The Debate over CFLs
If there’s one product that could be called the poster child of the Green movement, it would be the compact fluorescent light bulb, or CFL. CFLs are simply miniature versions of full-sized tube fluorescents. Until recently, they were slow to brighten, and they didn’t always last as long as they claimed. Much has changed. Now CFLs come in many color temperatures and shapes, satisfying numerous installations. There are even CFLs that can be used with dimmer switches.
Although CFLs are still more expensive to purchase than an incandescent, you save money in the long run because CFLs use 1/3 the electricity and last up to 10 times as long as incandescent light bulbs. A single 18 watt CFL used in place of a 75 watt incandescent will save about 570 kWh over its lifetime. At 8 cents per kWh, that equates to a $45 savings; at 12 cents per kWh, it would save $68.
But, what about the Mercury? There has been debate of the use of CFLs due to them containing mercury. How do you properly dispose of them? What do you do if they break?
CFLs can be recycled and many retailers such as Home Depot will take them back and recycle them for you. The home-improvement behemoth hopes the new program will keep the bulbs, which contain a small amount of mercury, out of household trash and recycling bins. Other stores also collects CFLs for recycling but most don’t have the market saturation of Home Depot; more than three-quarters of U.S. households are estimated to be within 10 miles of a Home Depot store. The company's 1,973 U.S. stores will also switch to CFLs in light-fixture showrooms this fall, a move expected to save it $16 million annually in energy costs.
If a CFL breaks in your home the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that you do the following: open nearby windows to disperse any vapor that may escape, carefully sweep up the fragments (do not use your hands) and wipe the area with a disposable paper towel to remove all glass fragments. Do not use a vacuum. Place all fragments in a sealed plastic bag and dispose of at the nearest Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Site.
So, is it worth the risk? I recently learned that mercury is released into the air when coal is burned, and roughly 50% of America’s electricity is produced in coal burning plants. A power plant will emit 10 mg of mercury to produce the electricity needed to run an incandescent bulb compared to only 2.4 mg of mercury to run a CFL for the same time. That means that use of the CFL will actually prevent six to eight mgs of mercury from entering the environment.
The bottom line is that CFLs save energy, and reduce the amount of harmful substances, including mercury. Here are some interesting statistics: By replacing a single incandescent bulb with a CFL you can keep a half ton of CO2 out of the atmosphere over the life of the bulb. If everyone in the U.S. used energy-efficient lighting, we could retire 90 average size power plants. Saving electricity reduces CO2 emissions, sulfur dioxide and high-level nuclear waste. If every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulbwith an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL, in one year it would save enoughenergy to light more than 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gasemissions equivalent to those of more than 800,000 cars!
If there’s one product that could be called the poster child of the Green movement, it would be the compact fluorescent light bulb, or CFL. CFLs are simply miniature versions of full-sized tube fluorescents. Until recently, they were slow to brighten, and they didn’t always last as long as they claimed. Much has changed. Now CFLs come in many color temperatures and shapes, satisfying numerous installations. There are even CFLs that can be used with dimmer switches.
Although CFLs are still more expensive to purchase than an incandescent, you save money in the long run because CFLs use 1/3 the electricity and last up to 10 times as long as incandescent light bulbs. A single 18 watt CFL used in place of a 75 watt incandescent will save about 570 kWh over its lifetime. At 8 cents per kWh, that equates to a $45 savings; at 12 cents per kWh, it would save $68.
But, what about the Mercury? There has been debate of the use of CFLs due to them containing mercury. How do you properly dispose of them? What do you do if they break?
CFLs can be recycled and many retailers such as Home Depot will take them back and recycle them for you. The home-improvement behemoth hopes the new program will keep the bulbs, which contain a small amount of mercury, out of household trash and recycling bins. Other stores also collects CFLs for recycling but most don’t have the market saturation of Home Depot; more than three-quarters of U.S. households are estimated to be within 10 miles of a Home Depot store. The company's 1,973 U.S. stores will also switch to CFLs in light-fixture showrooms this fall, a move expected to save it $16 million annually in energy costs.
If a CFL breaks in your home the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that you do the following: open nearby windows to disperse any vapor that may escape, carefully sweep up the fragments (do not use your hands) and wipe the area with a disposable paper towel to remove all glass fragments. Do not use a vacuum. Place all fragments in a sealed plastic bag and dispose of at the nearest Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Site.
So, is it worth the risk? I recently learned that mercury is released into the air when coal is burned, and roughly 50% of America’s electricity is produced in coal burning plants. A power plant will emit 10 mg of mercury to produce the electricity needed to run an incandescent bulb compared to only 2.4 mg of mercury to run a CFL for the same time. That means that use of the CFL will actually prevent six to eight mgs of mercury from entering the environment.
The bottom line is that CFLs save energy, and reduce the amount of harmful substances, including mercury. Here are some interesting statistics: By replacing a single incandescent bulb with a CFL you can keep a half ton of CO2 out of the atmosphere over the life of the bulb. If everyone in the U.S. used energy-efficient lighting, we could retire 90 average size power plants. Saving electricity reduces CO2 emissions, sulfur dioxide and high-level nuclear waste. If every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulbwith an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL, in one year it would save enoughenergy to light more than 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gasemissions equivalent to those of more than 800,000 cars!