Why do I have concern about CFL bulbs? Even if they didn’t give me headaches, I think there must be better solutions. I’m all for anything that can reduce greenhouse emissions and reduce global warming. So the new hoopla about Compact Fulorescent Lighting (CFL) bulbs and all the carbon dioxide they we reduce from the atmosphere is welcome news. But they contain 4 mg of mercury, which means they need to be recycled. But most recycling facilities don’t accept them.
What to do? This is almost as big of a dilemma as whether to get a flu shot or not because of the mercury preservative thimerosal. Maybe I just have fears of my flying cat knocking over a lamp with a CFL bulb and spilling the mercury into the air of our home.
Here is what the US Environmental Protection Agency has to say on the health risks of CFLs:
Mercury is an essential ingredient for most energy-efficient lamps. The amount of mercury in a CFL’s glass tubing is small, about 4mg. However, every product containing mercury should be handled with care. Exposure to mercury, a toxic metal, can affect our brain, spinal cord, kidneys and liver, causing symptoms such as trembling hands, memory loss, and difficulty moving. As energy-efficient lighting becomes more popular, it is important that we dispose of the products safely and responsibly. Mercury is released into our environment when products with mercury are broken, disposed of improperly, or incinerated. If you break a CFL, clean it up safely. And always dispose of it properly to keep CFLs working for the environment.
However, the EPA states that CFLs are responsible for lessening the amount of mercury in the environment:
Ironically, CFLs present an opportunity to prevent mercury from entering our air, where it most affects our health. The highest source of mercury in our air comes from burning fossil fuels such as coal, the most common fuel used in the U.S. to produce electricity. A CFL uses 75% less energy than an incandescent light bulb and lasts at least 6 times longer. A power plant will emit 10mg of mercury to produce the electricity to run an incandescent bulb compared to only 2.4mg of mercury to run a CFL for the same time.
That may be good evidence that they are less harmful in the long run than incandescent bulbs, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that there is no a system in place for recycling them.
Yes, there is data out showing how friendly these are to the environment, how they cut down on electricity consumption, and how they reduce greenhouse gases, and even the amount of mercury that power plants dump into the environment.
But every time one of these bulbs is broken, mercury is released into the environment. Landfill sites will become more and more toxic sites. In many localities in the United States it is illegal to throw them in the trash but that is exactly what people are doing because it is so hard to recycle them.
It is infuriating that it is not easier to recycle these bulbs. Where I live, there is only one facility in the county that will recycle them and they charge a fee to do it. Most recycling programs do not accept them.
This leads to people throwing the old CFL bulbs into the trash, where they get crushed by the trash compactor on the garbage truck, which exposes the trash collectors to mercury poisoning. Then at the landfills, the mercury seeps into the groundwater, and contaminates everybody.
As the popularity of these bulbs increases, the problem will become more significant. Imagine what it will be like for the garbage man when everyone is using them. They’re wondering that, too:
“The problem with the bulbs is that they’ll break before they get to the landfill. They’ll break in containers, or they’ll break in a dumpster or they’ll break in the trucks. Workers may be exposed to very high levels of mercury when that happens,” says John Skinner, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America, the trade group for the people who handle trash and recycling.
It would be great if the major retailers like Walmart would recycle them for their customers but they have been resistant to the idea. Currently, the only major retailer to offer such an arrangement is IKEA. If IKEA can do it, why can’t Walmart? Why can’t every major retailer?
Meanwhile, millions of these bulbs are being thrown in the trash each month because there is not an infrastructure in place to take care of the recycling of them.
High Efficiency Lamp (HEI) Technology
Just as concern about the energy inefficiency of incandescent light bulbs (the ones we are most used to) has inspired a world-wide movement to ban them in favor of compact fluorescent lights (CFL), General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) announced a breakthrough that changes the equation. Its Consumer and Industrial Lighting division has developed an incandescent bulb that will match fluorescent lamp’s power miserliness while retaining the quality of light customers are used to.
In a press release issued today (February 23, 2007) , Kevin Nolan, Vice President of Technology for GE Consumer & Industrial, said: “In addition to offering significant energy savings comparable to CFLs, the 21st century version of Edison’s bulb provides all the desirable benefits including light quality and instant-on convenience as incandescent lamps currently provide at a price that will be less than CFLs. We and other lighting manufacturers have been aggressive in developing and marketing CFLs. But consumers want more options and we plan to respond to their needs and deliver environmental benefits, too. It’s important that we offer consumers a full range of products that meet their personal desire to reduce their negative impact on the environment while preserving their ability to pick the best lighting product for their needs. That’s why we are moving aggressively to commercialize these new lamps.”
“Ultimately the high efficiency lamp (HEI) technology is expected to be about four times as efficient as current incandescent bulbs and comparable to CFL bulbs. Adoption of new technology could lead to greenhouse gas emission reductions of up to 40 million tons of CO2 in the U.S. and up to 50 million tons in the EU if the entire installed base of traditional incandescent bulbs was replaced with HEI lamps.”
And guess what? No mercury! And no headaches. That’s a real step forward.
Concern about CFL bulbs has just been relieved by a newer technology that’s even friendlier to the environment. Thank you HEI technology.
