Envioronmentally Friendly Lighting

[wdyasq]

Thinking things through:

http://tinyurl.com/2pk9d7

And the moral of this story is....

Ron

[dinges]

"And the moral of this story is...."

That there's a great business opportunity in the mercury waste disposal business?

Then again, mercury exposure -could- explain the, ehm, 'limited intellectual capability' that you so often observe with your fellow man.

My advice: Just go with the flow. Don't think things through. It'll only make your head hurt.

[TomW]

Ron;

Tinyurl is great for some things but the links it creates are only valid as long as tinyurl is free, exists, is accessible and retains it's database. If any of those conditions fail so will your tinyurl.

Just something I discovered awhile back when tinyurl went tits up awhile.

Just an angle on why using it in persistent postings may not be good. It is great for other instant linking uses [IRC], tho.

WRT the process whereby stupid people get to pay a premium. It was her own fault for mishandling the thing, breaking it, then making a Federal case out of it.

[tongue inserted in cheek]

Maybe we need a law that builds the disposal cost into the purchase cost of any device requiring special disposal or recycling at end of life..

We all know you cannot legislate common sense. I suspect thousands go to the landfill with no histrionics and probably minimal impact compared to the mercury the mining industry dumps every year.

Geeze.

Cheers.

TomW

[wdyasq]

Thanks for the heads up on tinyurl. The original is long:

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=aa7796aa-e4a5-4c06-be84-b62dee548fda

As I was posting this I was thinking of all the light tubes sent to the 'dump' without ceremony. It makes one wonder if those forcing CFL, and other lights containing Mercury, lights on customers are going to pay for the cleanup in event of an 'accident'.

Ron

[DanG]

The quanities of mercury in even off-brand or ancient CFL's is very small and the worst time for them to break is when brand new, the more they are used the more the conductive-reactive components are degraded into more inert well-bonded forms that sweeping and washing will carry away.

In CFL's, aside from initial dust and gas release, it is micro-spheres of metallic mercury that may be released that glue themselves onto surfaces and can't be wiped off that is a problem.

A old folk remedy was powdered sulphur dusted on surface where a mercury bulb thermometer broke to poison the mercury traces into a form that wouldn't evaporate, but I don't think that is useable - sulphur dust and sulphur candle fumigation just aren't popular these days for some reason...

[phil b]

In the case you want to make your head hurt, read this.

Here is a link to an excellent article from Mother Earth News entitled, "Bright Ideas for Home Lighting."

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Alternative-Energy/2007-04-01/Bright-Ideas-for-Home-Lighting.aspx

A few excerpts from the article...

Concerning mercury:

"Most experts say not to worry about the health effects of exposure to the mercury in a compact fluorescent, even if the bulb breaks. As a frame of reference, one CFL contains 4 milligrams of mercury, just a fraction of the 500 milligrams found in old mercury thermometers, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  In fact, using compact fluorescents actually reduces mercury pollution, because the main source of mercury pollution is coal-burning power plants -- the most common source of electricity in the United States. According to the EPA, the power used during the life of an incandescent bulb breaks down to about 10 milligrams of mercury pollution, compared to only 2.4 milligrams to operate a CFL for the same length of time."

"Consumers should know that the mercury in CFLs is not going to be detrimental to them in their home," Reed says. "But it's important to responsibly dispose of them, as you would any product that contains mercury -- batteries, old thermometers and thermostats."  Wilson has reached the same conclusion: "The take-home message is that when fluorescents have ceased to work properly, they shouldn't just be thrown in the trash; you should dispose of them through your local solid waste agency."

Concerning product quality:

"There are several reasons people have been reluctant to make the switch. One is the higher initial cost of the bulb. Another is historical problems with quality. Early CFLs tended to flicker when you hit the light switch, with a brief delay before they came on. The quality of the light could also make colors appear washed out.  However, new fluorescents and CFLs don't usually have these problems, says Alex Wilson, executive editor of Environmental Building News and author of Your Green Home. He explains that their light quality is higher today, and the technology has improved. "Today's fluorescents are produced with electronic ballasts, so they're not going to flicker and hum as they would with the older magnetic ballasts," he says