Too Funny, "Green Bulbs" Don't Work

(CNN) -- Lights were going out across the world on Saturday as millions of homes and businesses in major cities went dark for one hour in a symbolic gesture to highlight concerns over climate change.

In Australia, floodlights of the Sydney Opera House were extinguished as the city's iconic harbor kicked off events for Earth Hour, a day-long energy-saving marathon stretching through 88 countries and 24 time zones.

The event's Web site reported that hundreds of people lined the harbour for a glimpse of the dimming skyline at 8:30 pm -- the local time that nearly 4,000 participating cities around the world were expected to switch off non-essential lights.

But is the thought that counts! Of course the companies trying to cash in on the hysteria can't compete with their shoddy products, so get the government to help you out! Basically the government wanted widespread use so they encouraged mass production leading to shoddy products. The argument goes yeah, some of them don't work but the overall goal is worthy. Oh and by the way some of the bulbs do have too high a level of Mercury, how that fits into a worthy policy goal is not explained.

Take the case of Karen Zuercher and her husband, in San Francisco. Inspired by watching the movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” they decided to swap out nearly every incandescent bulb in their home for energy-saving compact fluorescents. Instead of having a satisfying green moment, however, they wound up coping with a mess.

“Here’s my sad collection of bulbs that didn’t work,” Ms. Zuercher said the other day as she pulled a cardboard box containing defunct bulbs from her laundry shelf.

One of the 16 Feit Electric bulbs the Zuerchers bought at Costco did not work at all, they said, and three others died within hours. The bulbs were supposed to burn for 10,000 hours, meaning they should have lasted for years in normal use. “It’s irritating,” Ms. Zuercher says.

In reality Consumers are making a choice:

In California, where bulbs have been heavily encouraged, utilities have concluded that they will not be able to persuade a majority of consumers to switch until compact fluorescents get better. That is prompting them to develop specifications for a better bulb.

The effort aims to address the most consumer complaints: poor dimming, slow warm-up times, shortened bulb life because of high temperatures inside enclosed fixtures, and dissatisfaction with the color of the light.

“Because of the aggressive goals in California, we have to be pushing the envelope at all times,” said Roland Risser, director of customer efficiency at Pacific Gas and Electric.

Experts and bulb manufacturers say that consumers need to play a role in solving the problems by learning more about the limitations of compact fluorescent bulbs. The Federal Trade Commission has begun to study whether it should force improvements in the labels of the bulbs.

This probably not what they had in mind.

(CNN) -- Lights were going out across the world on Saturday as millions of homes and businesses in major cities went dark for one hour in a symbolic gesture to highlight concerns over climate change.

In Australia, floodlights of the Sydney Opera House were extinguished as the city's iconic harbor kicked off events for Earth Hour, a day-long energy-saving marathon stretching through 88 countries and 24 time zones.

The event's Web site reported that hundreds of people lined the harbour for a glimpse of the dimming skyline at 8:30 pm -- the local time that nearly 4,000 participating cities around the world were expected to switch off non-essential lights.