Man, the wet blanket effect here! (Don't listen to the tired cynics, suntrack)
Ah, mercury. It took me a long time (at least 45 seconds) to dig up a primer on mercury. From my old favorite Popular Mechanics, no less.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/blog...s/4217864.html
(Nevermind that people have been ditching fluorescent tubes for many decades, suddenly it's a Major Obstacle. Downright terrifying, in fact. I'm shivering like... a pool of mercury!)
Note that mercury is emitted by burning coal. Well, sure, traces of everything are everywhere. But the net mercury put into circulation is much less when fluorescents are used. Plus, it isn't being volatilized at high temperature and pumped up a several hundred foot high smokestack to spread over the countryside.
My own guess is that the compact fluorescent is an interim solution, on the way to light emitting diode illumination or the like. But compact disks have served well between magnetic tape and mass solid-state storage.
And I agree, saving 3% on top of any other savings is STILL 3%. Try to get a certificate of deposit right now paying 3%. Many businesses LIVE on a 3% margin.
You also mentioned planting a tree to sequester CO2. Henrik replied:
Quote:
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Which it then releases again when it dies.
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Now, come on, that is only true in a nonstatistical manner. Any single tree is like a single coin flip, agreed. But with the planetwide net deforestation of the last few centuries, planting enough trees to tip the scales back to increased forestation might make an impact.