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With the big hoopla about these lightbulbs, I found this article very interesting and enlightening (yes, pun intended).
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=aa7796aa-e4a5-4c06-be84-b62dee548fda
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmRead my books! Volume 1 and 2 of A Dragon Medley are available now.
http://www.sarahjestin.com/mybooks.htm
I host the feedback lists, which are maintained by drag0nfeathers.
http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmYes, they contain Mercury and once they burn out you have to take them to a hazardest waste place to dispose of them. Sad… very very sad! With a dash of scary.
They don’t take as much energy to “run” but getting rid of them once they burn out is a nightmare it seems. You can’t just throw them away.
If one looks into most of the “environmentally friendly” things it is amazing how many things are not friendly.
The chemicals used to take ink out of paper for recycling is horribly toxic, it takes more energy to recycle plastic than to make more, from my research the only thing that is better environmentaly to recycle is aluminimum.
Thanks for posting that–I’ll definitely have to pass it along to family so they know the hazards of breakage. 😕
ruffian wrote:If one looks into most of the “environmentally friendly” things it is amazing how many things are not friendly.
The chemicals used to take ink out of paper for recycling is horribly toxic, it takes more energy to recycle plastic than to make more, from my research the only thing that is better environmentaly to recycle is aluminimum.
Yes! I’ve heard that too. We try, but man, we’re not there yet, are we?
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmWow! So, when you have to get rid of one, where do you take it to? I will show KC this article because almost our whole house has these bulbs-including the nursery!! Yikes. 😯
Well, that’s fantastic to know… since our house came with at least 80% of the lighting being those crappy u-shaped CFL bulbs, and nobody said boo about not just chucking them in the trash. 😡
I hate those lights, so don’t buy them. They make everything yellowy and half the time I have to add more lights in a room just to get the same amount of lighting. Crap, I tell you, crap. I’ll stick with the clear-but-blue-tinted “natural light” bulbs. If I can find any on this island….
Ok, this is what Wikipedia says:
Cleanup of broken bulbs
Broken incandescent bulbs inside a house or an office do not pose any environmental hazard beyond that of broken glass. However, like other fluorescent lamps, broken CFLs release mercury vapors, and require special handling to clean up. The EPA warns against vacuuming, suggesting instead that you vacate the room and open windows for fifteen minutes to allow any mercury vapor to air out, then clean up the breakage while wearing protective gloves, and use double plastic bags for all broken pieces. They suggest using duct tape to pick up small pieces.[3] Special handling upon breakage is currently not printed on the packaging of household CFL bulbs in many countries.Safe disposal requires storing the bulbs unbroken until they can be processed. Consumers should seek advice from local authorities. Usually, one can either:
Return used CFLs to where they were purchased, so the store can recycle them correctly; or
Take used CFLs to a local recycling facility.
Broken CFLs are an immediate health hazard due to the evaporation of mercury into the atmosphere. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that, in the absence of local guideline, fluorescent bulbs be double-bagged in plastic bags before disposal.[3]Yay for Wikipedia.
The new law is intended to phase out incandescent light bulbs after 2012. This gives us 4 years to come up with something that is at least 25% more efficient, and doesn’t pose the health hazard that these compact fluorescents pose.
The current crop of CFLs is clearly not the ultimate answer, but if we wait until we have a better lightbulb before announcing a future date when the law will require us to use it, we’ll never bother to invent that better lightbulb.
If we can’t come up with a lightbulb that is as safe to use and somewhat better than 25% more efficient than a bulb that’s been around for well over a hundred years, we really are in poor shape.
What I haven’t yet found out is what the situation will be for those uses where the incandescent light bulb is the best solution. Trying to incubate eggs and keep chickens warm, for example, would require separate heating and lighting if we don’t have incandescent bulbs.
And photography is going to be more difficult.
Four years. We can do a lot in four years. I hope.
All fourescent bulbs contain mercury- always have! 🙂
If you dispose of them safely and take them to a recycling center you’ll be fine. Depending on your power source, the energy you would have used with normal incandescent bulbs can be far more pollutive than the (properly disposed of) trace amounts of mercury in your CF bulbs.
If you accidentally break one, just air the area out a bit. As long as you don’t sniff the vapors or start licking the broken bulb you’ll be fine- you’re probably getting more mercury in the seafood you eat if you like fish! 🙂
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My art: featherdust.comJennifer wrote:or start licking the broken bulb you’ll be fine- you’re probably getting more mercury in the seafood you eat if you like fish! 🙂
😆 😆 😆
I dont eat seafood, but I HATE the CF they suck for lighting, I do like the blue tint ones incandensent ones alot though. We have few lights on in our house as a rule, and most are halogen I believe.
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