[Durham INC] Mercury in new light bulbs not being recycled, escaping to environment

[Pat Carstensen]

The point of the article seems mostly to be to ask folks to be responsible in their disposal of compact fluorescent lights.
 
Of course, in a state like NC that gets about 1/2 of its energy from coal, and with the current regulations on what can come out of a coal-fired plant's smokestack, there is more mercury released from coal burned to make power to light the old incandescent light-bulbs than in the CFL's.  The exact calculations vary -- newer CFLs have less Hg for one thing, and some people leave their CFLs on more -- but if you google the words lights mercury and coal, you'll get a selection of answers.
 
That said, I think banning incandescent bulbs is silly.  My short-hand for this kind of thing is, "It just annoys the alligators."  But I'm sure some legislators feel like they got brownie points for it.
 
Regards, pat

> Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 00:16:30 -0400
> From: randy at 27beverly.com
> To: fhna-list at fhnanews.com
> CC: inc-list at durhaminc.org
> Subject: [Durham INC] Mercury in new light bulbs not being recycled, escaping to environment
> 
> Link below to all about the issue.
> 
> http://www.energycentral.com/generationstorage/environmentalemissionsandcarbonmanagement/news/en/19481032/Mercury-in-new-light-bulbs-not-being-recycled-escaping-to-environment
> 
> Randy Pickle
> 
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