Repeal a stupid law? It would be quicker, and probably less painful, to break a few bulbs and eat the glass shards after breathing in the vapors. Seriously, it will take lots of people calling and writing the idiots in DC.

While the bulbs do not give off mercury vapor during normal operation, they do raise mercury levels in a room when broken. The FDA website provides instructions for cleanup. Testing done in Maine suggests that those levels will re-elevate with subsequent vacuuming, to levels well above that considered safe. With babies or small children, carpet replacement is suggested. Nice, eh? Break a bulb, re-carpet the room. Perhaps copying the Maine study to your congressman would help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Maine study

As a kid I collected a small bottle mercury from old thermometers an would tote it around in my pocket and play with it. One could coat a penny with it and pass it off on an unsuspecting store clerk as a dime and catch 'heck' if one got caught attempting this.

Anyway, mercury is really nasty stuff. I just barely turned 70 and I am already cantankerous and cranky.

Albert, There is HUGE exposure difference between mercury liquid on your skin and inhaling mercury vapor.

Aside from the fact that you have to cover your face and leave a room for 15 minutes after breaking one, no one can tell me how all those bulbs are going to be disposed of. My fear is they will wind up in the regular trash and then into landfills. Personally, I absolutely refuse to use them, and am stocking up on incandescents. CFL's give me a headache......literally. I have heard that is a common problem for a lot of folks, and the cost! Just for the heck of it, I added up how much it would cost to initially change out all my bulbs, and it came to over $400.00, and I didn't include everything! The bottom line is, the idiots in DC are not going to dictate to me what kind of lightbulbs I use! It is unconstitutional as well as insane!!

I have changed every bulb in my house to CFL over the last several years, including the can lights in the kitchen. In the beginning several failed quickly. I returned them, the store replaced them without a receipt, no questions asked. I haven't had to replace a bulb in years, but when that day comes, the store will take them back for disposal. They go to a hazardous waste facility after that.

A few months ago our guests and we were having a discussion similar to the one on this thread in our dining room. Our guests were adamant that they would never use CFLs because of lighting color, perceived hum from the bulbs, "it's so hard on my eyes", delay time from flipping the switch to when the light appears, etc. It was hard to be tactful and not embarass anyone in revealing that we had been sitting under CFL light all evening. We then trouped through the house, guests flipping switches and expressing disbelief that THIS was CFL light - "Oh my!"

I'm serious. It was very revealing to both our guests and us. We hadn't realized the bad blood against CFLs until then, had just changed the bulbs gradually as a matter of being economical both for our family and the earth. We have a lovely, cozy home that is well-lit. We do a lot of reading, and I'm a home sewer. No one would ever guess this house is lit with CFLs, inside and out.

I can't speak about actual savings from using CFLs instead of incandescent because we have a big family that uses lots of electricity in many ways. But we do try to be conscientious about turning things off, powering down, etc. That night was the only time anyone has ever commented on the lighting in my house.

I hope I don't have to deal with a broken bulb, but it isn't as involved as you might think, and it doesn't cost anything or involve a hasmat team. Just don't vacuum first. Now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever had a bulb of any type break.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Snopes.com:CFL Mercury lighting

CFL bubls are a fire hazard in can lights. They can get too hot. The manfactures say NOT too use them in those types of lights.

sherrmann, what brand do you use?? My sons room have darkened alot all due o the cfl bulbs.

I'm using Feit Bulbs in the kitchen. They are coils inside frosted glass so they look like spot lights. Meant to be used upside down. They don't get anywhere near as hot as the old spotlights did. Where can I get info on fire hazards? No mention of it on my pkgs. I can't remember what brands are in the lamps.

As a kid, I broke a mercury thermometer and "played" with the mercury for a bit. I don't remember how my parents disposed of it. I've already been exposed, so I'm not afraid of a broken lightbulb. Are they better for the environment? Do they use less electricity? Anybody have the facts?

The mercury in the light bulbs is retrieved in a toxic waste depot before recycling the rest of the parts. We should never toss batteries, electronics or those bulbs into ordinary trash.

Because they use a lot less electricity and produce almost no heat they are better for the environment unless people carelessly throw them in the trash. Even though they are more expensive to buy, they last so much longer that they are cheaper than incandescent bulbs in the long run. And since they save electricity, they are cheaper to use.

Tsy7200 wrote that manufacturers say not to use them in can lights because they are a fire hazard so I checked mine. Those in the cans have arrows pointing base up and are intended for this use. Also, where I want bright light (reading, sewing, cooking) I guess I must have higher wattages (don't know if that's the right word any more) than in your son's room because we have plenty of light wherever we want it, even in the bathrooms where we apply our makeup. They can't be used with dimmers, though.

