Posted on 05/30/2007 10:11:32 PM PDT by goldstategop
WASHINGTON – As state and foreign governments enact forced phase-outs of incandescent light bulbs, consumers are being kept in the dark about the many downsides of compact fluorescent lamps replacements being billed as an environmental and energy-savings panacea.
Across the U.S., schoolchildren are being urged to replace incandescent light bulbs in their homes, state legislatures are following the leads of foreign governments in banning the sale of the bulbs in the future and the federal Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency are highly recommending the switch to CFLs. Businesses like Wal-Mart are also pushing CFLs hard, as are environmental groups. But safe disposal plans and recycling centers for the mercury-laden compact fluorescent lamps, seen as the future, lag behind the hype.
So, too, does the truth about what will become mandatory, fine-imposed handling requirements for CFLs by homeowners and businesses.
While CFLs arguably use less energy and last longer than incandescents, there is one serious environmental drawback – the presence of small amounts of highly toxic mercury in each and every bulb. This poses problems for consumers when breakage occurs and for disposal when bulbs eventually do burn out.
Most consumers, even those already using the CFLs, do not realize the long-term dangers the bulbs pose to the environment and the health of human beings.
While the EPA is on the CFL bandwagon as a means of reducing carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere, which it believes contributes to global warming, it also quietly offers advice on cleanup of broken bulbs that might give consumers pause to consider dumping those incandescents any time soon.
When a CFL breaks, the EPA cautions consumers to open a window and leave the room immediately for at least 15 minutes because of the mercury threat. The agency suggests removing all materials by scooping fragments and powder using cardboard or stiff paper. Sticky tape is suggested as a way to get smaller particles. The EPA says vacuum cleaners and bare hands should never be used in such cleanups.
After final cleanup with a damp paper towel, the agency warns consumers to place all materials in a plastic bag.
"Seal and dispose of properly," says the EPA. "Wash hands."
But disposing of properly might be a tough thing to do, because CFLs should never be thrown in the trash like their old-fashioned incandescent predecessors. They need to be turned into recycling centers, which are few and far between.
Incandescent light bulb
When laws banning incandescent bulbs take effect, so do the mandatory fines on consumers and businesses that dispose of the new CFLs improperly.
Though the amount of mercury in each bulb is small – about 4 milligrams – the potential environmental hazard created by the mass introduction of billions of CFLs with few disposal sites and a public unfamiliar with the risks is great.
To address the concern, Wal-Mart announced earlier this month that its suppliers – mainly in China – have agreed to reduce the amount of mercury in the bulbs. Yet the announcement itself came as something of a shock to many consumers who were blindsided about the risks of mercury.
Mercury is probably best-known for its effects on the nervous system. It can also damage the kidneys and liver, and in sufficient quantities can cause death.
With an estimated 150 million CFLs sold in the United States in 2006 and with Wal-Mart alone projecting sales of 100 million this year, some scientists and environmentalists are worried far too many will wind up in garbage dumps.
When sufficient mercury accumulates in a landfill, it can be emitted into the air and water in the form of vaporous methyl-mercury. From there, it can easily get into the food chain.
"Disposal of any mercury-contaminated material in landfills is absolutely alarming to me," says Steve Lindberg, emeritus fellow of the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The answer, of course, would be recycling and disposal centers. However, it is questionable whether consumers can be counted upon to bring their burned out and broken bulbs to special collection centers voluntarily. That's why most of the laws banning incandescents also include fines for improper disposal of CFLs.
Those provisions in the new laws may be as hard to find for consumers as the fine print on CFL packaging warning them not to breathe the dust from broken bulbs. LampRecycle.org offers a good sampling of existing regulations.
Many waste centers that are set up to accept CFL recycling currently have only one collection day per year.
Consumers are discovering other downsides of CFLs besides convenience and safety issues:
* Most do not work with dimmer switches
* They are available in only a few sizes
* Some emit a bluish light
* Some people say they get headaches while working or reading under them
* They cannot be used in recessed lighting enclosures or enclosed globes
* Because they run hotter, fires are a possibility
When CFLs do burn out, they often create some smoke, which consumers have found alarming. This is a result of the plastic on the bulb's ballast melting and turning black. CFL manufacturers dismiss safety concerns.
Despite the drawbacks, Australia, Canada and the European Union have all moved to ban incandescent bulbs. California, Connecticut, North Carolina and Rhode Island, are all in the process of legislating an end to Edison's greatest invention. Even local towns and cities are getting into the act.
But the craze didn't start in Europe of Australia or Canada. It started in Fidel Castro's Cuba. His action in banning the incandescent bulb was followed up quickly by Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. Only then did the trend continue in the industrialized western nations.
Recycling experts say the solutions are at least five years away. Meanwhile, millions of consumers and green activists are being persuaded to make the switch now.
Governments may indeed be promoting a kind of lighting that is itself nearly obsolete. Fluorescent lights are nothing new. They've been around for a long time. And while they may save money, some say the public hasn't chosen them for good reasons – including, but not limited to, the mercury issue.
Some experts predict the next generation of lighting, though, is LED lights. They are made from semiconductor materials that emit light when an electrical current flows through them. When this form of light takes over, all bulbs will be obsolete. Your wall tiles can light up. Curtains and drapes can light up. Even your dining room table could be made to light up – at exactly the level you want. And the best news is – no toxic waste.
That's what is ahead in the next decade, according to some in the industry.
