Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs and Earthquakes?

Question

This isn't strictly a global warming question but since global warming reduction is one of the key selling points of the things I thought I would put it here. (I use them simply because I am a miser)

Several sources indicate what a hazard they are if they break because of the mercury they use to flouresce. While I assume some of this is just political panic mongering my question is: What happens to these things in a strong earthquake? By congressional fiat they (or hopefully LED replacements) will be required. Is this setting up a large scale mercury contamination risk in the event of earthquake?

California, where many liberals reside, has strong earthquakes fairly often. Are they putting themselves at risk by following leftist pied pipers such as Gore, Pelosi, and Obama?

Answer 1

There is only 6mg of mercury in a CFL.  If it breaks, and the gas disperses, the concentration in the air decreases as the gas spreads, so I would imagine it wouldnt be too much of a threat.   Plus, the bulbs slowly leak the mercury vapors out during their lifespan.  They stop working because of this...  So if you break one that doesnt work anymore, there probably isnt much to worry about.

Answer 2

if it was a problem  then UL would not allow them to be sold at all.... so any risk is a minimal one. i broke one of them in my room and i never got sick.... they only have a small amount of  mercury vapor in them no liquid is present.. so in an earth quake the vapors would quickly dissipate.

Answer 3

it's nice to see an INTELLIGENT question on this subject. personally i wonder what will happen when a major power surge occurs and thousands of these poisonous bulbs explode in thousands of homes. is it all part of  a carefully crafted "purification" plan?

have-a-loving-day!

Answer 4

I think that is a risk that they haven't really addressed yet.  They are really trying to emphasize the pluses, but haven't addressed concerns as strongly as they should for such a widespread implementation.

They do say that you should use a dropcloth to even change the bulb (in case you drop it and it breaks). If a bulb breaks, you aren't supposed to shake the rug or vaccuum...but clean it up with tape?!

There are far too many unadressed issues for me to feel comfortable with a widespread requirement. Certainly those natural disasters are an issue. Not only will we have all the worry of every other toxic substance, mercury warnings will be added.

Seems like the scientists need to keep at it and figure out an even better plan.

Answer 5

Note that ALL fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury.  The long ones contain 2-5 times as much as a compact fluorescent.

No one seemed to worry about breaking those, although many places have programs to recycle them.

In any event the risk of an earthquake breaking fluorescent lights is pretty small.  If the earthquake is big enough to do that, you've got other problems.

By the way, do you mean leftist pied pipers like these?

"Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich challenged fellow conservatives to stop resisting scientific evidence of global warming"

"National Review (the most prestigious conservative magazine) published a cover story calling on conservatives to shake off denial and get into the climate policy debate"

"Pat Robertson (very conservative Christian leader) 'It is getting hotter and the ice caps are melting and there is a build up of carbon dioxide in the air.  We really need to do something on fossil fuels.”

"I believe there is now more than enough evidence of climate change to warrant an immediate and comprehensive - but considered - response. Anyone who disagrees is, in my view, still in denial."

Ford Motor Company CEO William Clay Ford, Jr.

"The science of global warming is clear. We know enough to act now. We must act now."

James Rogers, CEO of Charlotte-based Duke Energy.

Answer 6

I would think mercury release would be the least of your worries in an Earthquake. The amount of mercury in these bulbs in extremely small. Smaller than the amount in the regular 4 foot long fluorescent tubes I have in my kitchen and that are in every school, store, office and commercial building. I remember seeing a photograph of a worker in the 1930s or some time like that floating on a pool of mercury. It looked like he was sitting on a rubber sheet, not sinking up to the neck in it like in water, because a human body is MUCH less dense than mercury and floats VERY nigh out of the pool. This was a vat of hundreds of gallons of mercury. That was back before people got all paranoid about every teeny tiny little thing that has even a 0.000001% chance of causing harm. By the way, silver tooth fillings have mercury in them. Right there in your mouth all the time.

Answer 7

As far as earthquakes are concerned, the CFLs are a s***w in base, where the old tube styles were 1/4 turn with VERY loose connections, so, easy to fall out.  But they have been used for decades.  My thoughts would be the newer styles are safer.

However, I don't see why they couldn't manufacture them with thicker glass, other than the cost.

On another note, mercury or any other hazardous material is harmful if ingested or large doses of minute particles are inhaled.  In other words, don't break them up after they burn out and sprinkle them over your Wheaties.  Everything is harmful if over-exposure takes place.  Adults don't eat paint chips containing lead, but small infants or toddlers, even pets, might chew on a painted surface.  That is the real reason for removing the lead from paint. Many other products in the home contain lead, you just don't realize it.  They are harmless to you.

Answer 8

These things are a nightmare. Someone dropped one and called for instructions on cleaning up the broken mess from the floor. After being referred from one office to another, the HazMat team told her to call the EPA.

You wouldn't believe the recommended procedure for cleaning up the mess due to the risk of inhaling the mercury. See the link below for cleaning up after a single bulb breaks.

First you need to ventilate the room for several hours. Then you must determine whether to replace the carpet when the bulb broke since it may remain contaminated if you don't. Simply vacuuming up the mess is not advised since the vacuuming process can return mercury into the air you're breathing, especially if you have small children. At least you'll need to ventilate the room the next few times you vacuum.

Use a glass jar with a metal cover and gum seal contained the mercury vapor. If you do use a vacuum for clean up it can become contaminated by mercury such that it cannot be easily decontaminated and may need to be disposed of. Just breaking a light bulb may require you to evacuate your house overnight, replace the carpet and/or your vacuum cleaner, and/or hire a professional to be sure no toxins get left behind.

Kind of a high price to pay for a slight energy savings and now I'm sorry I refitted several of my fixtures. Eventually they'll need to go to a landfill where they'll contaminate the ground and possible the groundwater for decades to come.

***edit

Hmm, hearing that CFLs leak tiny amounts of mercury all the time didn't make me feel any better about having them in my house but on researching further it gets absorbed by the tube and phosphor and not actually released. The point really is that we're rushing from incandescent lighting into an old technology with proven risks. Why not wait a couple years longer until LED lights are usable for house lighting?

I don't see this as a global warming issue, more of a green living or environmental topic. It's a safety issue I'd think environmentalists would be upset about since eventually these bulbs will get thrown in the trash and dumped into landfills all over the country. It isn't important that they only contain a few mg of mercury when we're talking about millions of bulbs. Additionally the CFLs I've seen don't tell you the precautions needed for cleaning up a broken bulb.

Answer 9

It seems strange when we are trying to get rid of other pollutants that someone designs this light bulb that takes a lot of energy to make and has mercury in it.  It ends up not being enough mercury to worry about as long as you don't really mess around with it.  Trust me if you get an earthquake that is large enough to break them you have bigger problems than .5mg of mercury.

Answer 10

You might try to consider that flourescent light fixtures have been in widespread use, all over the world for many decades.  Not only have they been in common use in industrial and commercial buildings, residential building codes in most communities require their use in many types of rooms of a house.

The addition of a few more, SMALLER flourescent bulbs will not pose much of a threat.  There is no feature built into flourescents that require them to, automatically, self destruct in an earthquake.

I'm afraid your political bias is getting in the way of clear thinking.

Answer 11

it would have to be a hella strong earthquake. I've used them in my smallest aquarium since before the enviro trends and dropped them many, many times without ever even having one crack.

Answer 12

Our goal should be removing toxins like mercury from homes.  It seams strange and like we're taking steps backwards forcing people to add more mercury in their homes.  What's next?  Putting lead back into paint?

CF Lights isn't going to reduce co2, as the economy will still continue to grow and more coal power plants will be built.