Drop by Home Depot, and get one of the million CFL bulbs that the company’s giving out for free in celebration of Earth Day.
Home Depot’s recently launched Eco Options, which is basically a label that identifies eco-friendly products. Not sure how strict the criteria for receiving an Eco Options label are — They seem pretty vague and nebulous to me…. Justin at Treehugger says “This is all good news, but last time I went into Home Depot and asked if they had any low-VOC paints available, I was greeted with bewilderment.”
During the year and a half that I was stuck living behind the orange curtain, Home Depot was the closest hardware store to me. Invariably I would go in, wander in a daze for about 20 minutes, ask an employee for assistance, be surlily directed to a section that may or may not have what I was looking for but that was so badly organized I couldn’t find it anyway then I would, disgruntled drive off to a smaller hardware store where they immediately were able to procure what I needed. I don’t know why I repeated that first step so many times.
Comment by don hosek — April 22, 2007 @ 9:45 am
Thanks for the tip Siel, Sunday is the wife and I’s day to clean / upgrade the loft. We are doing the whole earthquake prep thing and had to run to the Home Despot to pick up some expansion bolts and furniture straps. We picked up a couple of those CF bulbs, but we can’t figure out where to put them. The deal is, all of our lamps are now controlled via Insteon, which allows us to control our whole house via the computer / remote etc. Due to that we are able to dim all of our lights, but the CF bulbs don’t dim… maybe we’ll figure out a use for them, but if not, do you want them?
Comment by Dave Bullock (eecue) — April 22, 2007 @ 4:54 pm
Ah — The dimmer conundrum. The CFL bulb makers really need a solution for that — though I’m sure they’re working on it…. About your CFLs — I actually have a couple spares at home already, so maybe freecyling them might be a good plan — or I could give them away as freebies here, if you’d like. If the latter, just let me know :) Happy earthquake prep!
Comment by Siel — April 23, 2007 @ 8:56 am
Yeah they make a “dimmable” CFL, but it goes from bright to not so bright, in two stages. I kind of feel that CFLs are a bad solution due to the fact that they’re chock-full-o-mercury. I am waiting for the price of 3 watt LED filled bulbs to come down, in the interim I may build my own.
Comment by Dave Bullock (eecue) — April 23, 2007 @ 8:59 am
what dave said. CFL’s are not very eco friendly. LED’s are the way to go
Comment by Simon — April 23, 2007 @ 5:08 pm
But men — Being the conscious and smart dudes you are, I know that you would duly take your dead CFL bulb to your nearest ewaste center for proper disposal, thus eliminating this mercury contamination problem. Add to that the fact that, since the last so damn long, I’ve yet to have a CFL give out on me….
That’s not to say we shouldn’t have better mechanisms for disposing of CFLs! We def. need to push for that, as well as for better and easier disposal of ewaste in general. But if you’re choosing between regular bulbs and CFLs, CFLs def. win –
Dave — I’m v. interested in seeing a handmade LED!! Pls do share pics if you do make one :)
Comment by Siel — April 25, 2007 @ 3:59 pm
Hi there…I Googled for chicago loft, but found your page about Get a free CFL bulb from Home Depot today…and have to say thanks. nice read.
Comment by Lisa Boyle — January 25, 2008 @ 7:16 am