Recently a good friend of mine brought to my attention the alarming fact that; as we are trying to decrees our energy bills and sustain the quality of our environment, we sometimes forget that doing one of the two, may not coincide with doing the other.
The recent push over the years towards using CFL, aka compact florescent light bulbs, is a push towards reducing energy cost in our home, but is also the cause of widespread mercury contamination. That sounds more like “grey” bulbs, not “green” bulbs.
CFL’s contain a small amount of mercury, as all florescent bulbs always have, but the problem is that these bulbs were never used widespread in homes around the world and were usually used in a industrialized setting. It never dawned on me that these bulbs must be disposed of as hazardous waste.
Even more alarming is the clean up process should one of these bulbs break in your home.
The EPA states:
That is just a couple of the 19 steps you should follow if you break a compact florescent bulb in your home.
The European Union just announced today that they are official phasing out traditional incandescent light bulbs and will replace them with more energy efficient bulbs. In the US we have adopted the CFL option and are currently working on replacing incandescent bulbs with them.
Instead of shipping mercury around the globe, we could easily be working towards implementing LED light bulbs which can reach the same brightness as the other two options as well as be even more energy efficient than CFL light bulbs.
The main problem with bringing LEDs into your home right now is the cost. The average bulb can range from $20 to $50+ which might be hard to justify as “cost saving”, but what it does guarantee is that the next time your child or you breaks a light bulb in your home, you are not stuck dealing with a hazardous waste spill.
What do you think about the effects of using CFL in our home and what do you see as the best solution to reduce energy cost while at the same time be environmentally conscious?
I just moved into a new apartment and they have cfl’s in every fixture! Not only am i surrounded by hazardous materials… these tings are inferior. they take minutes to warm up to their full brightness. I have already put a few energy hogs back in some locations. maybe time to stock up on incandescent??? anyone know if there is a mandatory adoption date on the plate? from what I’ve heard none are even made in the usa!!! china sends us their mercury in the form of light bulbs. makes me want to chew on toys with lead paint… yumm.