Sustainable Building Forum

Article: Compact Fluorescents:  Are they green? (http://www.informedbuilding.com/Live-Clean/Main13/Compact-Fluorescents%3A--Are-they-green?/)

I say YES ... significantly reduced energy costs AND longer bulb life.

I have heard many people complain about the mercury in the bulbs. I think this is nuts, because it is trace mercury. When you burn coal to make electricity for an incandescent bulb, that releases mercury too... and all kind of other pollution into the air.

I am anxiously awaiting for a price drop on LED light bulbs.  The one I want is over $100 right now!

I switched to these bulbs because my present home has some electricity issues that were blowing out conventional bulbs at an astounding rate. I literally had one last 3 hours before a local surge popped it. Ah, the wonders of aluminum wiring.

I gave them a try on a recommendation from a relative and I was amazed. I put the first one in over a year ago and haven't had to replace it yet. About 6 months ago, I replaced them all and started tracking my electric use. It dropped by a little over 15%. Now, I cook and heat my home and water with propane, so this may not be typical, but my electric bills in the short winter we have here are regularly under $100. The short-term cost was more, but in the long run, these were a great switch here and have noticeably reduced my energy use (and the midnight trips I used to have to make for light bulbs).

I have to say yes, these are green. If nothing else, they've saved (in my case) the shipping, packaging and manufacture of a dozen conventional bulbs a month.

For those worried about the mercury in these bulbs, this link http://lamprecycle.org/ will give you a list of north american recycling centers.

Thank you for the recycle information.  I just posted a question about that in the "5 ways to lower your energy bill" post.  All of our bulbs are in ceiling lights, so I'm not worried about my daughter getting to them, but I am glad to know that I should handle them carefully and recycle them when I'm done with them.

I refitted my whole house when I moved in just for the savings, but if you think about it, the less money I spend on electricity(coal generated) those CFs are as green as grass. I'm not sure about the possible toxins or recycling but it can't be much worse than traditional bulbs.