Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

I frequently get asked about light bulbs... here's a recent post to the KSBW.com "Ask the Expert: Greening the Central Coast" blog that I contribute to...

We're being urged to buy Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) and discard regular incandescent bulbs because CFLs use less energy; upwards of 75% savings according to Energy Star. Here's a quote from their website:

If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

What a simple way to lower your ecological and carbon footprint in one easy step! Imagine if every household, with an average of 10 light bulbs, replaced them with CFLs? Do the math; the savings in money and emissions would be enough to close 80 American coal-fired power plants and 270 plants worldwide according to Lester Brown of the World Watch Institute.

But CFLs have mercury in them and a debate is underway in Congress about their safety, (especially if broken in the home) and proper disposal. The debate arises because even if every CLF broke, the mercury in the atmosphere would be considerably less then the mercury released from a coal-fired power plant used to power non-CFL bulbs. According to the U.S. Department of Energy we emit 104 metric tons of mercury in the air each year from our coal-fired power plants, and all the CLF's, if broken, would release .13 tons of mercury, so it's better for our environment if we go with the CFLs.

Does this make you feel better knowing that if your bulb breaks in our house that you're still on the path to green righteousness when you're being directly exposed to a chemical that could be inhaled and leave you mad as a hatter?

CFLs have 1.5 to 4 milligrams of mercury per bulb... not very much, about as much as would fit on the end of a pin.... but still if the bulb breaks this small amount exceeds the U.S. Federal Guidelines for chronic or long-term exposure. (A broken bulb, properly cleaned up would not constitute long-term exposure.) Still, Mercury isn't one of those chemicals you want to linger around... even in small amounts mercury can have health risks to children, pregnant woman and elders as it can cause damage to organs and the central nervous system.

It’s also important to note that it is against the law in California to dispose of CLFs in regular trash, they must be disposed of at your local Hazardous Waste Facility but not without consequences. Jeff Lindenthal, from the Monterey Regional Waste Management District, says it costs .55 per CFL bulb to recycle and has caused a 23% increase in expenses this year with no state funds to match the mandate. As an FYI, Home Depot is now recycling used CFLs nationwide. I suggest putting them in double plastic bag before dropping them off.

So, what to do? What to do?

Well, the ultimate choice would be to switch to LED bulbs...or Light Emitting Diodes. They have up to 40,000+ hours of useful life, no mercury, and produce more light. BUT they’re much, much more expensive; easily 10- 20x more expensive then incandescent bulbs... Check out http://www.superbrightleds.com for pricing info.

So, it’s a situation where you need to decide what’s right for your own family. Me, I go with CFL’s and clean up very carefully using the mercury spill principles outlined here:
http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm#fluorescent

But I’m switching to LED’s when I can find a sale on those bulbs, not because of the mercury, but because they’re more efficient.