Posted on 07/09/2007 1:59:45 PM PDT by Canticle_of_Deborah
Yeah.
Just wait until the environuts start going goofy when they find out that LED’s are made with gallium arsenide.
The LED is the fluorescent bulb of the future.
“...you’re technically supposed to also call for an EPA clean up crew. And yes I’m totally serious.”
Actually, both the EPA and even California’s Waste Management provide do-it-yourself instructions for mercury cleanup:
What to Do if a Fluorescent Light Bulb Breaks
http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm#flourescent
I don’t think any of these EPA instructions are being followed.
California’s instructions are even stricter:
http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/WPIE/FluoresLamps/#CleanBreak
This study suggests that elevated airborne levels of mercury,
exceeding EPA’s reference concentration of 300 ng/m3, can
exist in the vicinity of recently broken bulbs. Potential
occupational exposure may exist for sanitation workers and
employees involved in recycling fluorescent bulbs in the
presence of broken bulb residue.
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/research/mercury-bulbs.pdf
Maybe you got the EPA info from this article:
“When the bulb she was installing in a ceiling fixture of her 7-year-old daughter’s bedroom crashed to the floor and broke into the shag carpet, she wasn’t sure what to do. Knowing about the danger of mercury, she called Home Depot, the retail outlet that sold her the bulbs.
According to the Ellison American, the store warned her not to vacuum the carpet and directed her to call the poison control hotline in Prospect, Maine. Poison control staffers suggested she call the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
The latter sent over a specialist to test the air in her house for mercury levels. While the rest of the house was clear, the area of the accident was contaminated above the level considered safe. The specialist warned Bridges not to clean up the bulb and mercury powder by herself – recommending a local environmental cleanup firm.
That company estimated the cleanup cost, conservatively, at $2,000. And, no, her homeowners insurance won’t cover the damage.
Since she could not afford the cleanup, Bridges has been forced to seal off her daughter’s bedroom with plastic to avoid any dust blowing around.”
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55213
http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7446&Itemid=31
Also:
This study suggests that elevated airborne levels of mercury,
exceeding EPA’s reference concentration of 300 ng/m3, can
exist in the vicinity of recently broken bulbs. Potential
occupational exposure may exist for sanitation workers and
employees involved in recycling fluorescent bulbs in the
presence of broken bulb residue.
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/research/mercury-bulbs.pdf
All I know is I like the cash I’m saving on electricity and not having to change certain difficult bulbs all the time.
“And neither do CFL’s. Since Florescents only account for 4% of US Mercury emissions, or 0.2% of global mercury emissions.”
Source, please!
Lol, I just went out to Costco and bought around a 10 year supply of the 60 and 100 watt as well as 3 way incandescent bulbs! I hate the one flourescent bulb I bought.
They will probably charge a recycling deposit on the flourescent bulbs at purchase once they make them mandatory here in CA. Then you have to recycle them somehow.
Mandatory, of course. Attempting to evade the charge will be a criminal offense, punishable by a fine of not less than $100/bulb.
I was going to put a < /sarc > at the end of this, but on reflection, this is exactly what the moonbat environazis will do...except, of course, that the fees/fines will likely be higher than stated here.
Not only are they a toxic environmental disposal hazard, I read somewhere that they are only made in China. So, what a wonderful mandate these lightbulbs are turning out to be. Save the planet, ruin the land, ground water, etc. What a great slogan for the law of unintended consequences.
Possibly good for Southern California, but isn't a good idea in places that have real winters. The waste heat of an incandescent bulb actually saves on heating in the winter, but contributes to increased air conditioning usage in summer.
i really don't mind them, but i think that LED technology is going to shortly make them obsolete.
They contain the same material that flourescent tubes have used for 70 years, nothing new here.
For me? Yes, but even a regular light bulb technically isn’t natural. I prefer them and I’ve read of many people who have problems with fluorescents. I don’t know why.
Source is here
http://www.desertrockenergyproject.com/mercury.htm
Although you can also see where the EPA shows total florescent mercury at 750 tons per year. While coal fired generating plants in the US contribute 44000 tons per year. And our plants are a whole lot cleaner than China and India.
There is a law, called CERCLA I think, that basically says that any company that manufactures a chemical is responsible for it “cradle to grave.” That means that they are forever responsible for it. This is a law the left worked hard to get in effect. I wonder if they are going to hold these bulb manufacturers to this law. If so I cannot conceive that any company would make the bulbs if they had to pay for cleanup at every house where one of the bulbs was broken.
God forbid we build new nuke plants and be done with it.
Dang it!
So I guess we’re no longer allowed to use the old blubs to play a little “baseball” (with rocks) then either?
Man, youst gov. guys are no fun at all.
I still have a small 1/2 ounce “blob” of the stuff from the mercury switch that was inside one of those things.
It is safely stored in a sturdy sampling jar. The switch only dated from the 1980's, so that stuff is still all around us in electrical appliances.
And mercury thermometers. Enough mercury in one of them for about 1000 big fluorescent bulbs.
And old watch batteries, hearing aid batteries... They don’t make them much anymore, but they were very common for decades.
And a mere hundred years ago, 100s if not thousands of very common ‘patent medicines’ had LOTS of various mercury compounds in them. And Merthiolate & Mercurochrome Who, over the age of 25, didn’t have cuts and scrapes slathered with that stuff, which can be up to 50% mercury (by weight)...
As do many more recent vaccines and eye care products containing Thiomersal.
If the stuff was 1/100th as dangerous as they claim, we’d all be dead by now.
Confessions of a mercury-bulb spear chucker: When I was a kid, I discovered stacked behind a commercial building hundreds of burnt-out mercury bulbs, all 8 feet long. They made great javelins and made a wonderful popping sound when hurled against a wall.
It has been illegal to throw a CFL in the trash in California since February of 2006. In fact, nowhere in the United States is it legal to throw a CFL away. Of course, thos warm, fuzzy ads on the radio urging you to go out and replace all of your incandescent lamps with CFL’s make NO MENTION of this.
Oh, yeah, and “ahey” already administer the (ineffective) disposal laws.
“You forgot to mention that you’re technically supposed to also call for an EPA clean up crew. And yes I’m totally serious.”
Yes, in fact, you ARE serious.
http://www.newstarget.com/021916.html
Fine. But what're you going to do with your dead CFL's? Can't chuck 'em in the trash; not legally, anyway. Does your community have a local Hazardous Waste facility that will accept them from you?
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