Re: Fluorescent Bulbs Are Known to Zap Domestic Tranquillity; Energy-Savers a Turnoff for Wives

["Robert L Bass" <no-sales-spam@bassburglaralarms>]

> I fear that the mercury added to millions of
> lamps will trickle down into the groundwater.

The mercury in CFLs is capped at 5 to 6 mg
per unit, depending on the wattage.  Several
major manufacturers currently limit mercury
to less than 2 mg per bulb.

http://www.lighting.philips.com/gl_en/news/press/sustainability/archive_2006/reduction_in_mercury.php?main=global&parent=4390&id=gl_en_news&lang=en

The following is from the EPA statement on
mercury in CFLs:

"CFLs Responsible for Less Mercury than
Incandescent Light Bulbs"

"Ironically, CFLs present an opportunity to prevent
mercury from entering our air, where it most affects
our health. The highest source of mercury in our air
comes from burning fossil fuels such as coal, the
most common fuel used in the U.S. to produce
electricity. A CFL uses 75% less energy than an
incandescent light bulb and lasts at least 6 times
longer. A power plant will emit 10mg of mercury to
produce the electricity to run an incandescent bulb
compared to only 2.4mg of mercury to run a CFL for
the same time."

What that means is that every CFL used will reduce
the "mercury footprint" of the incandescent bulb
it replaces.  Bobby's worries have been laid to rest
by science.  :^)

> --- snip fear mongering re: DDT, etc ---

> Why not push R&D on non-mercury high-efficiency
> light sources?

That's already going on.  Meanwhile CFLs can reduce
mercury in the air.  That would qualify as a good thing.

> As more and more CFL plants come on line...

CFL plants don't exist.  Lighting manufacturers set up
lines to manufacture all sorts of bulbs.  The plants are
constantly changing their production lines as demand
for various products waxes and wanes.

I worked in manufacturing industries years ago at
companies making everything from carbide cutters to
brushes for street sweepers to molded plastic.
Machines that make bulbs and other "blown" products
are routinely retooled to make other devices.

BTW, this reminds me of a funny thing that happened
when I was installing a fire alarm in a manufacturing
plant in CT years ago.  I was affixing the mounting
base for a rate-of-rise heat detector on the ceiling
above an injection molding machine.  I accidentally
dropped the plastic base and it fell into a huge bin
which was being filled by the molding machine.
Climbing down from my ladder I looked into the bin to
retrieve the base.  There were hundreds of them in
there, all exactly the same unit that I dropped.  I
checked out the machine and it was almost the
same as ones I ran at Gilbert Plastics during a
summer job as a teenager many years before.  :^)

> they'll be as hard to retire as the coal burning
> power plants...

That is completely false information.

> Why not push mercury recovery at the source...

That has been answered already.  Instead of
responding to what you're told you repeat the
same mantra.

> Historically, in America, if *you* reduce demand,
> there are probably at least two or three other
> people more than willing to make it up...

Again, you are repeating an inappropriate analogy.
You've been told this is wrong and shown why.
Rather than respond to what you read you repeat
the same erroneous supposition.

> There's only one way to deal with issue...

Once again, you are wrong and I suspect you
know it.  There is no single solution to this complex
problem.  By insisting there is and saying that we
shoould do nothing else until this "one solution"
appears you are burying your head in the sand.
Unfortunately, the sand may be contaminated by
mercury.

> It's just silly to disperse millions and millions of
> mercury-containing lightbulbs into the environment
> because we're unwilling to catch the mercury at
> several hundred plants where it's emitted...

Once more you are repeating the same claim which
has already been shown to be false.  CFLs reduce
the amount of mercury pollution.

> It's just that you're achieving those savings at a
> cost of putting more mercury into the environment

That is untrue.

> and at a cost of anywhere from 5 to 50 times a
> tungsten bulb...

As more CFLs are made production costs as well
as mercury content will continue to decrease.

> (think pet food!)...

Think fear mongering at its worst.

> You've got to wonder when a company like Walmart...

I have a solution to that.  My family does not shop at
Walmart or Sam's Club.  Rather than whine about
all the bad things they do, I do my part for social
justice, perhaps paying a little more, to buy my goods
elsewhere.

That's microeconomics.  If enough people do the same
thing instead of complaining about mercury while
driving their SUVs home from Walmart with a package
of 100 Watt conventional bulbs they can do something
about Walmart.

Oh, by the way, I'd also do something political about
Chinese behavior.  I'd institute majjor tarriffs on
everything made or assembled in China, making their
goods unmarketable in this country.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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