Energy Efficient Light Bulbs are Toxic
These new energy efficient lightbulbs have really been on my mind lately. And I’m really, really, really annoyed about them!
These bulbs are being marketed as being “green” and “earth friendly” because they save energy, BUT did you know that they contain MERCURY and need to be properly disposed of or else they pollute the plant with toxic mercury? How many times have you properly disposed of one of these curly light bulbs and NOT just tossed it into the trashcan? I ask because, I for one, have just thrown them away, because who the hell reads the fine print on the back of a lightbulb package?!
Stefan and I had no idea that we were supposed to be “properly disposing” of these light bulbs until a friend of ours who is an electrician told us what a crock of sh*t this bulbs really are. We discussed it briefly and I was even skeptical about what our friend was saying, because I couldn’t fathom that that these light bulbs, that have been so highly touted (genius marketing), could be polluting the earth. Well, read the back of your little curly lightbulb box. It’s all there.
So, what is worse? Using slightly more energy or dumping mercury into the earth? Do you really think we are going to run out of energy with the solar, wind and hydro power that is now available? Or is it really just that important to people to save $2 on their electricity bill?
I, for one, am going back to the cheaper, non-toxic light bulbs.
Wtf?! So not cool. Stupid marketing.
Good to know, thanks for sharing!
Although it sidesteps the disposal of mercury issue, here is a little data and discussion on the savings for switching to CFL or LED lights:
http://www.productdose.com/article.php?article_id=1142
RobG – Yeah, your right, that data says nothing about polluting the plant with mercury, which is pretty much my point. So the curly light bulbs save you a few dollars over your life time. Whoopty Do. But, your going to dump mercury into the earth, which threatens the health of people, fish and wildlife in order to save a couple of bucks.
A better solution? Install dimmers in your house. This will save just as much energy as a stupid CFL light bulb.
People throw out all kinds of stuff that is toxic to the earth and wildlife instead of disposing of it properly, like cell phones, batteries, televisions, appliances, plastic bottles, etc… so why freak out about a light bulb that is saving energy? People need to educate themselves more about products they use and also about what they throw away, maybe that is really the root of the problem!
Anonymous – Apparently part of the problem is people not realizing how toxic/dangerous mercury is. More then slightly more harmful then a plastic water bottle…
yup my mom told me about that. She read it on the package and she said if one breaks in your house you will basically need a swat team to come clean it up lol. My husband bought some at the store and I took them right back. When I told him why he didnt believe me. I dont want my son around any toxic lightbulbs
ROB G- your article states nothing about the mercury or toxins. Get a Clue!
Cris,
To be more on topic, here is a list from the EPA on consumer products that may contain mercury and risks of exposure:
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/hazard/tsd/mercury/con-prod.htm
You better get a dumpster to the house and throw out most all the modern conveniences you have to keep that mercury away from your son.
RobG – While that is a good link, I don’t see “most all the modern conveniences” on that list. You’ll notice on that list that most of the items that contain mercury are no longer made/sold (because of the hazards of mercury). And I would be a little more concerned about breaking a light bulb (which I have done many times in my life) then somehow finding a way to break an antique washing machine in a way that could some how release the mercury contained in it’s tilt switch…
My point is that EVERYONE is switching to these energy efficient light bulbs and I have not heard of one single person that has done anything other then throw them in the trash, where I can guarantee that they will get broken at one point, releasing the mercury into the environment (if not your home). And there hasn’t been any effort to really warn people or inform them of the possible dangers to themselves or the environment. The fact that our world is already so polluted with mercury that you will get mercury poisoning if you eat too much fish, is absurd, and these new energy efficient light bulbs are going to eventually make that risk even worse. So when your children or your childrens children can no longer safely eat fish due to environmental contamination, are you just going to tell them, “Yeah, but I saved $25 over my life by using those nifty mercury filled light bulbs!!”?
All fluorescent lights including strip lights which are used in every commercial building since my father was a boy contain mercury, and to think that wind and solar will save us is IMHO somewhat naive. Candles are very polluting also apparently.
Did you know that our world population depends on oil for agriculture i.e. not only for transport but for fertiliser? go to wiki and look up peak oil, some discussion can be found on the internet that the world population would have to drop from the current 7 billion or so down to between 0.5 billion and 2.5 billion to be sustained by post oil agriculture. That’s a big drop – are you less worried about light bulbs now?
Just face up to the enormity of the hopeless situation our over populated little world has gotten itself into and enjoy the good times while they last.
Question – do you switch off your computer when you have finished with it???
The amount of toxic materials in these bulbs is insignificant compared to the energy saving. Everything we use has some toxic materials in them…and our cars heavily out weigh this. Not sure why people are into scaer tactics. You realize how many buildings still use older florescent bulbs?? and how much more toxic those are in comparison? Get over it people.
I just wish to point out that Compact Fluor. Lamps (CFLs) actually contain a very small amount of mercury (4 mg of Hg/lamp). This is a small amount and in fact, in old lamps, most of the mercury vapour has fused to the glass and rendered harmless.
If you are worried about CFLs releasing mercury to the environment, you should know that coal mining and burning (which produces 50% of electricity in the US), actually releases a lot more mercury, and by switching to CFLS, you are reducing that by using less electricity!
It is true that broken CFLs pose this risk of contamination but that is again relatively low, if taken care of properly.
I don’t see why this argument still exists in the US, while in my country for instance, and I assume in most others, people have already embraced CFLs as a cheap and sensible lighting option.
