the low down on green living
January 30th, 2008
Disposing of Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
Many of you out there seem very spooked by compact fluorescent bulbs. We have received numerous emails from people saying “CF bulbs contain mercury– we should not use them!” or “How can I get rid of my CFs safely!??!” You are right to be concerned, but we do want to say that you absolutely should use CF bulbs and they can be disposed of safely.
Why Compact Fluorescent Bulbs Are Worth Getting
Compact fluorescent bulbs are overall wonderful and you should use them. These bulbs use roughly 1/4 the electricity of normal bulbs and they can last up to 10 times longer. Using CF bulbs will reduce your power bills and also lower your contribution to global warming. So get them! (You can get them here.)
Mercury Content
CFs do contain mercury. A very, very small amount of mercury. According to the EPA, they contain an average of 5 milligrams sealed within the glass tubing. Older thermometers contain 500 milligrams of mercury, so one thermometer is equivalent to 100 CF bulbs! Don’t let the mercury spook you– if you learn how to deal with it, you’ll be fine.
What do I do with a broken CF bulb?
If a CF light bulb breaks in your home, you do need to be careful because of the mercury. You don’t want to breathe the mercury, nor do you want to handle it with your bare hands. Open the windows and air out the room for 15+ minutes. Then read these instructions from the EPA.
What do I do with a CF bulb that has burned out?
You do need to dispose of CF bulbs with care. To transport your burned-out bulbs, put them in a plastic bag and seal the bag. (That way if the bulb breaks the mercury is sealed inside the bag.) States and cities deal with CF bulb disposal differently, so you need to check for your local rules and sites. Please click here to search the EPA’s mercury-containing bulb recycling outlets. Or, if you don’t find a place near you there, please try searching by your zip code at Earth911.org.
Now please go ahead and get those CF lights! The planet will thank you.
Comments
Mcark
January 30th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Jessica
You still know ” eco” minded people that do not have CFLs? And they read this site blog? That’s like trying to read a French newspaper when all you know is English!
MCARK
Jessica Jensen
January 31st, 2008 at 4:39 pm
MCARK I could not agree with you more that CFLs are OLD green news. But we get so many emails here from people who won’t use them because they think CFLs leak mercury or pose some other kind of health hazard. With this post we’re just trying to tell people that 1) yes should get CLFs and 2) you can dispose of them without doing yourself any harm.
–Jessica, Low Impact Living
Andy
February 5th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Re: CF bulbs. We had our kitchen redone 2 years ago and I had to fight all others to go with fluorescent lighting. Not CF which do last 5 - 10K hours, but real fluorescent fixtures using 4ft lamps. The lamps last 10 - 15K hours and a similar mercury content of the CF, but that’s where the similarities end. The electronic ballast in a fixture lasts 50 - 100K hours or more and you just replace the lamps. And don’t think of the light source as typical office lighting. There are many eye appealing shades (the Kelvin Temperature) where office = 4K outside look = 5 - 6.5K and go for a high CRI rated bulb which rates how close to an incandescent light it appears to the eye.
Andy
Jeff
March 17th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
When considering the mercury in fluorescents, bear in mind that the alternative isn’t ‘no’ mercury, it’s actually more mercury. This is because the mercury content of coal varies from .03 to .2mg/kg or higher. That means that a 5mg fluorescent mercury content is offset by saving 50 pounds of coal, which a 40-watt fluorescent replacing 160W incandescent will quickly achieve (1.5kWh/pound of coal, typical, makes the mercury breakeven occur at 500 hours). And the mercury is contained, instead of spewing into the atmosphere. Incidentally, the mercury in fluorescents has a real function: it’s vaporized when you turn on the lamp, and the electricity passing through it creates ultraviolet light (rather like an ultraviolet “neon” light) which then hits the phosphor frosting, excites it, and makes it glow white. Again, it’s all contained inside the glass tube.
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