I read an article a few days back about the CFL bulbs. Man I didn’t know they were so bad. Can’t believe they can even cause cancer.
Also are hazardous to the environment..
They do contain Mercury and should not ever be thrown away. They should be taken to a toxic disposal facility. I don't know much about what is done with them after that, but I think they are still worth it as long as they are handled properly. (Especially since one lasts 5 years so you aren't disposing of as many of them.) I do see the concern though. Somewhere on Huddler there is another forum post about what to do if you ever break one, it was kind of scary.
You might find this interesting: http://greenhome.huddler.com/forum/thread/667/cfl-without-mecury
The EPA has cleanup guidelines if you break a CFL. They're really pretty straightforward.
It's not something I'm the least bit concerned about, because first of all, how often do you break lightbulbs? Secondly, if you do break one, the cleanup is pretty easy, and there's really not that much mercury in the bulbs.
That's pretty scary. I always thought CFL's were good. Infact, we have
them all around our house.
CFL's are a pretty good solution. I'm not sure why they didn't just skip CFL development and go right to LED development. (well I do know why..)
A CFL will have 2-4mg of mercury in it, so when you do break them, keep the kids and pets away and air out the room.
I think the biggest issue is that something like 97% of CFL's are NOT disposed of correctly. So there is a potential for un-needed mercury exposure do to people's laziness.
As far as a CFL lasting 5 years... that really depends on how much you turn them off and on. The more they get switched, the sooner they die.
the LED technology gets better and better everyday and soon will drown out CFL bulbs.
Here are a couple links that might help folks out
http://www.environmentalled.com/Favorite-uses-of-LED-light-bulbs-15.html
and
http://www.environmentalled.com/Why-LED-Light-Bulbs-are-the-Safest-Lighting-Solution-16.html
It will just take time. Sad- over time how many plain old light bulbs got stuck in receptacles due to temperature or humidity change? This might just backlash when CFL bulbs do not easily unscrew and break with extra force. Mercury or chemicals all over your hands.
I never thought about it a few years ago- getting several packs of 6 on sale at Costco; and 1 year later hearing about so hardly any disposal sites taking them; so I have quite an amount of these, and my condo building has hundreds of CFL bulbs. I can just wait nervously now to see what happens over more time.
I don't especially worry, but I have become wary!
A few stores like Ikea have CFL disposal bins.
LEDs are certainly a better technology, but while they're on par with CFLs in terms of lifetime costs, the up-front costs are a barrier for a lot of people.
