A darker side of compact fluorescents?

Claims that compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) use about two-thirds less energy and last up to 10 times longer than their incandescent cousins have earned them center stage of energy-saving efforts like the EPA’s Change a Light, Change the World initiative and Wal-Mart’s declared mission to sell 100 million CFLs this year and the giant retailer’s participation in the 18seconds.org campaign.

If CFLs deliver on those claims, it’ll be a while before you’ll have to decide what to do with a spent bulb since CFLs last so long. But when a CFL does burn out or accidentally break, it’s important for you to know what to do with the bulb, for environmental as well as health reasons.

CFLs contain a small amount of mercury, a neurotoxin that can cause brain and kidney damage at high exposure levels. While an intact bulb doesn’t pose a danger to you, disposing of spent CFLs improperly can add mercury to landfills, where the toxin can potentially contaminate soil and groundwater. That’s why recycling a bulb at the end of its life in accordance with the hazardous-waste laws in your town is so essential.

If a bulb does break, don’t handle it and take these precautions when cleaning it up.

It might seem as if the use of CFLs is simply swapping one problem with another. But according to the EPA, replacing incandescents with CFLs actually results in less mercury in the environment. That’s because most of the electricity in the U.S. comes from coal, which emits mercury when burned. Since CFLs require less electricity than incandescents, mercury emissions would actually decline.

In the long run, producing efficient lighting without toxins like mercury should be a goal for the lighting industry.—Kristi Wiedemann, Science and Policy Analyst, GreenerChoices.org

Essential information: Visit GreenerChoices.org for the latest news on environmental issues and expert advice on ways to save energy and money everyday. And look for our compact fluorescent light bulb report in the October 2007 issue of Consumer Reports, on sale in September.

Comments

[Joan Williams]

Aside from finding bulbs to fit appliances..............no one addresses the spectrum of light they emit. Some of them produce unacceptable colored light. How can a person predict the spectrum?????

[Tom Gregory]

I recently bought a "Feit" brand flourescent screw in light bulb. I've used it for a few weeks but I discovered that it started to smoke and burn and the base of the bulb. I quickly replaced it with a conventional bulb. I think now we won't be using those "energy saver" bulbs anymore. The old bulbs are more reliable and won't smoke and burn like the "energy saver" bulb.
Tom

[David Zingg]

I've been using compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) for several years and have had trouble with them only occasionally.

There has been a big promotion of the Feit CFLs in my area and I've had no trouble with the 20 or so bulbs I've added to my place, my girlfriend's place and her mom's place. Perhaps your retailer will swap the defective bulb with a new one.

[George Wedding]

We've been seeing CF lamps purchased from Costco (Techna Bright 14w and other floods) burn out at a very fast rate (two months to about one year). While electricity use may be reduced, the landfills are going to be filling up with mercury at a faster rate. Plus, these lamps are much more expensive than incandescent.

The new CFL technology is extremely disappointing and is not ready for prime time.

[Joe Stennett]

I suggest that users of CFLs mark the date of installation
on the bulbs. Use a paint marker; "Magic Markers" fade.

I find that very few of the bulbs last as long as the
manufacturers claim. I have about 12 installed around my
house. For every one that lasts more than 5,000 hours, two
fail after less than 1,000.

I recently bought a package of three bulbs. After bringing
it home, I found this warning written in very tiny letters:
"Use only in an upright position" . I do not have a single
fixture that allows a bulb to be mounted upright!

[Eugene Kowaluk]

We've used compact fluorescents (CFs) since they weren't all that compact both inside the home and outside (even in freezing temperatures). Only in the past five years have I started to label the date. One of those on which I had not marked a date caught fire. My wife had been in bed, heard a noise, and looking in that direction saw her bedside hurricane lamp's single CF catch on fire. Fortunately, the fire went out quickly, and it occurred in a lamp that had no fabric. Although the lamp was old, it was rebuilt several years ago, never had a problem, and has continued to work after examination for several months after the incident. As to their longevity, most have lasted for years (one outdoors lasted for over five years), but recently I ran across one that lasted less than one week. Although I've looked into LED lamps with the standard E26 Edison screw base, cost aside, they are not that easily available, and my stock of CFs won't be depleted for a few years.