Nobody promoted CFLs as aggressively as IKEA. Not only does the retailer sell them, it also provides one of the very few recycling centers for the burned out bulbs. But even with a plethora of recycling centers, how will the public view the prospect of saving up dead bulbs and transporting them to recycling centers? And how about the danger of breakage in that process?
"The industry is currently aiming at totally mercury-free CFL lighting, but this is still five to 10 years away," admits IKEA.
Those who really care about this problem right now are those involved in the waste industry.
"Most agree more energy-efficient light bulbs can significantly curb air pollution, but fewer people are talking about how to deal with them at the end of their lives," explained a page 1 story in the April 2 issue of Waste News. It goes on to explain "there is no plan to address air and water pollution concerns that could develop if consumers improperly dispose of the mercury-containing devices."
There is a good flourescent bulb brand I can recommend - Ott-Lite.
Those compact fluorescents are for the birds. I have only two types of lighting. Real fluorescents in kitchen and garage/workshop and incandescent everywhere else. I much prefer reading with an incandescent bulb.
Some of the real fluorescents are full spectrum and some of the incandescents are GE Reveal or the Phillips equivalent. These bulbs are full spectrum or close to it
“Disposed” is an interesting word. It means, “to arrange in an orderly way”. Think of being “indisposed” or to have something “at your disposal”. “Garbage disposal” is actually a euphemism.
So to be recaptured, recycled and reused is certainly a form of disposal just as much as dumping in a landfill.
Enviroweenies are one dimensional thinkers. They cannot think more than one step ahead.
This is not just with CFLs, either. Everything liberals deal with and make policy on is done on emotion, not logic. They are ALWAYS surprised when something doesn’t turn out as they expected, and that happens a lot.
Pretty sure that was Ikon, not Ikea.
Ikea is in a much different “space”.
RLM,
Conservatism (in my opinion) is the intersection of critical thinking and emotional maturity, it looks like they have not obtained either of them.
What is the basis of your claim?
And yet people have been disposing of the tube flourescent bulbs in normal trash for years, even though they have a much larger (although still minimal) amount of mercury.
Imagine the scare we could have telling people that if that shop light bulb in their garage falls on the floor, they may have to hire a specialist to clean the mercury vapor out of their cars.
Of course, those batteries in the solar lamps also must be disposed of in a special manner, at a special recycling center, because they have harmful chemical/metals.
Of course, all batteries are supposed to be disposed of in a special manner, not just rechargeables, because of the chemicals and metals.
Also paint, oil, and your home computer, pda, and other electronics.
You shouldn’t throw your old cell phone out either.
You need a thermoacoustic refrigerator.
I am going to bury mine if Farrah's back yard.
“ten bucks apiece at a dollar store”
I got pissed when the Five and Dime started charging me a quarter!
This is more left wing B.S. the amount of mercury in the bulbs is so small it is not worth worrying about. This is scare is probably paid for by a company like GE or Phillips. That said LED lights are the future.
ping, thanks for the post.
There's nothing wrong with caring about G-d's creation. It's when someone goes off the deep end that it is a problem.
Unfortunately, respect for the environment has been pegged as a "liberal" thing, and now people seem to be anti-environment just to be anti-liberal.
Brownfield redevelopment and minimizing air, landfill, and water pollution does NOT mean Hillary and Nancy win, unless one INSISTS on defining it that way!
I had to look up what the suggested method of CFL disposal is in Connecticut (one of the states that are considering a ban on incandecent bulbs). Here is what the CT dept of environmental protection says:
“Business and other non-residential generated mercury lights are subject to state hazardous waste laws and regulations that prohibit their disposal in the solid waste stream. CFLs and other fluorescent lighting generated by residents are exempt from these disposal restrictions. However, the Department strongly encourages residents to recycle their lamps through town drop offs and household hazardous waste collections. By recycling your burned out CFLs, you help keep mercury out of our environment.” (source: http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?a=2708&q=378846)
My read on this: In Connecticut, there is a household hazardous waste collection schedule. You need to know when and where to go by checking on the DEP website. The larger cities have about 10 collection days a year. Towns typically have one day a year. Small town residents need to travel to larger towns.
IOW - it is a major hassle to dispose of a CFL light bulb. Since it is not illegal to simply throw them in the trash, I’m guessing that 95% of the residents will simply throw them in the trash.
So what have the environmentalists done? They’ve substituted a fake problem (global warming) with a real problem (mercury contamination of landfills).
Consumers and businesses have been disposing of full-size fluorescent tubes straight into the garbage truck, where they usually get broken immediately (presumably releasing the considerably-larger than 2 or 3 mg of mercury they contain) long before they reach the landfill.
It has also been pointed out that much of our power is generated from burning coal, in which mercury emitted, and that over the lifespan of the CFL the reduced electrical power consumed could actually eliminate more mercury from being released to the environment. But then some bulbs may not get used all that much before they get disposed of. Maybe they can reduce the mercury contained to an even smaller amount, maybe .5 to 1 mg?
And, finally, I agree that banning incandescent bulbs at this point is stupid, unnecessary, and premature. What are you supposed to use in your fridge, or oven? How about spot and floodlights? Is this going to affect the availability of halogen bulbs, too? There are no fluorescent substitutes for most of those applications. And don’t tell me about LED lighting - they’re not even close to being ready for prime-time for most purposes.
“get fressed in the dark “
I actually like getting fressed in the dark!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.