January 2010
Q: Don’t the new energy-efficient CFLs (compact fluorescent lights) contain harmful mercury?
A:The standard CFL contains approximately 5 milligrams of mercury, which is about the amount it would take to cover the period at the end of this sentence. By comparison, older home thermometers contain about 500 mg of mercury and many manual thermostats contain up to 3000 mg. It would take between 100 and 665 CFLs to equal those amounts.
CFLs are safe to use in your home. No mercury is released when the bulbs are in use, and they pose no danger to you or your family when used properly.
The use of CFLs actually helps to avoid mercury being released into the environment. This is possible because CFLs use up to 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs and last from 8–10 times as long. Because CFLs use less energy, less electricity has to be generated to run them which, in turn, leads to less mercury released. (Mercury is a by-product of generation.)
An additional benefit of CFL use is the reduction of landfill waste. Since CFLs last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, you could throw away up to 10 incandescent light bulbs over the life of a single CFL.
CFLs need to be recycled properly. You can return spent CFLs to most Home Depot stores. Also, check with your electric cooperative or your county or municipal government recycling program. Additional recycling centers can be found at www.epa.gov/bulbrecycling or www.earth911.org.
Once a CFL has been dropped off to a CFL recycling facility it is sent to a recycling plant by the participating recycler. One is located in South Carolina and another in Johnson City, Tenn.
If a CFL breaks, carefully sweep up all the fragments, wipe the area with a wet towel, and dispose of all fragments, including the used towel, in a sealed plastic bag. If possible, open windows to allow the room to ventilate. Do not use a vacuum.
More guidelines are at www.energystar.gov.
Sources: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Berkeley Electric Cooperative, Blue Ridge Electric.
Can you help others save energy?
Send your conservation ideas or questions to us:
P.O. Box 27306, Raleigh, NC 27611, or E-mail: editor@carolinacountry.com