apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Unfortunately we are releasing mercury into the air in a multitude of ways, that CFLs are only a minor part of the problem. The benefit of energy savings offsets the issue of mercury in CFLs.

This does not let us off the hook. Until LEDs become a better solution, people will need to recycle CFLs properly.

This issue has been a bit of a red herring- we use all kinds of products containing toxic elements (batteries for one). I wish that everyone would look at thier lives as critically as with the CFL debate.

I wish it were easier to recycle and dispose of these things (like batteries and CFLs).

CFLs are unusual in allowing you to release solid mercury in your own home if a bulb breaks. Given that our household bulb breakage is exclusively from pets knocking over lamps when I'm not home, I'm worried about the prospect of having them around something where the clean-up instructions involve gloves, hazardous waste disposal, and instructions to run a fan and stay out of the room for 12-15 hours.

On a site that worries about household cleaners that are much less hazardous in normal use, I'm really surprised at the advocacy of a practice that could kill pets.

the mercury in a CFL is such a low amount dropping an old thermometer is more dangerous. All of our parents have done that at least once, or handled mercury. Sure its dangerous, but in perspective you have a higher risk of getting mercury poisoning from eating too many polluted fish than breaking a CFL in your household.

I think staying out of the room for 12-15 hours might be an over-estimate - it doesn't say anything about waiting that long on the EPA's how to dispose of CFLs info-sheet (warning: pdf). I got that link from Pharyngula blog, which was debunking the myth that it costs $2000 to clear up a broken CFL.

I read recently that mercury free cfl's are due out sometime by the end of the year. It wasn't sourced, so not sure by which manufacturer, but seems like progress is being made on this issue.

For many of us this is a non starter since 1) CFLs (dimable ones) don't work well with dimmers (I tried), and 2) there are no CFLs that work with fixtures designed for bi-pin halogen as most of my fixtures are, and 3) I won't risk my or my pet's health.

I wish we could stop being force fed the whole CFL religious stuff.

I turn off lights not in use, the whole point of having dimmers and an X-10 controller is I only use the amount of light I need, I hibernate my PC when it's not being used (when I'm watching TV the PC is off).

So please, let's stop treating CFLs as if they're the Second Coming. Enough already... ;->

Umm the mercury is not going to kill you or your pet in the quantities of a CFL. Has anyone of you even cleaned up a mercury spill? Its pretty hard to do-it goes everywhere but where you want it to and keeps on dividing into smaller and smaller droplets. It would be pretty difficult for Fido or Whiskas to swallow these. Enough with the hysteria on both sides.

Mr Green on the Sierra Club website says there is roughly 140 times more mercury in a household thermometer then there is an a CFL.

CFLs contain mercury equivalent to the end of a ballpoint pen. PrettyKitty is right, there is a greater hazard in people throwing away old thermostats when they remodel their homes. If you live near an IKEA they will recycle your CFLs for free.

Here's where to get affordable LED lighting.

No bulbs for standard sockets but they do have bulbs for the more common bi-pin halogen sockets.

I just ordered a bunch of their puck lights to replace the halogens in my entertainment center and lighted bookcases.

http://www.lightingfx.com/cat--LED-Lighting--LED

Since they sell MR-16 style bulbs, a common one, and available in 120V versions, I wondered about adapters.

So here's a $10 adapter that will let you use an MR-16 base LED bulb in a standard lamp socket. Of course in a table lamp the end result would look different than a regular bulb but I'd try it once just to see, myself.

http://www.solarseller.com/halogen_bulb_adapters__bayonet_base__wedge_base__mr_16.htm


Here's an adapter to convert a recessed flood style fixture (R-30, MR-30 bulbs) to MR-16, so you can use LED bulbs in your pot-lights. Let me know if you find a US distributor for these and I'll buy some.

http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/11087342/MR_16_Adapter.html


So anyway, now that we know LED's are "here" and priced competitively with CFLs with non of the drawbacks, can we stop hearing about CFL's? ;->

JonathanB - maybe a seperate post on LED bulbs with the information I just posted? ;->