Why do people think that those new spiral lightbulbs are so environmental friendly? they have mercury in them?

Question

SO you cant just throw them away and what about nickel cadium batteries in the new hybrids? once again not just something you can throw away.....i dont get it...

Answer 1

so do regular florescent light bulbs...

Answer 2

Lots of things have mercury in them. Most things you wouldn't even realize. One must also think about the energy that you are saving when using a energy efficient bulb. This means less dependency on fossil fuels and decreasing the amount of pollution we are putting into our atmosphere.

Answer 3

I put them in all the fixtures in my house.  It cut my electric bill by 30%.  I think that means they use 30% less energy.  I haven't had one burn out yet (2 years) so I hadn't even thought about disposal.  d**n, it's always something.

Answer 4

they have mercury in them, but you should know that the electricity that powers your incandescent bulbs produces more mercury at the coal plant then your CFL contains, and produces at the coal plant.  Catch my drift?

4mg mercury in a cfl, 2mg from the coal plant.

0 mg (I think) in an incandescent, but 8-13 mg is released at the coal plant to make the electricity for it.  

So it works out to less of an impact

Answer 5

The amount of mercury in the bulb is less than the amount of mercury in the extra coal that would have to be burned to power the less efficient incandescent bulbs. You CAN just throw them away. Only large users of the big 4 and 8 foot tube fluorescent lights (you know, the ones that many people have in their kitchen, and that light almost all the commercial buildings and schools and such) are required to recycle them, because they are big enough for the mercury to be worth recovering.

Nickel Cadmium batteries are no more of a hazard than lead acid batteries, and every car has a big lead acid battery in it to run the starter motor. A hybrid car battery is only about twice as big as the lead acid starter battery in a regular car. What is the big deal with nickel anyway? Are you afraid of nickel? Do you refuse to accept nickels in change? Do you reject nickel steel products, which is where most nickel is used? Get real!

Answer 6

I believe it's because they last so much longer than other bulbs - so disposal is much less frequent.  

After your question tho - I do wonder if waste disposal sites that villages run for recycling accept them so disposal is environmentally friendly as well.

Answer 7

I didn't know they had mercury in them! Yikes!

Answer 8

They are considered friendly because the produce more light with less electricity. They also last a lot longer so we need fewer of them over time. BTW, all bulbs contain traces of mercury.

The good news on NiCad batteries is that they are recyclable and with the price of Nickel these days, there is strong motivation to do so.

Answer 9

They don't use as much electricty so you can save money on your electric bill plus they last for a very long time! i just try not to drop them!!!!

Answer 10

splash

Compact fluorescent light bulbs, right now, are more " eco-friendly" then anything else most consumers can get a hold of (ie. incandescent) and currently save over 2000 times their own weight in greenhouse gases. You can just throw them away, but if broken the mercury does burn ozone (just like most other elements). the question is which is "less" environmentally friendly. A power plant that billows out 2 times the smog it would typically if no one used CFL's or the amount of mercury that leaks into the atmosphere from the broken bulbs.

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.

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.

As for the second part of your question...

the answer is similar to the first. again yes cad batteries pollute, but which is worst 1/2 the smog (chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs) or leaking batteries.

Eventually the perfect answer would be neither.  Then there's hydrogen, I've  converted about 6 vehicles to run on hydrogen, 2 for myself (my 3rd car is a 100% EV conversion), my home hot water heater, home stove and home generator on hydrogen. There are basically 3 safe ways to make and use it... chemically, electrically and molecularly.

If you're interested in DIY I have several step by step guide available at http://www.agua-luna.com/guides.html to walk you threw the process yourself. In my EV i don't use NC batts, i use Optima Yellow top sealed liquid led gel batts. they're' not much better but they are better. EV conversion guides are also at that link...

http://www.agua-luna.com/guides.html

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the co version process if you’re interested.

Dan Martin

Retired Boeing Engineer now living 100% Off-the-Grid with my family, using Alternative Energy & loving every minute.

for more info visit agua-luna com

Hope this helped,

Dan Martin

Retired Boeing Engineer now living 100% Off-the-Grid with my family, using Alternative Energy & loving every minute.

for more info visit www.agua-luna.com

Answer 11

Mercury and nickel and cadmium are all resources that can easily be recovered and reused over and over again. We don't want you to throw them away. This disposal society stuff is not working. They omit less carbon and are better for the environment.

Start thinking in these terms on every level, reduce, reuse and recycle.

Answer 12

They have mercury in them but far less than the amount of mercury in normal floresent light bulbs. One of the waste products with producing energy is mercury which gets into the water, air, and ground. The amount of mercury polution not produced because of the energy savings is significantly more than the amount of mercury in the light bulbs. Plus most towns have save disposal facilities for lightbulbs, batteries, and other hazardous waste.