Bright Ideas: How To Steer Clear Of Mercury If Your Energy-Saving Bulb Breaks

The Compact Flourescent Lightbulb (CFL)--you know, the swirly-doodley one--is perhaps the greatest invention since . . . well . . . the original light bulb. An eco win-win, CFLs not only consume up to 75% less energy than their incandescent siblings, but also last 10 times longer, while saving hundreds--yes, hundreds--on your electricity bill.

Fact: You save about $30 or more in electricity costs over each bulb's lifetime. The average U.S. household has 45 light bulbs; replacing that number of 75-watt incandescent bulbs with CFLs would save $180 per year (Source: Energystar.gov).

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), if just one million households replaced four traditional bulbs with four CFLs, we'd eliminate 900,000 tons of greenhouse gases. If every American household changed just one light bulb to a CFL, we would save enough power to light more than 2.5 million homes. That's doing far more than taking 3.5 million cars off the road . . . permanently!

To boot, CFLs are beautiful (they look like ice-cream). They fit into three-way bulbs, emit a pleasant, "soft white" glow, and are dimmable . . . bam-chica-wa-wa.

Despite sexiness and environmental excellence, it's important to know that CFLs do contain the harmful neurotoxin, mercury. While it is a small amount (4-5 mg per bulb, about the size of the tip on a ball point pen), you should take a bulb-break seriously by following the EPA's simple guidelines (paraphrased below and published on their website):

1) Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.

2) Carefully scoop fragments and powder with stiff paper, cardboard, or rubber gloves--do not use your bare hands! Duct tape can be used to lift small pieces and powder. Place bits in a sealed plastic bag. Do not use a vacuum or broom. This will only spread toxins.

3) Wipe the area clean with damp paper towel. When done, place the sullied towel in the same plastic bag.

4) Place the first bag in a second sealed plastic bag.

5) Call your local sanitation department for your district's non-hazardous disposal options. If it's after hours, call 1-800-CLEAN-UP or visit Earth911 and enter your zip in the top search engine.

Please don't just throw your bags in the trash. This is lazy and could put your garbage man in danger.

Though mercury is scary, there's no need to get your bulbs in a twist (I'm sorry, but I had to). Should one break, evil will not disperse, whereupon only a priest can exorcise the carpet. You won't need to call Ghostbusters or the National Guard either and you won't have to spend thousands on clean-up...that is a myth.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), individual CFLs don't have enough mercury to "pose a health threat" and contain less mercury than common household items like thermometers (500 mg) and older thermostats (3,000 mg).

The EPA also states that a power plant emits about 10 mg of mercury to produce the electricity needed to run one incandescent bulb. In comparison, a power plant emits only 2.4 mg of mercury to run a CFL bulb for the same amount of time. In other words, and ironically, compact fluorescents actually decrease mercury use.

Comments

[dadw5boys]

WHAT ABOUT THE BULBS THAT BREAK IN SCHOOLS CLASSROOMS?

[Dominick06]

Wal-Mart has introduced a line of CFL's under their Great Value private label. When developing the line they said they were able to greatly reduce or near eliminate the Mercury in the CFL's. I don't have the stats at hand in terms of quantifying the amount of Mercury reduced, but I do know a couple scientists and representatives from a couple environmental groups have said there is a real Mercury reduction. I hope a consumer lab will test them to see how significant the reduction is. If it is significant this is a big step in CFL development.
Link:
www.naturalspecialtyfoodsmemo.blogspot.com

[ashabot]

Thanks for the heads up. I had no idea.

[mbaty]

I do have several of these bulbs in my apartment, one of which gives off a blue tint and the rest are a warm yellowy pink, but there's still a slight flicker that is not as nice as an incandescent bulb--and I totally agree with getting LED lighting. Why is mercury necessary for these bulbs? And why, given the strict clean-up procedures, do we continue to use mercury in vaccinnes and tooth fillings? These bulbs will undoubtedly end up in the landfills, and then what, will our water be poisoned? Our soil? I'm all for saving energy, but let's be smart about it too.

[MTiffany]

Mercury is used in these bulbs for the same reason it is dangerous: it exists (in very small amounts) as a gas at room temperature. The mercury vapor inside the bulb is what conducts the electrical current that allows the bulb to shine.

The mercury in vaccines is thimerosal (see the FDA's information on the topic at http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm) which is a preservative used to prevent and impede bacteria contamination.

The mercury in filings is part of the 'recipe' for making amalgam. Without mercury, the amalgam would not be plastic enough for long enough to be used to fill cavities. There are mercury-free alternatives which are esthetically more compatible with the natural appearance of human teeth, but these alternatives are more expensive and less resilient to the mechanical and chemical stresses of the human mouth.

I hope that answered your questions satisfactorily.

[LittleMarymoonshine]

I don't know why, but these bulbs cause me to have migraines. When exposed to them, I begin to lose my vision, and a migraine is quick to follow. Has anyone else experienced this? I am gravely concerned, for my health, if these become the norm in public buildings. I won't be able to go anywhere.

