yesman
13-06-2007, 19:35
Hi all,
I have been having a bit of a run in with a lighting manufacturer about compact fluorescent lamps being extremely hazardous (in my view anyway).
These lamps contain mercury, about 5mg which when exposed to the skin or inhaled as it becomes gaseous when exposed to air.
Anyway I will show the question that I put to the manufacturer.
With government departments now urging local building control to implement low energy lighting to new builds or major refurbishments, it has urged me to ask this question regarding compact fluorescent lamps. How much money does it take to use a compact fluorescent lamp? About £5.00 for the lamp and labour  unless you break the lamp. Then you could be looking at a cost of well over £1000, to clean up the 5mg+ of mercury that would be spilt in the room and which immediately raises the contamination high enough to cause the building to be sealed up. etc. These Low Energy lamps are not quite what they seem it would appear. And if they become 'compulsory' then the waste problem seems, well, large even if you don't break them Low energy lamps contain about 5 – 15 mg of Mercury, a highly toxic heavy metal. Mercury is a rated as highly toxic by ingestion, inhalation, and by skin absorption, and is a cumulative poison like lead. However the metal itself has low chemical reactivity, so, of your options for poisoning yourself with mercury, inhalation of the vapour is probably the worst. OK, so this is a green option for reducing energy, but is surely hazardous to the extreme in case of accidental breakage and of course disposal once again.
Here is the reply, I will link to it if necessary...
No
All fluorescent light sources like linear or CFL (energy saving) contain mercury. Allmost all the offices/schools are lit with fluorescent tubes and occassionaly they break due to external forces. The mercury is less then 5mg. This would be less then a pin head. The accepted way of dealing with mercury spillage is to sprinkle sulphur powder which will combine with Hg to form mercury sulphide. These can easily be swept away and disposed of at a licensed site. The biggest danger is from broken glass. Does not cost £1000or anywhere near this.
A power station produces far more mercury when burning coal, there is more mercury in a thermometer.
Its like saying smoking contributes to global warming!
Maybe I went a little over the top, however read on.....
http://www.nema.org/lamprecycle/epafactsheet-cfl.pdf
I am not sure I agree with his reply, but, I would appreciate any views others on here might have about this.
Thanks
I have been having a bit of a run in with a lighting manufacturer about compact fluorescent lamps being extremely hazardous (in my view anyway).
These lamps contain mercury, about 5mg which when exposed to the skin or inhaled as it becomes gaseous when exposed to air.
Anyway I will show the question that I put to the manufacturer.
With government departments now urging local building control to implement low energy lighting to new builds or major refurbishments, it has urged me to ask this question regarding compact fluorescent lamps. How much money does it take to use a compact fluorescent lamp? About £5.00 for the lamp and labour  unless you break the lamp. Then you could be looking at a cost of well over £1000, to clean up the 5mg+ of mercury that would be spilt in the room and which immediately raises the contamination high enough to cause the building to be sealed up. etc. These Low Energy lamps are not quite what they seem it would appear. And if they become 'compulsory' then the waste problem seems, well, large even if you don't break them Low energy lamps contain about 5 – 15 mg of Mercury, a highly toxic heavy metal. Mercury is a rated as highly toxic by ingestion, inhalation, and by skin absorption, and is a cumulative poison like lead. However the metal itself has low chemical reactivity, so, of your options for poisoning yourself with mercury, inhalation of the vapour is probably the worst. OK, so this is a green option for reducing energy, but is surely hazardous to the extreme in case of accidental breakage and of course disposal once again.
Here is the reply, I will link to it if necessary...
No
All fluorescent light sources like linear or CFL (energy saving) contain mercury. Allmost all the offices/schools are lit with fluorescent tubes and occassionaly they break due to external forces. The mercury is less then 5mg. This would be less then a pin head. The accepted way of dealing with mercury spillage is to sprinkle sulphur powder which will combine with Hg to form mercury sulphide. These can easily be swept away and disposed of at a licensed site. The biggest danger is from broken glass. Does not cost £1000or anywhere near this.
A power station produces far more mercury when burning coal, there is more mercury in a thermometer.
Its like saying smoking contributes to global warming!
Maybe I went a little over the top, however read on.....
http://www.nema.org/lamprecycle/epafactsheet-cfl.pdf
I am not sure I agree with his reply, but, I would appreciate any views others on here might have about this.
Thanks