Chicago Sun Times: A look at the dark side
Filed under: Earth 911 - April 23, 2007
Howard Wolinsky, The Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun Times
April 22, 2007 Sunday
Mercury makes these bulbs work
Compact fluorescent lights, CFLs, aren’t perfect.
They might take longer to switch on than incandescent bulbs. Regular CFLs won’t work with dimmer switches. The bulbs also can interfere with radios, cordless phones and remote controls.
Strangely for a product touted as “green,” CFLs contain mercury, a toxic metal that can poison the nervous system and cause trembling, nervousness and dementia. To quote Kermit the Frog, it isn’t easy being green.
Mercury plays an essential role in the operation of fluorescent bulbs, said Jennifer Dolin, environmental marketing manager for Osram Sylvania, a CFL manufacturer. Electrical current in the bulbs stimulates mercury atoms. which release ultraviolet photons. The photons, in turn, stimulate the phosphor coating the bulb’s glass tube, emitting visible light, according to Howstuffworks.com.
Dolin said manufacturers have reduced the quantity of mercury in fluorescent bulbs. It’s now about 5 milligrams per bulb, about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
Dolin said shattered glass from broken bulbs poses a bigger risk to consumers than does the mercury.
Tim Melloch, the “Energy Doctor” and spokesman for ComEd, said CFLs are a boon to the environment: “Using CFLs prevents coal-fired power plants from emitting far more mercury than is contained in a bulb.” According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, a coal-fired power plant will emit 13.6 milligrams of mercury to produce electricity required for an incandescent light bulb, compared with 3.3 milligrams for a CFL.
Dolin noted that manufacturers use recycled mercury in CFLs. Consumers are encouraged to recycle bulbs so the mercury from today’s burned-out CFL can be used in tomorrow’s new bulb.
CFLs are not supposed to be disposed of in the regular trash. For information on disposal programs, enter your ZIP code at ww.earth911.org. LampRecycle.org lists links to manufacturer-sponsored recycling programs.
CFLs are today’s best choice for lowering energy use and power bills. But coming soon are “digital bulbs” made from LEDs, light-emitting diodes, which will use less electricity, last even longer and don’t pose the same downsides as CFLs.
hwolinsky@suntimes.com