Comments on: Some Thoughts on Breaking CFLs http://greenalicious.com/article/some-thoughts-on-breaking-cfls/ Just another WordPress weblog Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:27:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Chad Bulman http://greenalicious.com/article/some-thoughts-on-breaking-cfls/comment-page-1/#comment-2 Chad Bulman Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:27:25 +0000 http://www.greenpricer.com/green-products-blog/?p=15#comment-2 I work in the lighting industry, and wanted to say thanks for this thoughtful article. I would agree that, as with any product that contains potentially harmful elements (and believe me, they're all around us), care should be taken in handling CFLs. We should also recycle dead CFLs to prevent the sealed mercury from entering the waste stream (Home Depot has just implemented a free CFL recycling program, as have others - visit earth911.org to do a ZIP code search for options in your area). The benefits of using energy-efficient bulbs are vast, while the health threat of a broken CFL is small and temporary if one follows the EPA clean-up guidelines, which aren't much more involved than what you would do to clean up any broken glass product. One other point: coal-fired power plants emit mercury into the atmosphere, but by using energy-efficient bulbs and thusly decreasing electricity demand, using CFLs can actually reduce the amount of mercury escaping into our environment. See this graph for a more visual explanation: http://www.energytrust.org/residential/es/products/assets/cfl_incandescent_graph.gif And, as always, look for the ENERGY STAR label when you purchase light bulbs and other appliances. Chad cbulman@mwalliance.org (feel free to write with questions about CFLs) I work in the lighting industry, and wanted to say thanks for this thoughtful article. I would agree that, as with any product that contains potentially harmful elements (and believe me, they’re all around us), care should be taken in handling CFLs. We should also recycle dead CFLs to prevent the sealed mercury from entering the waste stream (Home Depot has just implemented a free CFL recycling program, as have others – visit earth911.org to do a ZIP code search for options in your area).

The benefits of using energy-efficient bulbs are vast, while the health threat of a broken CFL is small and temporary if one follows the EPA clean-up guidelines, which aren’t much more involved than what you would do to clean up any broken glass product.

One other point: coal-fired power plants emit mercury into the atmosphere, but by using energy-efficient bulbs and thusly decreasing electricity demand, using CFLs can actually reduce the amount of mercury escaping into our environment.

See this graph for a more visual explanation:
http://www.energytrust.org/residential/es/products/assets/cfl_incandescent_graph.gif

And, as always, look for the ENERGY STAR label when you purchase light bulbs and other appliances.

Chad
cbulman@mwalliance.org
(feel free to write with questions about CFLs)

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