Re: the light bulb police are coming

[Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:57:24 GMT, nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston) wrote in
message  <45f823a4.1883299421@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

>Wouldn't it be ironic if GE hits their goal and the decision is made to
>replace all fluorescents with HEIs because of the hazardous waste issue? ;)
>It's already a problem for commerce and industry where the volume is so much
>higher than for a single family residence.

The use of CFL and other fluorescents can and does _reduce_ the amount of
mercury released to the environment because they contain less mercury than is
in the coal that they save from being burned to light incandescents.

And the mercury that they do contain is far less mobile in the environment
even when (improperly) disposed of in landfills than the atmospheric
discharge of mercury by coal-fired plants.

That they can _also_ be recycled, reducing the total discharge to near zero
is an added environmental _benefit_ not a liability.

Some folks jist don't know how to stop digging their hole.

Read US EPA's authoritative fact sheet here:

http://www.nema.org/lamprecycle/epafactsheet-cfl.pdf

... Marc ((who has 35 years of experience in hazardous waste hydrology).
Marc_F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org