The mercury is rising on compact fluorescent light bulbs

They're pushed on the public like drugs by a drug dealer, to brighten your world, to save energy, and to support a growing environmental products industry. But just how effective, efficient, and safe are these little curly-Q light bulbs with which we are so quick to replace our steadfast incandescent light bulbs?

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "an Energy Star qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will save about $30 over its lifetime and pay for itself in about 6 months. It uses 75 percent less energy and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb."

An incandescent lamp is a heat-driven lamp that uses electricity to heat a thin tungsten filament inside a glass bulb. The wire resists the heat, making it glow and produce light.

A fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to excite argon and mercury vapor inside a glass tube. The excited mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that causes a phosphor to emit electromagnetic radiation, producing visible light. (Wikipedia)

EPA claims that CFLs use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs, and How Stuff Works says they are four to six times more efficient than incandescent bulbs. CFLs are more expensive than incandescent bulbs, but the money saved in the long run from lower electricity usage makes the short-term price worthwhile.

However, before you get all lit up over these statistics, there’s one important thing you should know. If you ever drop a CFL and it breaks, a tedious hazardous waste disposal process eagerly awaits you. Why? Because mercury is toxic, and breathing its particles that become airborne (in the form of powder) when a CFL is broken can be very hazardous to your health.

But wait, you may say, isn’t the amount of mercury used in CFLs infinitesimally small? Yes, but consider this. Even though the amount of mercury in a typical CFL is only about 4 milligrams (enough to cover the tip of a ballpoint pen), once that mercury goes airborne, it can be dangerous. According to the EPA, "care should be taken not to break a CFL. If you break one, you should carefully clean up the entire residue according to EPA instructions."

Briefly, these instructions include: 1) ventilate the room. 2) If the bulb fell and broke on a hard surface, gently sweep the glass and powder into a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealed plastic bag and use masking tape to pick up remaining fragments. If the bulb broke on the carpet, pick up the pieces of glass and follow the same procedure. 3) Dispose of the clean-up materials in a hazardous waste collection center, found by looking in your local phone book or going to Earth911.com to search for a recycling center in your area.

For complete instructions on how to clean up a broken CFL, please see EPA’s Spills, Disposal and Site Cleanup or Energy Star’s fact sheet, Information on Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) and Mercury.