As I noted above, even if 100% of them went into the trash, and 100% of the mercury from those in the trash leaked out, then amount released into the environment would still be less than the amount released from using incandescents.

1. Brazil's around 3% of global GDP. Important, yes. Absolutely vital, no.

2. Gone the next day? That's funny. Have you looked at Google's ownership structure lately? Brin and Page control a majority of the vote by themselves. Keep them happy, and it doesn't matter what any other shareholder thinks.

Never seen those, I was talking about the crosswalk ones. They're certainly large enough to be read well before you get to the intersection. Remember, speed limit in NYC is 30mph except on the highways, so you shouldn't need to be that far away.

The countdown timers are pretty widespread by now in NYC, at least in Manhattan, and they're great, for both drivers and pedestrians.

It's entirely possible for RLC's to be set up to improve safety - unfortunately, they often aren't. The goal should be to set up the lights in such a way to maximize safety (i.e. longer yellow, 1-2 second lag between red on one side and green on the other), and have the cameras there to deter people from acting unsafely (i.e. running red lights).

I hear you! It's no surprise that the people really moving to LED rapidly are commercial users. Their lights are on a lot longer per day, they have to pay actual $ to get people to change incandescents when the burn out, and they're motivated (and equipped) to do the detailed math.

It amazes me that people who would never fall for the "really cheap" printer with really expensive ink will, at the same time, fall for the "really cheap" incandescent bulbs with the really expensive power.

Payback period on LEDs is a bit over 2 years (if used 3 hours/day), even assuming that the incandescent bulbs are free. The Cree LEDs have 10 year warranties.

You're seriously basing your claim that LED costs more based on an article which uses a $119.99 price for an LED bulb??? That article is more than four years old at this point. You can get a 60W equivalent at any Home Depot for $13 or less. Plug that number in, and you're looking at $37.50 for LED vs $188 for incandescent, or about 1/5 the cost.

The mercury "issue" is a complete red herring. Using incandescents requires more power. A large chunk of that power comes from coal. Burning coal releases mercury - a lot MORE mercury than would be released if EVERY burned out CFL were just tossed into a landfill. How much mercury do power plants emit to light a CFL? About 50 percent of the electricity produced in the U.S. is generated by coal-fired power plants. When coal burns to produce electricity, mercury naturally contained in the coal releases into the air. In 2006, coal-fired power plants produced 1,971 billion kilowatt hours (kwh) of electricity, emitting 50.7 tons of mercury into the air—the equivalent amount of mercury contained in more than 9 billion CFLs (the bulbs emit zero mercury when in use or being handled). Approximately 0.0234 mg of mercury—plus carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide—releases into the air per 1 kwh of electricity that a coal-fired power plant generates. Over the 7500-hour average range of one CFL, then, a plant will emit 13.16 mg of mercury to sustain a 75-watt incandescent bulb but only 3.51 mg of mercury to sustain a 20-watt CFL (the lightning equivalent of a 75-watt traditional bulb). Even if the mercury contained in a CFL was directly released into the atmosphere, an incandescent would still contribute 4.65 more milligrams of mercury into the environment over its lifetime. http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/reviews/news/4217864

The Cree bulbs have a 10 year warranty. There goes your concern about mortality.

They make economic sense today. What other investment can you make which will pay you your entire investment back in a bit over two years, generating pure profit for at least the next 7-8 years? The math is pretty straightforward. A Cree 60W equivalent bulb costs $13, and uses 9.5 watts. With an average electric price of $0.10/kWh in the US at the moment, the breakeven point is about 2600 hours of usage, or about 2.4 years, used three hours a day, EVEN IF THE INCANDESCENT BULBS ARE FREE. This doesn't even take into account that you'll need to replace that incandescent 2-3x over that time period. The Cree bulbs have a 10 year warranty, although they should last more like 20. Even if it's only 10, you'll be looking at a total cost (bulb and power) of about $23 over 10 years with the LED ($13 for the bulb, $10 for power), vs. about $66 for the incandescent, even if the incandescents are free.

People are really terrible about assessing TCO. Look at cellphones, people obsess over getting an iPhone 5S or 5C (I could save $100!), when the upfront phone price is ~5% of the total cost of a two-year contract. Same with lightbulbs - the return on the higher incremental investment is huge, but people don't look at it that way.

The math is pretty straightforward. A Cree 60W equivalent bulb costs $13, and uses 9.5 watts. With an average electric price of $0.10/kWh in the US at the moment, the breakeven point is about 2600 hours of usage, or about 2.4 years, used three hours a day, EVEN IF THE INCANDESCENT BULBS ARE FREE. This doesn't even take into account that you'll need to replace that incandescent 2-3x over that time period. The Cree bulbs have a 10 year warranty, although they should last more like 20. Even if it's only 10, you'll be looking at a total cost (bulb and power) of about $23 over 10 years with the LED ($13 for the bulb, $10 for power), vs. about $66 for the incandescent, even if the incandescents are free.

Agreed. It really works very well, and it has minimal performance impact (certainly compared to AVG, and definitely vs dogs like Norton or McAfee).