Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

[HungLikeJesus]

[i]t defines mercury on a separate part of its Web site as a “highly toxic heavy metal that can cause brain damage and learning disabilities in fetuses and children”.

That explains a lot! When we were kids we had a bottle of mercury, which we would pour on the floor and play with. We did this for a whole summer. Well, it didn't seem to do us any harm, and we would hold the mercury in our hands. It's really fun stuff.

[xoxoxoBruce]

That's true, HLJ. In Jr High Science they passed around a pan of mercury so everyone could coat a coin to take home. Nobody knew how bad it is.

[glatt]

For a short while, we had one off those mercury maze games.

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

That's true, HLJ. In Jr High Science they passed around a pan of mercury so everyone could coat a coin to take home. Nobody knew how bad it is.

That was right after they x-rayed your feet in the shoe store to get the proper shoe size. (A former cow-orker of mine once refused to believe this ever happened. Apparently she felt I had a reputation for making things up just to be a smartass.)

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by SteveDallas

That was right after they x-rayed your feet in the shoe store to get the proper shoe size.

Up to 75 rems/m!

[Urbane Guerrilla]

That's interesting, Kits. Got a source?

[xoxoxoBruce]

If it's a coal plant burning the right type of coal.

[Kitsune]

Here you go.

It should be noted, however that the "EPA is implementing policies to reduce airborne mercury emissions. Under regulations issued in 2005, coal-fired power plants will need to reduce their emissions by 70 percent by 2018."[20]. This change will lengthen the term before CFLs are better than incandescents. If CFLs are recycled and the mercury reclaimed, the equation tilts towards CFLs, and if non-coal sources of electricity are used, the equation tilts toward incandescents.

Note that the manufacturing process isn't taken into account for the bulbs, either.

Tricky, huh? Its good to be skeptical of the push for these "green" technologies. Remember the big push to move fast food containers from styrofoam to paper? Guess which one consumes more natural resources, energy, and pollutes more overall.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I think a lot of these green ideas are good once the vast majority of the people get on board. Using the end justifies the means, they make a lot of dodgy claims to convince(fool) people into thinking it's already so.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Thanks, looks useful.