Comments on: Environmental Catch 22: Low energy light bulbs

By: Rita

Rita — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:28:34 +0000

I am looking for some of those LED light bulbs so I can save some money. They are so cool, and they are good for the environment as well. I’m going to have to do some price comparisons online for them.

By: John (Loves boats) Alford

John (Loves boats) Alford — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:11:35 +0000

I had NO IDEA about the mercury thing. Really? Oh dear, it does present a bit of a Catch 22.

You wrote this post over a year ago so I’m wondering if the mercury content in ‘green bulbs’ is still the case. Maybe scientists have worked their magic and made it safer. Must check.

If it is, then I’m hoping that John’s right (hello John!) in saying that if dropped, much of the mercury would disperse anyhow.

take care…

By: John Morris

John Morris — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:11:15 +0000

Alasdair Philips is mistaken about incandescent light bulbs and radio waves. Presumably the vast majority of such bulbs are plugged into AC power. Because it involves accelerating charges, all AC power emits radio waves all along its entire course from the generating station to the point of use and back. Therefore, incandescent light bulbs do emit radio waves.

As for the mercury in CFLs, I’m not worried. While most of the roughly 5 milligrams of mercury in the CFL would be released if it were broken, it would disperse relatively quickly to an area much larger than the bedroom. I can only guess that something else was driving the reading taken by the DEP. In that case, I hope Bridges figured out where the mercury was coming from an addressed that issue before she paid to have it cleaned up. I would expect that the rest of the house needed a similar cleaning.

By: John Parfitt

John Parfitt — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:26:23 +0000

Another possible danger from the use of low energy light bulbs. Alasdair Philips in “The powerwatch handbook” (London, Piatkus, 2006) which
is concerned with preventing biological damage to people from the electrical
and magnetic fields generated by electrical equipment, says that all energy
saving bulbs are high-frequency fluorescents which can give off significant
EMFs and that some emit low frequency radio waves as well (in contrast to
incandescent bulbs, which don’t). He recommends you don’t use them
in places that are close to people’s bodies, especially their heads (eg reading lamps, bedside
lamps).