You might want to give the new CFLs another try. They've made significant improvements over the years, and I know I didn't spend anywhere near $400 on CFLs to change over. We bought them on sale and did it one bulb at a time as the old ones burned out.

Curiously the people who cry the sky is falling over mercury in light bulbs are noticibly quiet about the mercury going into the air every day from power plants. There is no mercury going into the air from an unbroken bulb yet the coal-fired power plants put more mercury into the air ever day than all the CFLs in the world. And yes, this is inhaled.

How many of these people still have stockpiles of canned hams and bottled water from Y2k?

I grow weary from the foolish arguments against CFLs. Don't like the color temp? Use a different type. Delay? Hardly, with most. Granted some vary, but it's no big deal.

Haven't any of you doomsayers heard of recycling? Take them to the store and they take them. Do you pour your crankcase oil down the drain too?

I too handled mercury and suffer from crankiness. But at least I haven't acquired the foolhardy syndrome caused by lack of fluorescent light from which so many seem to suffer these days! ;)

My personal exposure from a power plant is nil, and so is yours. Think our concerns are foolhardy all you want, but the fact is that most people will just toss their CFLs in the trash, increasing their potential exposure to dangerous levels, as well as increasing exposure for garbage pickup and landfill workers. At least a power plant is regulated and tested, unlike your average person. Or are you suggesting lightbulb police? Should we have to fill out paperwork when we purchase a bulb to ensure that bulb goes back to the store? Got a licensed electrician to install? Conduit a little non. scientific study. Ask 10 people you don't know what they do with wed CFL bulbs. This thread actually inspired me to ask at a few stored was at yesterday. U grand totaled 1 out of 5 takes bulbs back. So I should drive out of my way to take back wed bulbs? We don't all live in an idyllic world where all stores are happy to take the bulbs and no one ever tosses one (or 10) into the trash, and rambunctious children never knock over a lamp.

Now, I am certainly not suggesting that we quit trying to save energy. I just do not believe CFL's are THE technology. A better law would have specified energy savings without requiring a specific technology, leaving the door open for innovation rather than lining the pockets of CFL manufacturers. It always amazes me to see otherwise intelligent, thinking people who put their brains in idle when they are told something is "green."

Aren't you glad you have one store that will take them back? That's all you need - one store. Pretty soon many more stores will take them back, too. You don't need to return each bulb as it burns out, you can save them until you have several and return them all in one trip the next time you go to that store. And you can call dozens of stores in a short time to ask if they accept used bulbs. I would never suggest wasting gas to return a light bulb!

My public library accepts used cell phones, batteries, and old eyeglasses, but not light bulbs. There will be more collection sites as we become greener.

Speaking of green, green-thinking brains are not on idle. I would suggest that we all think green and responsibly, and teach our children to do the same. "We don't all live in an idyllic world where all stores are happy to take the bulbs and no one ever tosses one (or 10) into the trash, and rambunctious children never knock over a lamp." Very true. But two wrongs don't make a right. If most of us observe proper handling procedures there isn't much of a problem.

""Delay? Hardly, with most. Granted some vary, but it's no big deal. ""

there is a delay and I hate it, but it is a small price to pay.

I am not suggesting ALL green thinking brains are or idle, but most folk don't know enough to ask the right questions about where products come from and where they go and how they get there-they just see "green'; know that they want to "save the planet" and assume it must be better. "Green" is a buzz-word, a fad, a trendy thing, and is thus used mostly to sell products. Conservation, on the other hand, has always been around, albeit without the cheering and politics and lecturing from people with private jets.

Many, if not most, things that are labeled "green" are not helping anything when all factors are taken into account (ie. cost to produce, quantity produced, location of production, location of disposal, packaging, transportation, regulation, accidental or intentional misuse, etc.), I'm suggesting people use their brains, educate themselves about total cost of "green" products. Recycling CFL's has a tremendous cost in storage at homes, storage at stores, transportation back to central reclamation facilities, disposal, etc. It's not a simple or cheap thing - yes, you may use less energy at your house, but that does not mean the total energy equation is lower. Energy policy driven by politics rather than science and engineering is just bad policy and has more to do with making people feel good than making actual progress. Pollution and contaminants from home use is so much more wide-spread, more difficult (impossible) to control and leaves hazardous disposal issues in the hands of a largely science-uneducated population. Placing less-safe products in the hands of consumers, no matter how warm and fuzzy it makes you feel, is rarely a good thing, and we shouldn't be surprised when we pay for this with more mercury in our drinking water.

I agree that "green" is a trendy buzz word used to sell things. In a way, "mercury" is a buzz word, too, because it is used to scare us away from judicious use of CFL bulbs. The amt of mercury in a CFL is the size of the dot at the end of this sentence. I am not making light of that - it adds up! And you're right about recycling costs, as well. But what are we going to do? We can't just keep manufacturing stuff, buying it and dumping it. We have to continue to search for ways to be earth-friendly, even if we take some missteps along the way.

