I saw an article on the news ther other day, alarming all consumers to beware of compact fluorescent lamps or CFL’s since they have mercury inside them.  I couldn’t believe what a dis-service this station was doing to their listeners by promoting such fodder.

 So let’s set the facts straight.  Is there mercury in these CFL’s, yes there is.  It’s one of the components that helps provide the efficiency improvements over incandescent lamps.  How much mercury is there in a CFL?  An average of 4 milligrams is present in each CLF which is roughly the amount it would take to cover the tip of a ball point pen.

 Old thermometers contained nearly 500 milligrams of mercury.  Therefore the amount of mercury in an old thermometer would provide the mercury needed for approximately 125 CFL’s.

Don’t get me wrong, exposure to any mercury is not good and careful handling is recommended.  But here’s the kicker.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates the US is responsible for releasing nearly 104 metric tons of mercury annually through the emissions of our fossil fuel (coal) power plants.  The math is straight forward.  A 13 watt CFL produces the same amount of light as a 60 watt incandescent bulb and both are used for 8000 hours consuming a total of 104 kWh for the CFL and 480 kWh for the incandescent.

The average mercury emissions for producing electricity in a fossil fuel plant is 0.012 mg/kWh.  There the mercury used in producing electricity for the CFL is 1.2mg and the mercury used to produce electricity for the incandescent lamp is 5.8mg if mercury or 4.6mg of mercury more than that used for the CFL.

 To be perfectly fair when CFL’s are landfilled the measured mercury from one CFL is 0.4mg and the mercury of the power plant goes directly to the atmosphere.  So adding the 0.4 to the 1.2mg of mercury totals 1.6mg of mercury contributed to the atmosphere over the life of the bulb versus 5.8mg for the incandescent bulb.  A savings of 4.2mg for the CFL.

 So on a slow news-day you have to be careful what doom and gloom is being presented and which half truth you are being told.

You should be careful with CLF’s and recycle them.  Just as you should with your batteries and those 4 foot fluorescent bulbs in your garage shop.  But there is more news, many manufactures have worked to lower the mercury in their CFL’s and in this last year the mercury has come down from 4mg to 1.4 to 2.5mg per light bulb.

Re-run the math, it is even more imperative that we switch to CFL’s not only to save energy but also to reduce mercury emissions to our atmosphere.