Why do environmentalists favor the fluorescent light bulbs when they contain mercury?
Answer:
Whilst the amount of mercury used in production a CFL bulb is at most 6mg, the average mercury content is 4mg. The total emissions of mercury created by a CFL bulb from electricity consumption over its lifetime is about 2.4mg of mercury. In comparison the emissions from an incandescent light bulb through electricity consumption is about 10mg. Therefore overall CFLs result in a slightly less amount of mercury emitted over the lifetime of a CFL bulb.
When mercury is released into the environment from incorrect disposal or burning of fossil fuels, and falls back to earth and interacts with bacteria this creates a far more dangerous mercury compound known as methylmercury. This is the substance which is currently a danger in fish and our water supply.
Recycled CFL bulbs are crushed in a machine that uses negative pressure ventilation and a mercury absorbing filter allowing the mercury to be reclaimed for reuse.
If all of the USA used CFLs this would reduce the annual mercury emissions by 7 tonnes per year. For CFLs to be environmentally ineffective in reducing mercury over the expected 5 year life of a CFL, the USA would have to incorrectly dispose of 8 750 000 000 CFLs to landfill, this is impossible to achieve even with extreme neglect.
There is also a reduction of 38kg of Co2 per CFL per year and an overall saving of 14% on your electricity bill.
Mercury is also present in every day objects in greater amounts than a CFL, like your cell phone and highly likely the monitor you are looking at now. Thermometers, Barometers and Thermostats. To name just a few.
For a detailed look at mercury in CFLs and how to clean up a broken CFL;
http://howtosaveenergy.blogspot.com/2007...
Energy Saver
http://howtosaveenergy.blogspot.com...
why because they cost less to operate and they last longer then other light bulbs
Fluorescent bulbs use less energy and last longer then traditional bulbs, and while their is mercury in it, it is only in trace amounts.
They utlize far less enegery, about a 10th of what you standard incandescent is going to use.
Enegy production is a very wasteful process and cutting down on consumption has its benefits.
The small amount of mercury contained in a flourescent bulb can be reclaimed, however there are not many blub recyling facilities to date.
The mercury use is real, but negligible - less than the antique mercury thermometers. They are the only thing we have right now that uses less energy than an incandescent bulb (besides candles that produce soot - even the soy ones). If you're buying the CFL you've made a commitment to do something positive for the environment and you know that it has to be recycled. In 8 years when your bulb finally burns out there will be recycling containers for them in every store that sells them - like inkjet cartridges.
fluorescent bulb use less electricity to produce the same amount of light. Check it out
all they care about is controlling you. they'll demonize fluorescents once they convince everyone to switch to them. environmentalism is a front for fascism. they want to sap you of your free will.
Because they only think in the short term they dont see what is going to happen when all the mercury gets into the enviroment.
The mercury in CFL are vapor mercury at low pressure. The amount is very insignificant to the least.
I would like to know if there can be any practical way to recover (recycle) the tiny amount of mercury in these CFL bulbs. However, I think as we are probably going to see more of them in a few years whether you are support or against them, the local government would modify their waste management program and start educating their citizens about it. It doesn't take much. Local city or township has public broadcast channel on the local cable networks, internet website, etc. Once they put the information there, they don't really need to spend resource to upkeep the information.
Their Idiots! There was just a story on Drudge report about this. Some dumb hippie chick droped one of her "environmental friendly" bulbs. Being a good eco freek she called the home depot where she purchase the product, they refered here to a state agency, who inforced a law requiring her to hire an evromental hazmat firm to clean up the mercury. Total bill $2,000 efficancy saving = lost $2,000. Hippie chick learing her lesson PRICELESS.
the same reason they haven't considered how to dispose of the batteries in hybrid vehicles. yep, saves gas in the short term, but if we all drove hybrids ther would be millions of old batteries within 7 years. not only will we have to pay to buy new ones, we will be forced to pay to dispose of the old ones.
I think the new bulds are a good idea, but they don't work with dimmer switches. which i have in most rooms of my house
Because the government will NEVER get tired of finding new ways to tell you how to live and what to buy.
Mr Gore should consider energy reducing bulbs to help cut his $30,000 anual utility bills. Nice Champion for the environment liberals!! Someone with a $30k a year utility tab! LOL!!
I think it's because allot of people recycle, so they would know how to properly dispose of the light bulbs.
Yes i do understand your concern, but these Light Bulbs have only a small amount of Mercury, so don't worry to much :)
There should be a recycling bin in the store where you bought it.
We will have to start teaching people how to recycle and properly dispose of things like batteries, and these new light bulbs :)
yes you are partially right, however the amount of mercury in the bulbs is insignificant compared to the millions of tons of mercury emitted in the flue gases from coal combustion. Ever wondered where the mercury in tuna comes from ? yes... from coal combustion. Mercury in the flue gas are washed from the atmosphere by rain, and ends up in oceans where they became a part of the food chain. If only one residence/business repalced one 100W bulb by high efficiency flurescent we can save 40% of imported oil and reduce the amout of coal used for coal generation to reduce mecury levels in the amosphere. The flurescent bulbs are perfectly OK if disposed of properly. What is wrong with taking a couple of minutes to make sure the bulb is properly disposed of ?
I work for an environmental services (nice name for a company that disposes of toxic waste) company and we do contract work for various counties in California and other states to hold household hazardous waste events. We do collect the new curly bulbs and recycle the mercury that is in them.
In response to the persons question about the batteries in hydrid cars, well those are recyclable too. You can either take those to an HHW event to be recycled or have your car dealership or mechanic, whom is legally responsible for their proper disposal, recycle them.
In response to people saying it costs $2000-$3000 to clean up a broken bulb in your home that's BS too. It's a simple thing to do and should only be a few hundred bucks.
The problem is that they only look at the energy aspect. The mercury in total may be a break even or even better. What groups do not take into account is the cost of broken bulbs. It can cost $2-5k to clean up a broken bulb in a home if you do it according to EPA guidelines. The supporters sluff this off, because they don't want to know about the problem, but think of the exposure to children. They know enough that companies are working hard to reduce in half the amount of mercury that is now contained in the bulbs. What this will do to the light output is yet to be seen?
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