Energy Efficient Construction
Environmental Design Consulting
Green Building and Development Techniques
Environmental Design Consulting
Green Building and Development Techniques
Energy Efficient Construction
Environmental Design Consulting
Green Building and Development Techniques
Environmental Design Consulting
Green Building and Development Techniques
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL’s) are a great way to reduce your energy usage as they use approximately 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs. Incandescent bulbs put out about 90% of their energy used as heat and 10% as light whereas CFL’s only emit 30% of their energy used as heat and 70% in light, thus making them much more efficient. In fact if every home in America used just one CFL there would be enough energy saved to light 3 million homes in America each year.
CFL bulbs contain about 4 milligrams of mercury which is just about enough to cover the tip of a ball-point pen. Thus, the amount of mercury per bulb is not enough to actually harm you but they should still be properly recycled to reclaim the mercury rather than just discarding. So don’t be alarmed by stories you may read about having to have a hazmat team come clean up the mess at a cost of thousands of dollars if you break a bulb. In addition, coal fired powered plants are the biggest source of human caused mercury emissions and produce approximately 13.6 mg of mercury to power a 60 watt incandescent bulb. Using a CFL instead reduces that emission to 3.3 mg of mercury and thus saves more mercury than twice the amount of mercury used to produce the CFL itself.
CFL bulbs contain about 4 milligrams of mercury which is just about enough to cover the tip of a ball-point pen. Thus, the amount of mercury per bulb is not enough to actually harm you but they should still be properly recycled to reclaim the mercury rather than just discarding. So don’t be alarmed by stories you may read about having to have a hazmat team come clean up the mess at a cost of thousands of dollars if you break a bulb. In addition, coal fired powered plants are the biggest source of human caused mercury emissions and produce approximately 13.6 mg of mercury to power a 60 watt incandescent bulb. Using a CFL instead reduces that emission to 3.3 mg of mercury and thus saves more mercury than twice the amount of mercury used to produce the CFL itself.
Cleaning up a broken bulb:
Rather just simply turn off your central heat and air conditioner and air out the room by opening windows and doors for at least 15 minutes and give it time to settle. Then take a wet paper towel and wipe the mess up and discard in a plastic bag or sealed container. For any shards and residue that can’t be gotten up take a piece of duct tape and use the sticky side to get the rest. Do not try to sweep or vacuum it up as this only makes the mercury airborne.
For more information on cleaning up a broken CFL on carpeting and soft materials go to the EPA website at:
For more information on cleaning up a broken CFL on carpeting and soft materials go to the EPA website at: