The Environmental Protection Agency finalized new federal standards on toxic pollutants and mercury emissions from coal power plants Wednesday, a move being praised by environmentalists but criticized by others, who predict lost jobs and a strain on the nation's power grid. Original Source: CNN - Continue reading...
Hmm, let me get this straight. Lower mercury from coal power plants, but INCREASE mercury from households by banning incandescent bulbs and forcing florescent bulbs.
are you telling me you go around throwing your florescent bulbs in your home and releasing the ingredients? btw, I've been using florescent bulbs for over 20 years and not ONCE have I broken one. Not once maybe you are too clumsy to use those
I am not a supporter of incandescent bulbs myself, that was not my point. I only found this news rather silly. The problem is much more complicated and one I am very familiar with. Things are probably different in NY state, but in most parts of the country low volume users are permitted to dispose of mercury containing bulbs into regular trash which ends up in landfill. Despite what you may think of me based on my political views, I really don't like true pollution. Florida has the everglades and eating fresh water fish is a hazard due to mercury levels. Where is it coming from? Florescent bulbs sent to landfill is a major contributor. As for florescent bulbs breaking? They are much more fragile than you think. I work in property management and at my main building we replace somewhere around 1,000 bulbs a year. I'd say about 99% of the time the bulb removes with no problem, but about 1% of the time the end becomes so brittle that is cracked already in the fixture. 1% over a year ends up about 10 bulbs a year. The EPA has specifics methods required to handle broken florescent bulbs. It is quite the interesting read for the uninitiated, for me it is a policy I had to put into place. (that quick link is for CFL, other fluorescent bulbs are the same procedure). Company policy and government policy requires us to use low mercury bulbs and we still recycle properly. Sadly after being in this business for 2 decades, I have seen too many examples of lazy assholes and non-caring companies who as large users throw bulbs in the trash. Nearly 100% of homeowners in South Florida throw them in the trash too as there is no true mechanism to recycle from home and trashing is legal. I am mixed on banning incandescent bulbs. They probably need to be phased out, not banned, but florescent bulbs are not the perfect replacement in the home. I am hopeful for LED technologies. They are not there yet, mainly for cost. Given a few years LED may start making sense.
in New York (as you surmised) we are not allowed to throw florescent bulbs in the trash. They HAVE to be disposed of properly - like batteries - to the correct place. This makes it slightly inconvenient but since these bulbs last so damn long it's not like one is constantly running around to the disposal place. I am a fan of LED's also and expect that this will become a real alternative. and if the rest of the country is allowing people to willy nilly throw out florescent bulbs in landfills I say Shame On Them.
It's truly a lifespan question. Here in Minnesota, and about half the nation, uses coal to produce electricity. A 75 watt incandscent bulb will produce ~13 1/4milligrams of mercury from coal. The 20 watt fluorscent about 3 1/2mgs. The bulb itself is about 5mgs. Thus, there is a net reduction of mercury in the system. And in addition, here in MN and in Florida, there are laws on how to properly dispose of the bulbs. If a majority of people follow the law it ensure that 5mgs is collected and recycled or disposed of properly. This further reduces the mercury exposure. So yes increase household mercury production but decrease plant production results in a savings of about 5mg less in the system per bulb. And it enables another 5mgs to be pulled out if the end user is paying attention. They, of course, have to be retrained to not throw away the bulbs. That 13mg - > 3mg doesn't sound like a huge change but when taken over the the millions of light bulbs it quickly adds up. The commonly used bulbs in our home are fluorscents. And in the garage I switched the two 100 watt bulbs to 20 watt fluorscents. Because someone turns 'off' the lights but doesn't check and it seems they are always on. Overall I've done this for at least 6 years and I think 1 or perhaps 2 bulbs have broken through carelessness, none exploded. The largest complaint seemed to be the difference in color. But the newer brighter white fluorscents are preferred for us over incandscents. In the kitchen I tried two LED bulbs. Expensive buggers at ~$18/each. I simply wanted to see how they performed. It's been probably a year or slightly more. They are a great replacement. But, I agree cost prohibitive. Projections are for LED bulbs to fall quickly on price over the next couple of years.
Mercury is pretty expensive and only likely to increase in cost. Presently it's generally not economical to reclaim it from things light fluorescent tubes, since only a very small amount of vapour is used in each one, but that could change if a method of harvesting them intact in large enough quantities could be found.
