[Greenbuilding] CFL Breakage Results Indicate Unacceptable Danger

[Ted Inoue]

argh.
Yet another thing to cause fear among the population. We've become so hyper
sensitized to everything.

How many of you used mercury thermometers when you were young? Or still have
them around today? We stuck the darned things in our children's mouths and
up their butts, or had that done to us. On a regular basis, said children
would spit them out, breaking the thermometer. I know I did on at least a
couple occasions.

A typical mercury thermometer has .5-3 grams, GRAMS of mercury in them. You
want to guess how much of that became airborne when those suckers shattered?
No, I wouldn't recommend it, but you don't see millions of us running around
with "Mad Hatter's syndrome" even though we were all exposed to huge levels
of mercury at some point in our upbringing.

How much is in one of these fluorescent bulbs? About 4mg. The new low
mercury bulbs have as little as 1mg. So you could break 100-1000 bulbs to
equal one of those thermometers.

Now, I don't want to be cavalier about this, but we have to keep this in
perspective. The good that these bulbs do for the environment is far, far
greater than the harm.

Hopefully, the LED lighting will become cost effective soon. I bought one of
the cool $100 downlights, and like it. But of course, then we'll be
complaining about all the poisons in those.



On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 11:00 AM, Jane Talkington <greenqueen at hotmail.com>
wrote:

>
> I am suspicious of CFL mercury gas. This 66-page report from the
> Environmental Protection office
> of Maine details how much gas is in the air at 1 ft off the ground vs 5 ft
> off the ground.
> breakage on carpet vs wood floor. clean up with vac vs. broom, ventilation
> for 5 min vs 15 min.
> The devil is in the details.
>
> Staggering. Alarming. Unacceptable, in my opinion.
>
> http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/homeowner/cflreport.htm
>
> Don't just read the executive summary, open the whole report and see the
> numbers
> that go off the chart! When 300 nanoparts per million is acceptable and
> your baby's room goes
> to 25,000 or even up to 100,000 we have a problem.
>
> Jane Talkington
>
>
> PhD student in "Sustainability"
> Oklahoma State University, Environmental Science Program
> Stillwater, OK
> GreenQueen at hotmail.com (405) 714-1919
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Windows Live Hotmail is giving away Zunes.
>
> http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/ZuneADay/?locale=en-US&ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Mobile_Zune_V3
> _______________________________________________
> Greenbuilding email list
>     Environmentally-preferable design, construction, building elements
> List info:
> http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_listserv.repp.org
> List email: Greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
> Managed by BuildingGreen, Inc. http://www.buildinggreen.com
>      publisher of Environmental Building News and GreenSpec
> Hosted and archived by REPP / CREST http://www.crest.org
> To get on the list:
>  http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_listserv.repp.org
>  or mailto:greenbuilding-request at listserv.repp.org?subject=unsubscribe
> To get off the list:
>  http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_listserv.repp.org
>  or mailto:greenbuilding-request at listserv.repp.org?subject=unsubscribe
>