Are these new light bulbs really environmentally friendly?

Question

Bryce, we don't have enough used cooking oil to fuel the demand for our automobiles and other vehicles. We also don't have enough crop land for any type of crop, switchgrass or other, to devote to biofuel production that would meet our avaricious demand for transportation fuel without taking up significant amounts of land that is currently used for food crops. Currently, biofuels are being manufactured and experimented with from a number of different sources of crops. Meanwhile, the people in Haiti are eating dirt to survive and some Asians cannot get rice.

Answer 1

Let me start off by saying we (my family and I) live 100% off of the grid and are completely self-sufficient with a 0% Carbon footprint. I believe this is the first step anyone can make “help the environment”. Once you convert your own life style to a greener more eco friendly route, you can start helping others.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs, right now, are more " eco-wise" then anything else most consumers can get a hold of (ie. incandescent) and currently save over 2000 times their own weight in greenhouse gases.

But since my house is completely on solar / wind and we REALLY need to watch usage, every light is fitted with s***w type (typical 110v lamp socket style) LED bulbs. They emit the same luminosity (typically 45) but at only 1watt rather then a 45w compact or 10w CFL. However they usually cost twice as much as CFLs which is twice as much (or more) as compacts. Still LEDs would be the way to go by far.

As for the second part of your question...

Mercury IS the lesser of the evils, without getting toooo elaborate discussing specifics (ie. which burns ozone faster, other layer's besides ozone, disposing locations, methods, wind conditions, etc), one needs less mercury gas then most others, to obtain the same luminosity in a vacuum because of mercury's longer agitated spectral wavelength. Mercury's wavelength is more blue which is a longer more "luminous" or brighter light to say sodium, which is a more light orange or shorter less bright (red being the shortest) wavelength. so you'd need more sodium or other, in the tube or more electricity to the tube, to create the same luminosity as mercury.

so mercury wins out only because the sheer volume needed is less then the others.

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at  www agua-luna com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Alterative Energy / Sustainable Consultant, Living 100% on Alternative & Author of How One Simple Yet Incredibly Powerful Resource Is Transforming The Lives of Regular People From All Over The World... Instantly Elevating Their Income & Lowering Their Debt, While Saving The Environment by Using FREE ENERGY... All With Just One Click of A Mouse...For more info Visit:  

www AGUA-LUNA com

Stop Global Warming!!!

Answer 2

I have been very worried about the mercury in the new light bulbs.  My problem with them is the same as you, I don't want them breaking and contaminating my family.  There are some that have lower levels of mercury, the thing is they don't need to be made with mercury in them, but they are easier and cheaper to manufacture using the mercury.  And you know lots of people will not be disposing of them once they burn out, many people will be putting them in the garbage.  I think instead of these bulbs more wind turbines should have been built to replace the coal plants, and in my area we only have hydro power which is a "clean" energy so why are we forced to buy them? The other bulbs are being banned.

I just want to comment on something that Bryce said about the L. E.D.  lighting.  That is a great idea, I never thought of that, I know L.E.D. lighting might look a bit weird, but it would be a great idea for my kids rooms since they are hardly ever in them and then I don't have to worry about the CFL's breaking in the lamp, I can just get an L.E.D. lamp.

Answer 3

I have roughly 30 cfl's in my house and have not had any problems and have saved 25% on my energy bills, I accidently dropped one from about 6 feet up and it did'nt break so they are pretty sturdy if you are really concerned though you could always look into L.E.D. lighting. Regarding biofuels the only bad one is ethanol made from corn, we could make it from switchgrass which would'nt affect the food supply and biodeisel is probably the best because it is used vegatable oil that would be used anyway in fryers and it is an eco friendly way to dispose of used cooking oil.

Answer 4

yah they say they are green but thay are not. good for u for reading the package

Answer 5

This has been answered numerous times. Try running a search in yahoo answers for answers that have already been given. Or try running a 10 second google search and you'll get more information than this site will ever give you.

To restate previous responses to this issue, CF light-bulbs reduce the overall mercury released into the environment by reducing the amount of electricity produced by mercury releasing coal power plants. The amount of mercury in a CF light bulb is one fifth of the amount present in a standard fluorescent tube and no one complained about the thousands of them used in a typical one stop shopping center.

There is also more than a weeks worth of "healthy" exposure to mercury in the average can of tuna.

As for bio- fuels, not only are they only a small contributor to the current global food crisis, they are also not endorsed by the majority of environmentalists (Especially corn based ethanol, which is what you are most likely referring to)

Answer 6

Overall CFLs reduce the total amount of mercury, because coal power plants create mercury as a by-product, so by reducing energy consumption they reduce mercury emissions (they also only contain an amount of mercury the size of the tip of a ball point pen).  See this graphic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mercu...

If you break one yeah the cleanup takes a little effort, but when was the last time you dropped a lightbulb?

If you're really concerned about it, you can buy an LED instead which cost a lot up front, but use barely any energy and last forever.

http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/ca...

*additional details*

They're not going to poison anybody unless maybe you don't clean it up after you break one (and probably not even then).  Consider how much mercury was in old thermomters (that you put in your mouth!).  These bulbs have a ballpoint pen tip's amount of mercury.  It's very minimal.

"How about some other alternative that does not involve exposing our families to mercury? "

I gave you one - LEDs.

"Also, when people fail to properly recycle these bulbs, it will increase the mercury in the environment."

Wrong.  The larger amount mercury that would have otherwise released from coal power plants would also be in the environment.  Therefore CFLs decrease the amount of mercury in the environment.

You're being too emotional about this subject.  You need to look at the facts from an unbiased perspective.  When you do, it's clear that CFLs are better for the environment than incandescents.

Answer 7

the link doesn't work

Answer 8

I bought them myself, but now I'm wondering what I'm going to do in a couple of years when they start burning out. I'll have to take them to a recycling center, and the only one I know of around here takes an extra half hour to get to, and it's nowhere close to where I normally go. I had originally planned on replacing all of my lightbulbs with them, but now I'm not sure I'm going to.