Transformer repairs

On Sat, 31 May 2008, der Mouse wrote: And one thing to keep in mind: Incadescent bulbs consist of glass and metal, whereas gas discharge lamps like the CFLs contain lots of mercury and other very dangerous things and must be disposed of as hazardous waste (not even just electronic waste!). Another thing: CFLs need a so much higher energy effort during manufacturing than ordinary light bulbs. The latter can be built at one place, the former needs electronic components (mostly from China, consider the energy required for their production), a PCB (energy? toxic waste?), mercury (!!), a fluorescent glass coating (toxicity?), a plastic housing (petrol based, recycling?), and so on... And consider the energy and effort needed to recycle all these things. And: LEDs aren't so much better in this context! What has never been published (surely for the fact that the CFLs would be considered much worse than light bulbs...) is the total toxicity and energy balance from manufacturing of either lamp until its final disposal... So much for this off-topic thread... I wouldn't consider replacing the optical transducer lamp with an LED... Christian