On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 07:50:35 -0400, "JANA"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

When regular lamps become unavailable, I can see a lot of problems with
these new types of lamps. The biggest one will be the pollution from their
disposal. They use mercury, phosphors, and many types of materials that are
very harmful for the environment. There is also the electronics circuit
board, which contain components that have the same recycling problem as used
in most electronics. Even though they last longer, when they are eventually
put out in to the garbage, they will eventually end up in the land fills.
They are going to be a very big problem compared to the simple light bulb
that was made of simple glass and metals.

Regular light bulb materials are about 85% recyclable. There are almost no
materials in these that are bad for the environment. Most CFL's materials
are not recyclable, and their materials are very polluting.

I'm also cynical about the "green" benefits of CFLs, but I found this
interesting document that claims that incandescent bulbs are
responsible for more mercury than CFLs.

US Environmental Protection Agency fact sheet
http://www.nema.org/lamprecycle/epafactsheet-cfl.pdf

CFLs Responsible for Less Mercury than Incandescent Light Bulbs

"Ironically, CFLs present an opportunity to prevent mercury from
entering our air, where it most affects our health. The highest source
of mercury in our air comes from burning fossil fuels such as coal,
the most common fuel used in the U.S. to produce electricity. A CFL
uses 75% less energy than an incandescent light bulb and lasts at
least 6 times longer. A power plant will emit 10mg of mercury to
produce the electricity to run an incandescent bulb compared to only
2.4mg of mercury to run a CFL for the same time."

- Franc Zabkar
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