($75 worth in one case) to raise awareness of energy conservation, in the hopes that then the customer will replace their incandescent bulbs with CFLs. I'd like to try to address some concerns here..

@jdmba: That's a common misconception. Broken CFLs do not require $2000 worth of cleanup. True, there is mercury in them (as there is in ALL flourescent bulbs, it's the way the things work), however, it's a very small amount. The energy saved through their use would otherwise be generated by power plants that release mercury into the environment adds MORE mercury into the environment, so there's less mercury involved even if you landfill the CFL.

@balthisar: While I can't speak for x10, there are CFLs that support dimmers; we sell a number of them.

@Tonguetied: We (and other vendors sell recyclepacks that take about 6 'normal' size bulbs and have pre-paid shipping, so all you have to do is put the bulbs in, seal the box, and put it in the mail.

If I can answer more questions, please feel free to ask. I don't pretend to be an expert (I'm the web developer here, not one of the support or sales people) but I'll answer what I can.

How many Con Ed workers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Hmmm... this would have been a very good way for those "fixed rate" electricity brokers to get their foot into your door, too.