There is a long list of missteps and confusing issues. I even wonder about rinsing cans and bottles before recycling them. Doesn't rinsing take a lot of precious water that's wasted? And for what purpose? It all gets melted when it's recycled, anyway. So I don't rinse. People still use lighter fluid to start their bbq grills rather than use a cylinder. I can't imagine why they do that. People still legally smoke cigarettes, despite what we know. If the government wasn't mandating actions, we'd still be using DDT to kill bugs and using X-Ray machines to check if new shoes fit our kids, asbestos to fire-proof our insulation, etc. That is actual progress, mandated by the government.

I think technology and the need to sell product to consumers far outpaces our ability to keep up with it and deal with it properly, to see it through from inception to a good conclusion. Plastics, for instance, will never leave us; no matter how often they're recycled, they're still plastics. It's unlike anything ever seen on this planet before the Industrial Revolution. I can't imagine how many unsafe products we use every day without even realizing it.

I'd like to read your information on the total energy equation. That must be pretty hard to pin down, but I'll bet there are statistics, and I bet it's an eye opener. Can you direct me, please? Thanks.

I didn't mean to get so far OT, but it's all part of the theme.

I apologize for taking this far afield. I'll see if I can re-locate a couple of books and articles and will send to you privately. Do you prefer higher technical, or written-for-the-masses? I should probably not talk politics in a non-political forum.

Not high tech! Just factual, not anecdotal. I think we differ philosophically, but I love talking politics and religion. It's fun, even when I get furious.

Sherry

More info on the use of cfl bulbs in the home...

How Many Congressmen Does It Take To Screw The American Public With A Light Bulb?

I wonder if perhaps CFL was obsolescent before it got started.

I wonder if LED may widly replace the CFL just as soon as the conversion to CFL is complete. I went to buy a flashlight bulb recently hand had to go to three places before I found the old incandescent sort.

FYI: I caught the tail end of a local news report about how you have to clean up one of these bulbs if it breaks. It seems you can't just sweep it up with a dustpan and a broom like you can with the old bulbs. You need gloves, masking tape and there is a whole procedure you need to follow. I'll look and see if I can find some information online and post it back if I can find it.

EPA cleaning instructions link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: CFL cleanup

Try the link below and you will get all the information that you need,

Here is a link that might be useful: CLICK HERE>>>>>>>>>

CFLs, what a terrible technology.

1) Radio and TV interference. (all things by Wireless radio too: Garage Doors, Fans, Security systems, etc.)
2) These will FADE your photos (and to collectors, say goodbuy to your Autographs as the CFL bulbs fade them away!).

All should watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv59PJ30WeM This video is of a "good" politician over this issue. Also, what you are suppose to do if broken.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reference

What a load of baloney, Benjamite. We've been using CFLs for over 20 years here (we bought this house in 1991 and had CFLs from our previous house when we moved in) and I don't recall ever having one break (the glass is a lot tougher than the glass on incandescent bulbs) and certainly not catch fire. I don't recall the last time we had to change one as they last for years. And they don't get hot.
Our photos have not faded (nor have the soft furnishings) and we have no radio or TV interference.
I've never heard such a lot of outright crap in all my life.

I saw a clip a few months ago and there are government officials still fighting this. One lawmaker was very vocal about pushing this king of stuff off on people "Who do not want it".

I would also point out that it's not CFLs which get hot in ceiling cans, it's halogen bulbs. As long as the installer is careful to keep a space around the van in the roof space clear of insulation and flammable items it is safe. But a CFL wouldn't heat up at all.

I loathe CFLs. I bought enough regular lightbulbs in every wattage to serve me until doomsday (which with, the way things are going from DC, should be any day now.)

What about them do you dislike, blairgirl?

There is no mandatory CFL law. In 2007 there was a law passed mandating increased efficiency in bulbs. The new "hybrid" (incandescent/halogen) bulbs can use no more than 72 watts to produce the same amount of light as an old style 100 watt incandescent bulb. Additional size bulbs are to be phased in in subsequent years.

This bill passed in both the house and the senate easily with bipartisan support and was signed into law by a Republican president. Industry also supported the bill. It just became a problem when certain radio and TV personalities decided to demagogue it after a president of the other party was inaugurated.

I've used CFLs for at least 15 years and I like them just fine. I am switching over to LEDs now though because they are even more efficient.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ebergy Independence and Security Act of 2007

CFL bulbs will NOT be mandatory ... any bulb that meets the energy restrictions can be sold. At the time the standards were written, only CFLs met them, but now LEDs and some incandescents also make the cut.

Philips already has some incandescents on the market that meet the energy requirements.