Yay, I’d have to say that pretty much every ‘green’ product is a marketing scheme. Electric cars for example. Not only are most terribly inefficient, but where does the majority of our electricity come from that they use? Almost 70% of it is from fossil fuel, which is an irony in itself. We’ve all ready surpassed the supposed amount of fossil fuel that all the dead plants and animals throughout all history could have produced back in the 80s. Not only that, but in the early 90s, oil wells that were supposedly going dry filled up again and started producing millions of barrels of oil a day. Not from the sides, like scientists expected, but from under the oil pocket which they cannot explain. Hrm, so what is the real motivation behind ‘green’ technologies? Not even 50 years ago the buzz was Global Cooling. Our recorded weather history is barely a hundred years in most places. Can so short a history be able to reasonably predict the future weather trends of the plant? If we really want to contribute to the health of our planet, then we need to start with the little things and look at it from a realistic point of view. Money isn’t the solution but it seems to be the only one that is ever talked about.
These bulbs started off expensive and have greatly come down in price in recent years. Many people don’t buy them to save the environment, they buy them because they’re cheap.
Having worked for a furniture store with large lighting dept, I sold a fair few of them. Even the manager of a competing light shop would come to us to buy his CFL bulbs because they were much cheaper.
Some days would see thousands of people come through the lighting department. Thousands of bulbs were sold. In the first year of the store opening the catalogue (reported to be read more than the bible) stated bring back your bulbs to the store and we’ll even recycle them for you. I worked there for six years.
Number of people who came to me with a bulb to recycle: 2.
We didn’t really have any proper facility to get rid of the bulbs. I think they were supposed to be taken away by our environmental/recovery dept. Don’t think that ever happened. They probably ended up in landfill.
ANYTNG THAT GIVES LIGHT WHEN I ND IT WORKS $ ME!!! CUM ON THEZ PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN SHACKS IN MY COUNTRY WHO DONT EVEN HAVE ELECTRICITY .8
I had one of those light bulbs explode and it threw sparks down onto my carpet. If I had not been home….
I swear I could smell the mercury. Bad enough it will pollute the planet but not my lungs, please.
Firemen came to check it out and said they’ve seen this before.
Whenever the media sensationalizes a new “green” product or campaign, you have reason to be suspicious that it’s not for public benefit.
The thing is though, the amount of mercury in a CFL is a lot less then the amount released by burning the coal to light the regular bulb…
http://www.scribd.com/full/14086945?access_key=key-ke661shm1cr69y9xjz4
I use standard incandescent bulbs and will continue to do so despite the hype and pressure to use CF.
adenner, you might be right, but if you drop your CF bulb you need to go through the proper elaborate procedure to clean up the mess, which includes opening all of your windows. Do you really want to risk inhaling mercury vapor?
I would like to inform you that fish pose a greater risk when it comes to mercury poisoning.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/cfl-mercury2.htm
Shell – And how exactly do you think that fish get mercury into their system? Fish are becoming toxic because humans contaminate the earth with hundreds of millions of tiny amounts of mercury, which seeps into the earth and ultimately ends up in streams, lakes and oceans. These bulbs are just one of the many ways that mercury ends up inside fish.
geez guys, this webpage has been more informative to me that any other one that I have come across while trying to write my biology paper.
Thanks!!!
I am still always amazed at how people fight for their rights to kill themselves off. And yes, it really is their right.
Someone posted that there are toxins in so many things in the house, so what’s one more, in a sense. I remove toxins one at a time. Just because toxins are everywhere does not mean I can handle one more in a lightbulb. That doesn’t even make any sense. As for me, I don’t drive, don’t eat meat, fish or dairy, drink alcohol or smoke. And I try to buy and grow organic as much as possible. But that’s me. I am healthy and never go to doctors. So for me, removing toxins from my food and environment really work. My coworkers, family and friends do not have the same energy as me or enjoy the same health benefits. They spend their time consumming toxins in one form or another and their bodies show it. I spend my time living my life to the fullest enjoying sharing outdoor and indoor activities without feeling exhausted or having the need to pop prescription pills every month. It really is a matter of personal choice.
So…you are shunning them for life just because you refuse to figure out where to dispose of them properly? Gee, that’s smart.
I know someone will just say “well its dangerous if you break it in your house”. How many times do you intend on dropping and breaking lightbulbs, how many times have you done that in the past?
In my humble opinion, I think you guys are over reacting.
oww my god you have just messed up so many peoples opinions…please think before blogging. If you use the light bulbs the right way, read instructions and keep them out of the hands of your children they are fine and last up to 10 years. My father works for the EPA and he is a Mercury specialist, he believes they are safe as long as used properly. Leave the world in abetter place for the next generation, don’t let them think that light bulbs are the worst of their problems. Please, people will read this and not know the facts, it will turn them of saving the planet. I wish you could realize that.
If you truly want to be energy efficient there are some people in cold climates experimenting with incandescent bulbs to make ‘heat islands’ in all the places where they spend time in the house. I read about a woman who used this technique to heat places like her computer desk, the couch in front of the TV, ect… All places where you spend extended periods of time. She had a heated mouspad and little heater under her bed covers which she would turn on for half an hour before going to bed. She kept the thermostat on 40 for most of the winter and said she was perfectly comfortable because she spent the vast majority of her time in these few places. She was able to offset her heating bill by 87% the first year and is still perfecting things. The great thing about the incandescent bulb was that it can be used for heat AND for light. This greatly outperforms the ‘energy efficient’ lighting which might save you 5% or so overall on your energy bill. Not nearly as awesome as we thought. To bad incandescent is being phased out completely. What a great resource it could be to save energy if used in the right way! If we thought of every source of energy we use as having multiple uses we could save a lot more than you think.