Incandescents Cause The Emission Of More Mercury Than CFLs Contain

I'm sure that the majority of you who are reading this hub know that compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFLs, contain a small amount of mercury, usually somewhere between 1 mg and 4 mg. This is a very small amount of mercury and is significantly smaller than that used in old fashioned mercury based thermometers, which typically contained 500 mg of mercury. Yes, mercury is harmful to human health and should be disposed of properly. For that reason, some people do not want to use CFLs in their home, fearing mercury contamination and citing the hazards CFLs pose to the environment.

However, did you know that incandescent light bulbs, the bulbs that CFLs are meant to replace because of their greater efficiency, can cause the emission of more mercury than that which is contained within a CFL? Yes, its true. If your electricity comes primarily from a coal fueled power plant, then yes, using incandescent light bulbs will cause the release of mercury into the environment. While its true that incandescent light bulbs themselves do not contain mercury, it is also true that coal does. And when its burned, it is released into the atmosphere.

If you were to compare the amount of mercury released into the atmosphere over the lifetime of a CFL and the amount of mercury released into the atmosphere using incandescent bulbs (CFLs last several times longer than incandescent bulbs do) then you would see that the incandescents, as they consume on average four times as much energy as CFLs do, that using incandescent bulbs actually causes the emission of more mercury than is contained in a single CFL bulb. Even the CFL can cause the emission of slightly more mercury into the atmosphere than what is contained within itself. Of course, that can't be helped, its not the CFL's fault, its just a fact of the matter that coal fueled power plants emit mercury.

So, would you rather have no mercury in your home while you use incandescent bulbs that will cause even more mercury to be released into the environment, or would you rather be a little responsible for your CFLs and prevent the emission of a significant amount of mercury into the environment? Yes, if you're concerned about accidental breakage, did you know that some CFLs are now available with a plastic cover? The plastic cover can help prevent accidental breakage, and in the event that the unthinkable happens, the plastic cover contains the broken glass and mercury. Please be sure to recycle your CFLs when they eventually burn out, as this is the only way to ensure that the mercury in them is properly handled and kept from contaminating the environment.

If you still dislike CFLs because of the mercury they contain, then you may wish to check out LED light bulbs. They contain no mercury at all, use even less energy than CFLs as well as having extremely long lifetimes (over 25,000 hours).