The Goods on CFLs
(get it?)
Goody asks a good question:
"Johnson, make 10 Million dollars, and buy everyone in America 1 of these lightbulbs. It would reduce emissions by 800,000 tons/year.
But on the downside, there is a small amount of mercury in these bulbs. How do we dispose of them?"
I would love to make 10 million for this purpose. Or just to keep my lazy ass from having to work all that much anymore. But here's my skinny on the deal...it's a great question.
A deposit on them which is refundable when they are recycled? Don't think it would work well but it would be better than not. As with many things, doing the "right thing" is the answer (why pollute the environment by throwing them away when you can take them to be recycled?) Recycling the little devils is really pretty easy.
If you're buying, buy Phillips (and maybe GE?) because they have less Hg per bulb than others, less than 2mg each.
I also read somewhere that even with Hg in the bulbs, you save more Hg contamination from NOT burning coal for electricity (vs. incandescent bulbs).
Oh, and while we're at it, there is quite a lot (relatively speaking) of mercury in cars. There are trace amounts in many switches, but there are a lot of switches in your car. What do we do with cars these days? In Maine we drive them out back and let them rust into the ground. We don't even take them to the junkyard, which at least moves all the pollution to someone else's land...
(get it?)
Goody asks a good question:
"Johnson, make 10 Million dollars, and buy everyone in America 1 of these lightbulbs. It would reduce emissions by 800,000 tons/year.
But on the downside, there is a small amount of mercury in these bulbs. How do we dispose of them?"
I would love to make 10 million for this purpose. Or just to keep my lazy ass from having to work all that much anymore. But here's my skinny on the deal...it's a great question.
A deposit on them which is refundable when they are recycled? Don't think it would work well but it would be better than not. As with many things, doing the "right thing" is the answer (why pollute the environment by throwing them away when you can take them to be recycled?) Recycling the little devils is really pretty easy.
If you're buying, buy Phillips (and maybe GE?) because they have less Hg per bulb than others, less than 2mg each.
I also read somewhere that even with Hg in the bulbs, you save more Hg contamination from NOT burning coal for electricity (vs. incandescent bulbs).
Oh, and while we're at it, there is quite a lot (relatively speaking) of mercury in cars. There are trace amounts in many switches, but there are a lot of switches in your car. What do we do with cars these days? In Maine we drive them out back and let them rust into the ground. We don't even take them to the junkyard, which at least moves all the pollution to someone else's land...
