Compact Flourescent Light Nightmare!

[djcraig]

How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent light bulb?

How about $2,000.00?

That's what Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine had to pay after breaking a CFL bulb in her home.

Aware that CFLs contain potentially hazardous substances, Bridges was advised by her local Home Depot that the CFL contained mercury-[b] a highly toxic heavy metal[/b]- and that she should call the Poison Control hotline.

She did and then The Maine Department of Environmental Protection sent a specialist to to test for mercury contamination and found mercury levels in the bedroom in excess of six times the state's "safe" level for mercury contamination of 300 billionths of a gram per cubic meter.

An environmental cleanup firm was then called in to clean up as the room then was sealed off with plastic and Bridges began "gathering finances" to pay for the $2,000 cleaning. Reportedly, her insurance company wouldn't cover the cleanup costs because mercury is a pollutant.

Given that the replacement of incandescent bulbs with CFLs in the average U.S. household is touted as saving as much as $180 annually in energy costs -- and assuming that Bridges doesn't break any more CFLs -- it will take her more than 11 years to recoup the cleanup costs in the form of energy savings.

There are about five billion light bulb sockets in North American households. Given the push towards CFLs by Al Gore, environmentalists and retailers such as Wal-Mart, we're looking at the possibility of creating billions of future hazardous waste sites such as the Bridges' bedroom.

Ironically, environmental groups such as Greenpeace recommend CFLs while simultaneously bemoaning contamination caused by mercury based products created by factories outside the US.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/fina ... 2dee548fda



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