Posted on 11/11/2007 7:20:25 PM PST by Westlander
Mercury in CFL Bulbs
The average CFL bulb manufactured today contains 4mg of mercury. It is an essential part of CFLs without which we would not have such energy-efficient light bulbs. Although it is anything but optimal to have such a toxic material used in the manufacture of a green product, this is no reason not to replace all incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs at home and in the office.
Why? Because coal-fired power stations emit mercury - and during the average 5 year life of a CFL bulb the electricity generated to power it will have lead to smokestack emissions into the atmosphere of 2.4mg of mercury. Over the same 5 year period the electricity consumed by incandescent bulbs will result in 10mg of emissions. Therefore, even if you factor in the 4mg of mercury contained in the CFL bulb itself, the CFL is still a net winner.
Incandescents don’t use mercury.
Lloyd Levine (assembly person from of course California) is probably getting paid by the company or (ies) who make these bulbs. they can’t give those bulbs away.
Bill Handle was on the radio the day this bill passed explaining that the use of light bulbs only constitutes 2% of the entire electricity use in the state. Incandescent bulbs are not the problem.
Lloyd Levine is the problem.
and the companies that produce these bulbs, don’t mention that they contain mercury, a very toxic substance and will be costly to dispose of.... MORE TAXES.
See post #61
Our condo association chose to switch to CFL’s for outdoor lighting (protected - sorta)....there’s 2 on every unit that the HOA has to pay the bill for..... we’ll be saving hundreds of dollars each year, because the dern lights are on automatic sensors that come on even on a rainy or cloudy day.....and THIS is near Seattle after all. In other words, the lights are on for 8-12 hours a day.
I think you mean the other way around. A 26W CFL (new) is equivalent to a 100W incandescent (old). So a 26W CFL is most certainly compatible with a socket that is rated for a 100W, 75W, 60W, or even 40W incandescent.
I agree, however, that no one should INSIST someone ONLY use CFL’s.....let the market figure it out.....sheesh. I hate commie gov’t planners.
As a nation, we spend about one-quarter of our electricity on lighting, at a cost of more than $37 billion annually
Friends should not let friends vote Dem.
And for the record CFs are great and provide great energy savings. But there are circumstances where you would want an old fashioned incandescent bulb.
So tell me again why the government should force this on us?
I guess I agree with you that we should export our mercury pollution to China. Better them than us.
I'm not against the new bulbs, I'm against government mandating that I must use them. I have several light bulbs of the standard variety, when they are gone I will most likely try the new ones.
As I noted in a previous post I already have 2 CO2 detectors in my home and then state government passes a law that I must have one. It just generally pisses me off when the gov. interferes with this nanny state bull shit.
See post #49. I have no desire for the gov't to force anyone to switch to something, even if it is dumb to not do it.
They are made in China where coal fired powered plants are more common than in America and China could care less about stack scrubbers to clean mercury and other pollutants..
Exporting our mercury pollution to China. As Martha Stewart would say “It’s a good thing”
I agree with you. I see the issue as being about government interference and not light bulbs at all.
Right...but at a retail cost of $1.20 (which mean cost to the merchant of about 70¢ and cost to the producer of probably 50¢) the amount of energy would be next to nothing and hardly anything more than a regular light bulb. That ignores the fact that the normal CFL lasts for 5 years and a normal bulb lasts 1 year (meaning you’d have to purchase 5 bulbs). You also would be cutting off (according to the DOE) 18% of your energy use at your home to switch. I saw a 20% decline in energy use and a monthly savings of $30, personally.
CFL’s last way longer. 4 of them can be bought for $7. You can buy dimmable ones. They operate on 1/4 of the wattage of an incandescent to produce the same lumens.
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