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While Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) use far less electricity than regular light bulbs, they also contain mercury, an extremely toxic element. Mercury is a neurotoxin, and even small concentrations can be very dangerous. When CFLs break, the mercury escapes, which can contaminate soils or in extreme cases cause severe health problems to people (and especially to children and pregnant mothers) who are exposed. While the National Electrical Manufacturers Association has announced plans to cap mercury in CFLs at 5mg per bulb , even that much mercury requires special cleanup procedures and CFLs must be disposed of as hazardous waste. To learn more about mercury in CFLs click here. |
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| Incandescent lights also contaminate the environment with toxic mercury | ||||
| Unfortunately, when coal is burned to produce electricity, mercury is released into the environment (at a rate of about .0234mg of mercury per kWh, as cited here). Because 49% of our country’s electricity comes from coal, each kWh of electricity used contributes to the total amount of mercury released into the environment. While this mercury isn’t released directly in to our homes, it does wind up in local ecosystems, and especially fish. This is of special concern for fishermen and people who eat seafood; many fish species in North America are no longer safe for children or potential mothers to eat because they contain so much mercury. To see what the US Environmental Protection Agency has to say about mercury contamination of fish, click here | ||||
LEDs offer an effective way of reducing mercury pollution Mercury is a serious problem, but there’s an easy way to be part of the solution. Simply replace an incandescent light bulb with a super energy efficient LED. Changing just one 40 W incandescent bulb to the 36 LED bulb would keep about 80mg of mercury from entering the environment over the course of the LED bulb’s lifespan. 80mg of inorganic mercury may not sound like a lot, but that’s enough to contaminate about 10,000 gallons of water (38,000L), according to drinking water standards set by the EPA and the FDA. |
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LEDs produce far less waste heat Incandescent light bulbs work by heating up a filament until it glows white hot (about 4,100°F) and releases photons. Unfortunately, this means that incandescent bulbs convert about 92-95% of the electricity they use in to waste heat. This can contribute significantly to air conditioning bills and hot bulbs can also lead to fire hazards, especially in high watt halogen bulbs. Read more about the fire risks here of halogen bulbs here. CFLs also produce waste heat, and pose a fire risk if they are placed in enclosed lighting alcoves, or installed incorrectly. In contrast, LEDs create only a fraction of the waste heat that other lighting technologies produce, which makes them that much less of a fire hazard. Less energy wasted as heat is also part of what makes them so energy efficient and environmentally friendly. |
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