Are CFLs Green?

“You know, those CFLs aren’t that green,” my brother-in-law declared.

My husband and I were helping him move into his new house and talking about lighting.  We, like so many of us, have dutifully replaced our incandescent bulbs with CFLs.  You know, because “they” told us to.  So, I didn’t say anything to my brother-in-law. I just kept moving boxes and thinking, “What are you talking about?”

After visiting “Google University,” I’m deciding that Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) are green!  And they are not green.  Why can’t anything be simple?

CFLs are green.

CFLs use up to 75% less electricity than an incandescent light bulb.
They also last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

CFLs are not green.

4 to 5 millimeters of mercury is contained in
each CFL. This amount fits on the tip of a ballpoint pen.

CFLs contain mercury.  You know, that silver liquid previously used in glass thermometers? The mercury is required to make the lamp efficient.  There’s between four and five millimeters of mercury in each CFL. That’s enough to contaminate 6,000 gallons of water, but it’s small enough to fit on the tip of a ballpoint pen.  If the CFL breaks, you will be exposed to mercury.  Mercury is toxic in high doses and can cause brain damage, liver damage…all kinds of neurological problems.  Yet, there’s really not enough mercury in a CFL to cause damage.  But, there’s evidence out there that some have suffered from broken CFLs.  The government has deemed it safe to use, but the EPA wants you to take precautions.  The EPA says that if a CFL breaks in your house, you must first clear the room of all people and pets and on your way out, open a door or window. If the central air is running, shut it off. Stay out of the room for five to ten minutes. Then, you can go in and clean it up. (They have a step by step guide for this. I’ll put a link at the bottom of this post).  This does not sound green to me. Also, you have to dispose of a CFL properly because if you don’t, you are putting mercury into our landfills.  Not a lot per CFL, but over time it would be a problem.  That’s not green.

No, wait, CFLs are green.

The EPA estimates the U.S. is responsible for the release of 104 metric tons of mercury emissions each year. 40% of these emissions come from coal-fired power generation. Mercury released into the air is the main way that mercury gets into water and bio-accumulates in fish.  From what I gather, the other portion of these emissions comes from electricity. The logic is that because CFLs use less electricity than incandescent bulbs, we are emitting less mercury when we use CFLs.  So that’s green.

No, wait CFLs are not green.

Researchers are testing CFLs emissions of ultraviolet radiation, electrical hypersensitivity and electromagnet hypersensitivity because there's evidence that they may cause health issues in these areas.  Well, that’s disturbing. (I just moved my lamp, affixed with a CFL, a few more feet away from my desk…)

So, what’s a consumer to do? Well, here are some choices:

1. Buy CFLs and recycle them when they are finished.  Home Depot offers recycling.  (I also looked into how these are recycled. Link for this is below).
2. Don’t drop them. Just don’t. And if you do, get out of the room and then check the epa.gov website for what to do next.
3. Stop buying CFLs and switch to LED or Halogen.  Yep. Those don’t have mercury.
4. Go back to buying incandescent light bulbs.  The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, signed by President George W. Bush on December 18, 2007, requires “regular” light bulbs to use less energy… “In January 2013, bulbs as bright as current 75-watt incandescents will not be able to use more than 53 watts.”

Helpful Links:

• How to Clean Up a Broken CFL, EPA guidelines 
• How CFLs Are Recycled 
• Where to Recycle Your CFLs 

Other references used for this blog post:

• http://sustainability.asu.edu/practice/what-you-can-do/cfls.php
• http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/cfl-disposal-and-recycling.html
• http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=are-compact-fluorescent-lightbulbs-dangerous
• http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/stage/pdf/cfl_recycle.pdf