The dark side of CFLs

If you're like me, you've been gradually replacing the incandescent light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent bulbs.

The CFLs, as they're called, use far less energy than a traditional light bulb, give off only a fraction of the heat, and generally last 10 times longer.

I can vouch for the latter. I had a CFL in a lamp in my house that burned 24/7 for at least 2½ years before it bit the dust, and I have a suspicion that it's because it was grazed by an errant Frisbee.

CFLs have come a long way since they first debuted. The early ones cast that eerily cold bluish light like their larger cousins, the fluorescent tube. And they were much more expensive.

But through science, they've evolved. They now have softer, warmer, more incandescent-like color and the costs have been coming down. Wal-Mart hopes to sell 100 million CFLs between now and next year. The EPA has been encouraging Americans to use CDLs and has a "Change a Light, Change the World" Web site where you can pledge to replace a specific number in your home in the coming year (www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=cal.pledgeForm).

Nearly 8,000 people in Michigan already have pledged to install 20,550 bulbs, which will save about $579,736 in energy costs and keep 9.1 million pounds of polluting greenhouse gases out of the air.

I've been blissfully replacing my incandescents as they burn out with the just-as-bright but much-more-miserly CFLs. I figure I'm cutting my electric bill while doing my part to cut down on pollution from power plants - carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and others.



CFLs all contain small amounts of mercury, essentially making them little repositories of household hazardous waste. Mercury, of course, is pretty nasty stuff. It's a powerful neurotoxin that can affect both brain and body function.

After the Maniac alerted me to the CFL issue, I did some research and found out he wasn't crazy after all. A typical CFL holds about 4 milligrams of mercury, enough to cover the tip of a ballpoint pen. comparison, an old-fashioned mercury thermometer has about 500 milligrams.

Nowadays if you break an old thermometer, an EPA SWAT team might descend on your home.

Break a CFL and you have a slightly smaller problem.

The EPA has been encouraging people to use CFLs, but here's the advice they have if you break a CFL:

1. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.

2. Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a sealed plastic bag.

3. Use disposable rubber gloves, if available. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the plastic bag. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

4. Place all cleanup materials in a second sealed plastic bag. Place the first bag in a second sealed plastic bag and put it in the outdoor trash container or in another outdoor protected area for the next normal trash disposal.

5. Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.

If you break it on a carpet, the clean-up is more complex.

To dispose of a burned-out CFL, you're supposed to find a recycler who will take it (good luck with that). If you don't, you're supposed to seal it in two plastic bags and throw it out with the trash (so a future generation will have to deal with it).
Do you part for love earth today.

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