About a month ago, I posted on a Fast Company magazine article about compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). Today, marketing guru Seth Godin, follows up with his take on the issue. An expert on the success and failures of consumer products and services, Seth feels that CFLs have a marketing problem. “They need to stop looking so weird, being so expensive and being so hard to open”, he writes.
So, there you go…designers get to work. Make CFLs look better and easier to access and save the world…as designers tend to want to do.
I am doing my part. CFLs are slowly replacing every bulb in my house in Chappaqua.
Are you using CFLs? Click the comment link above and let me know? If no, why not?
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Update: Wal-Mart is doing there part.
I did not know there was much of a diffrence. Thanks for the tip.
I’d like to use more CFLs. I am getting used to the delay when you switch them on. I’d like to find a cheaper source to buy them (sometimes you can get rebates from local govt). One benefit of them operating at a cooler temperature (than incandescent bulbs) is they seem safer to use around kids.
The mercury factor: CFLs contain a small amount of mercury and they should not be put in the regular trash. Programs such as Westchester County’s ‘chemical clean up days’ (held twice a year) accept fluorescent bulbs.
Thanks Helen for your comments and the reminder that CFLs contain small amounts of mercury. A good idea is to have a dedicated container with a sealed top for household hazmats such as CFLs and batteries. Then, when the ‘clean up days’ occur, its simple to just pop the container in the trunk of your car and be on your way.