[RE-wrenches] CFL lighting and the mercury hazard.

[Dan Fink]

Woah, everyone. Slow down.

Snopes is indeed a great resource. However, they, like nearly every 
media article cited, completely miss the point. Compact Fluorescent 
bulbs contain no more mercury than do regular tube FLs, which have been 
in use in homes and offices for decades. The disposal recommendations 
are no different. Ask any office building custodian--the mercury warning 
is printed on the base of most larger length T8s.

Proper disposal is needed for ANY broken FL or CFL--and has been for 
decades.

As far as LEDs -- the reason LED lamps don't make much heat is because 
they don't make much light, either. Lumen-per-watt figures for LEDs 
still lag far behind FL or CFL. Yes, yes, there have been recent 
announcements from LED companies -=- but take these all with a grain of 
(metallic, heh heh) salt. Many of these figures take into account only 
luminous efficiency, NOT real-world *total* efficiency. AND, the 
high-efficiency ones are not generally available in room lighting 
products yet -- they are available only as discrete LEDs.

LED lamps are extremely directional. They work fine for close-up task 
lighting. But I have yet to see any LED lamp suitable for area lighting, 
like a living room. I have installed and tried many, for myself (first) 
and for customers. The usual response, after dark, when they see the 
lighting of their living room, is --"You've got to be kidding me. I paid 
$300 for THAT awful lighting?"

Give it a few years, and LEDs will be everywhere. But right now, they 
are very marginal at best:
T8 FL = up to 95 lumens per watt
f40T12 FL = up to 65 lumens per watt
CFL = up to 60 lumens per watt
White LED = most ranging from 24 to 45 lumens per watt. Some have 
reached 90 lumens per watt -- but are so far only available as discrete 
components, not massed together in commercial lighting fixtures.
100w Incandescent = up to 17 lumens per watt

*Again, be VERY careful of LED lumen per watt claims. All the above 
numbers are actual efficiency, not luminous. Most companies that 
manufacture LED home fixtures do not measure light output correctly. 
Contact me off-list if you want more info on how to actually measure 
efficiency.*


REF:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp
Don Klipstein:
http://members.misty.com/don/light.html
And almost every other page on his website.
Me:
http://otherpower.com/otherpower_lighting.html



DAN FINK
Technical Director, http://www.otherpower.com/
Co-Author, "Homebrew Wind Power"
ISBN 978-0-9819201-0-8



Phil Schneider wrote:
 > I agree – important to understand, and LEDs are a great alternative, 
with cost being the significant factor.  This Snopes article mentions 
the Maine DEP story:
 >
 > http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp
 >
 > The EPA factsheet at the end of the article has some “science” 
regarding the quantity of mercury associated with a couple different 
household items.  It also mentions how much mercury is released into the 
air by a power plant (undefined) generating electricity.  This is an 
interesting aspect I hadn’t considered before.
 >
 > P.
 >
 > *Phil Schneider*, system engineer
 > Creative Energies