Posted on 04/04/2011 7:53:00 AM PDT by SmithL
The nation's accelerating shift from incandescent bulbs to a new generation of energy-efficient lighting is raising an environmental concern -- the release of tons of mercury every year.
The most popular new light -- the curly cue, compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFLs -- account for a quarter of new bulb sales and each contains up to 5 milligrams of mercury, a potent neurotoxin that's on the worst-offending list of environmental contaminants.
Demand for the bulbs is growing as federal and state mandates for energy-efficient lighting take effect, yet only about 2 percent of residential consumers and one-third of businesses recycle them, according to the Association of Lighting and Mercury Recyclers.
"If the recycling rate remains as abysmally low as it is, then there will certainly be more mercury released into the environment," said Paul Abernathy, executive director of the Napa-based recycling association. "Until the public really has some kind of convenient way to take them back, it's going to be an issue."
As a result of discarded fluorescent lights, including CFLs, U.S. landfills release into the atmosphere and in stormwater runoff upward of 4 tons of mercury annually, according to a study in the Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association.
A San Francisco hardware store owner sees the recycling dilemma firsthand.
"They're promoting them and giving them away, but there's nowhere to drop them off," said Tom Tognetti, co-owner of Fredricksen's Hardware.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Memo this to Jeffrey Immelt and the AnnointedIdiot, along with all those green libtard idiots smoking the idiocy crack pipe of unicorns and rainbow dreams.... =.=
Well obviously we’re going to need a Mercury Reclamation Agency. Think $50 billion would be a fair starting budget?
Is this light bulb thing a United States initiative or a global effort? Will the old light bulb be made for other countries?
The time is fast approaching when the gummit will order all incandescent bulbs taken off the market.
If you haven’t already done so, I would suggest that you invest in several cases of the incandescent bulbs in the wattage sizes you use.
If CFLs had been in use for the past century and incandescent bulbs newly invented, the incandescent bulb would be celebrated as an environmental savior.
You can purchase Mercury Offset Credits from Al Gore.
“They’re promoting them and giving them away, but there’s nowhere to drop them off,” said Tom Tognetti, co-owner of Fredricksen’s Hardware.”
This is why we need more Lefty “intellectuals” running the country. (/sarc)
You can’t buy a “real” thermometer anymore because of mercury concerns, but the oppressive federal government mandates we use billions of mercury filled lightbulbs.
Ping.
Everything liberalism: Generates the exact opposite of its stated intent
I have my stash to last me the rest of my life. I plan to put the remaining into my will.
I haven't heard a peep from them on this subject.
(....see my tag line......)
Leni
I was changing a burned out compact fluorescent bulb in an outside porch light the other day, and it slipped from my hand and shattered on the ground... right across the street from an elementary school.
It’s more fun to actually break them and then take the pieces over to the school and bury them under the Monkey Bars.
SmithL, not surprising is it? BTW, Qbert, Lowes has drop-off recycling. However, I wonder how many people actually read the warning that’s printed on the CFL box about disposal requirements...and how many people will save the bulb and make an extra trip to a drop-off (retail stores, recyling centers, etc.)?
Compact Florescent Light bulbs are going to bring big, expensive, trouble to everyone who installs them. A look at the very recent history of the radon gas fiasco shows just how that will happen.
If you want to sell your house in Colorado, you are going to have to get it tested for the colorless, odorless gas called radon. That test will cost several hundred dollars, and needs to be read by a certified reader. If gas is found, and out here it almost always is, radon mitigation systems will need to be installed, starting at about a thousand, going up to many thousands. Then the test needs to be repeated, to make sure that the radon is brought under control.
CFLs will be the same. Do you rent? You will have to increase your deposit to rent. When you leave, you will be forced to ‘prove’ that you didn’t break a bulb during the course of the lease. That will cost you a couple hundred dollars. Did a bulb break while you lived there? Add another $500 or more for the professional to clean it up.
Do you own your own home? To sell your entire house will have to be declared ‘mercury free’ That will cost you several hundred dollars to get that piece of paper. If they find mercury, a profession is going to have to come in and clean it up. For a house, that could very well cost another thousand or more.
Radon gas mitigation is a scam, a racket designed to line the pockets of a few, at the expense of the foolish, and those of us who are caught in the traps mandated by folks who are foolish.
The same is on its way for those who are foolish enough, or rich enough, to use CFLs.
If you can’t afford the processes and costs I’ve outlined above, DON’T USE COMPACT FLORESCENT BULBS!
I’ve seen some dodges such as light bulbs in slightly nontraditional wattages e.g. 95 watts. Since they did not previously exist, there is nothing from the past to compare their efficiency to.
The Law of Unintended Consequences....ain’t it a bitch!
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