[laplap]

Here is an objective source of information (I think) on why fluorescent lights cause headaches for a small number of people.

http://www.ehso.com/fluorescent_safety.php


Unfortunately, their suggestions don't seem to apply to compact fluorescent lights.

One thing you can try is to mix natural lighting from windows and/or incandescent lighting along with the fluorescent lighting..­. these should help fill in the imperceptible flicker that is triggering your migranes.

[deedrdo]

we have dimmers on many of our lights. so far i've only found 2 dimmable CFL's. one is a floodlight and the other is the spiraly kind. even then a dimmed CFL is still very bright. i look forward to better dimmable technology or market saturation with LED's.

BTW, we got all solar powered exterior lights for the xmas season this year. they're a little bit more $$ but they burn for free and they're LED's so they'll last a long long time.

[mooph]

The dimmable and the 3-way are different from the standard CFLs. And...the dimmable and the 3-way are about $10 to $20 each!

Hopefully the price will go down as popularity goes up -- especially since my last pack of standard CFLs was about $10 for 10 bulbs.

[laplap]

Buy ONLINE... but DON'T BUY bulbs rated at "2700K"/"Warm"

First, I've got standard CFLs for as low as $2.85, online.

Second, you might save shipping by buying several, but don't commit until you've seen the output... modern CFLs improved the green hue problem from being ~really awful~. But at 2700K/warm, the yellow-green is still there. Trust me... your skin doesn’t look natural under that illumination.

My experience with old, truly ugly CFLs made me cautious. I bought two CFLs (GE and Phillips) from local stores... both 23Watt/2700K (equiv=100W incandescent). Each is merely yellow-green instead of sickening green... GE slightly worse.

Looking it up, full-spectrum white light equivalent to outdoor sunlight is >6500 Kelvin. Generally consumers can find fluorescent tubes as ''WARM'' (~2500-3000K) and ''COOL'' (~4100K). But the problem wasn't tube bulbs, the problem was CFLs, and while I did see packaging labeled as ''warm'', I couldn’t find anything in stores labeled as ''cool'' (or ''daylight''). So I turned to the web and got a 24Watt, 5900K CFL from: http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/compact_fluorescent_32_ctg.htm

...there are others, such as:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/23-Watt-Compact-Fluorescents/33711/

At first, the light seemed slightly bluish. My Jr.High-ag­ed son insisted it’s a misperception based familiarity with warm incandescent lights. He got three lamps together, one 100Watt incandescent, one 23Watt/2700K/CFL, and one 24Watt/5900K/CFL. Then holding up a white piece of paper we compared the light. It was obvious that ''true'' white came from the 5900K bulb.

A final detail. There is another index of how the color of light appears known as ''CRI''... the closer to 100 the better. Packaging in stores didn’t list CRI, but the web listings did... I saw CRIs from 82-95. The one I bought was rated at 94.

SUMMARY:
(1) For actual white light, buy online CFLs rated >5000K
(2) Don't buy widely available ''warm'' (2700K)... the green tint is improved but not eliminated.
(3) Don't buy all at once, test for yourself..­. you'll have these bulbs for years.

[godlessclif]

Why not stop burning mercury bearing coal in power plants?

[HeevenSteven]

I see I made a mistake on my last comment, you did provide the 4-5mg number HG number I was looking for. Duh!

[HeevenSteven]

"The EPA also states that a power plant emits about 10 mg of mercury to produce the electricity needed to run one incandescent bulb."

Run one bulb for how long? I assume over it's lifetime. Exactly how much mercury is in one bulb would be a useful number to have; otherwise the 10mg value is meaningless.

[guriboy]

More mercury hysteria..­. nice.

[curiousasheck]

The Electric Company has raised rates to make up for the lower energy consumption of these things.

Tricky Huh?

[MrWampler]

Speaking of which...

A couple weeks ago the media reported that home-heating rates are expected to soar this winter. I immediately thought to myself, "Does it have anything to do with the unusually cool summer we've had?" (At least here in Texas.) I had to use my A/C rather sparingly this summer, and my e-bill is about half what it was a year ago. TXU has to make up that diff somehow. So we're being warned now.

[NYCBear]

There is just a tiny amount of mercury in each light. And it's the mercury vapor in the tubes that's least safe for humans. The tip about opening the windows and leaving the room for 15 minutes is probably the most important one.

In any case, though, it's not enough mercury to cause a significant problem in your home, unless you break lots of CF lights.

[hawkseye]

I understand that G.E. is going to produce a new, safe, tungsten bulb that will keep energy bills low and will contain no harmful products.

[desertdweller]

The correct method for cleaning up mercury is to sprinkle powdered sulfur (available at some drugstores or garden supply)around the spill area. The sulfur will stabilize the mercury and make it easier to scoop up.

[Sumocat]

That's a really good point about weighing the mercury in CFLs against the mercury produced by coal-fired power plants. I didn't realize the difference was that great.