[Dave]

The CFL's only working in an upright position is the problem that the industry doesn't want to asddress and environmentalists refuse to confront the issue of bulbs that do not last anywhere near as long as the manufactures claim. While all floresent lights are more energy efficient the have a lot of limitations that are getting ignored. Besides the inability of CFLs to work in a horizontal position all flourescent lights have a drastically reduced life span when they are cycled on and off repeatedly. Until the industry steps up to the plat and corrects these limitation the regular incadesents will be around for a long time.

[D]

Why don't they make a 3-way compact flourescent that goes higher than a 150-watt equivalent incandescent? For some of us, that's still not enough light to read by.

[Krista]

Another thing that NO ONE is talking about is the legislation that has already been passed in the US Congress. The legislation states that incandescent light bulbs won't be allowed to be sold in the United States after 2012. Also, they fail to provide help for people who actually have problems with using CFLs. I can't read or function under a CFL because of the constant flickering, it's like having a flash go off constantly and is enough to cause seizures in my case.

What I want to know is, why are CFLs being pushed on the public so hard? What about LEDs or other options???

Read for yourself an excerpt (which follows this paragraph) quoted from the "Energy Independence And Security Act of 2007", or, you can follow this link to the Wiki page that talks about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Energy_Act_of_2007.

- Energy savings -

* Revised standards for appliances and lighting.
o Requires roughly 25 percent greater efficiency for light bulbs, phased in from 2012 through 2014. This effectively bans the sale of most current incandescent light bulbs.
o Various specialty bulbs, including appliance bulbs, colored lights, and 3-way bulbs, are exempt from these requirements.
o Requires roughly 200 percent greater efficiency for light bulbs, or similar energy savings, by 2020.

[Krista]

Why isn't there another option available to us besides CFLs, like LEDs? Manufacturers could just as easily increase the production of those to make them cheaper and more accessible. Why are CFLS being pushed on the public so hard? I can't use CFLs in my home because I have seizure-like symptoms caused by the constant flicker in the bulbs. Besides that, my husband says the lighting provided by those CFLs sold at "your local home improvement stores" are terrible reading light.

But NO ONE is talking about the legislation that has already been passed banning incandescent light bulbs. Read about the legislation passed at this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Energy_Act_of_2007.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 regarding light bulbs needs to be amended or repealed. I don't like the government telling me what light bulbs I can or can't buy to light my home. Where does the government interference in our lives end? Next we'll be installing government-monitored "security" cameras in our houses to "keep us safe". Isn't the USA supposed to be a democracy and not a dictatorship?

[jkt]

I believe the hope is that by getting rid of incandescent bulbs that it will force manufacturers to do the kind of research and development other posters here are calling for - into LED, and other high efficienty solutions. Companies won't do the research unless they're forced to replace their money-making products with better ones. Same reason GM kept churning out gas guzzling SUVs even after swearing they learned their lessons in the gas crisis of the late 1970s and would research alternatives. GE won't look for better solutions unless they're forced to do so. But I agree that there's too much reliance on CFLs as the only alternative. I wish Consumer Reports would address these issues - they only talk about energy efficiency and mercury, not the problems with existing fixtures, like the non-vertical issue and issues with dimmers and 3-way switches. I've seen different things on different web sites about whether you can use CFLs in these fixtures.

[tlp]

What is the danger of these bulbs leaking hazardous amounts of mercury into the enviorment after the devastation of hurricaine or tornado strikes?

[William Youngblood]

Many of our CLF bulbs have burned out in less than two years--some less than one. One bulb would have caught fire. I smelled smoke and noticed it coming from a light fixture, and sure enough it was the bulb just igniting at the base.
I'm concerned about the time when these bulbs will be the only ones available. I'm all for saving energy, but my experience almost tempts me to buy all the incandescent bulbs I can right now because in my experience they last much longer.