CFL-Compact Fluorescent Lamp
June 2006-
Environmental Defense claims that [SIZE="3"][B]if every U.S. household was to replace three 60-watt incandescent bulbs with CFLs, the change could reduce pollution as much as taking 3.5 million cars off the road would.[/B][/SIZE]
I think most people on this forum are familiar with these bulbs. Basically, you can buy a CFL that only uses 20w of power but produces the same amount of light as a 75w traditional bulb. In time this saves you money from your electrical bill. CFLs also [B]last 8-15 times longer [/B]than incandescent, traditional, bulbs.
But every CFL contains a small amount of mercury. So are they really better for the environment? Coal power plants put so much mercury into the air that according to the EPA, when coal power is used, the mercury released from powering an incandescent bulb for five years exceeds the amount of the mercury released by powering a CFL for the same period and the mercury contained in the lamp. And over half of our country's energy comes from coal plants.
Yesterday an interesting article appeared on the web:[URL="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070328/tc_nm/lightbulbs_dc_2"]Mercury in energy-saving bulbs worries scientists[/URL]
Recycle your lightbulbs. According to the Association of Lighting and Mercury Recyclers, 70.8% of the mercury-lamps used by business and 98% of the lamps used in homes are not being recycled. Information on how you can recycle your's can be found at: [URL="earth911.org"]earth911.org[/URL]
Buy a cfl with low amounts of mercury.
It sounds like all philips bulbs have less mercury these days, but i know Philips has a line of bulbs called Alto which contain very low amounts of mercury. Alto bulbs can be bought at [URL="http://www.blackenergy.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=94"]blackenergy[/URL] or [URL="http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=alto"]energy federation.[/URL]
Philips also just anounced a new "Extreme Low Mercury" line: [URL="http://www.lighting.philips.com/gl_en/news/press/sustainability/archive_2006/reduction_in_mercury.php?main=global&parent=4390&id=gl_en_news&lang=en"]press release[/URL]
So go out and change some light bulbs!
Sign up at [URL="http://www.onebillionbulbs.com/"]onebillionbulbs.com[/URL] where you can record your bulb change history, calculate your savings, and see the results state by state.
I got most of my info from [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp"]wikopedia[/URL]
