Bright Ideas for Home Lighting
(Page 3 of 7)
April/May 2007
By Megan Phelps
“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.”
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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.”
If you’re not sure whom to contact, a good resource for local recycling and disposal information is Earth 911 [(800) CLEAN-UP]. The point is to keep fluorescents out of landfills, where there’s always a chance that some of the mercury could eventually leak out. As more people start using compact fluorescents, the collective mercury could become more of a concern. But the pros outweigh the cons, Reed says. “It’s the right thing to do for the environment. It’s much better to use CFLs, because they do reduce the amount of mercury in our air and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Reed talks to many people who say they’re waiting for their incandescents to burn out before replacing them, because they don’t want to throw away a working light bulb. But she thinks it makes more sense to switch now.
“You can start saving energy now, or six months from now, and either way the incandescent bulb is going to end up in the trash,” she says. “This is the easiest way you can start making a difference today.”
Wilson has used nothing but compact fluorescents in his home for the last 15 years. He says that despite promising new technologies, for most uses, CFLs are still the best choice, and using them to replace incandescent lights is definitely a good move. “It’s one of the easiest ways to make a difference in your carbon footprint. It’s a significant step.”
How much of a difference does it make? The Energy Star program estimates that if every American household replaced just one incandescent with a CFL, it would save enough electricity to light 2.5 million homes for a year. It would also prevent as much greenhouse gas emissions as taking 800,000 cars off the road.
THE POTENTIAL OF LEDs
Most of the promising research in lighting is related to light-emitting diodes, or LED lights. They’re more efficient than incandescents, because the bulbs don’t use heat to produce light. And unlike fluorescent lights, they don’t contain any mercury. Instead, LEDs are made with a semiconductor material that produces photons when electricity passes through it. LEDs are very good at focusing light exactly where it’s needed, plus, they produce light in a variety of colors and last a long time.
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