Energy Saving Light Bulbs – Are They Really Green?

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Until recently I thought energy saving light bulbs were a totally green option. Surely they had to be a good thing, reducing energy usage and lasting so much longer than traditional light bulbs. Except of course when the cat knocks the lamp off the table and the bulb shatters, its ungainly long shape no longer protected by the lampshade... but still they save energy so they must be good, right?

Unfortunately when you look into it, CFLs(compact fluorescent light bulbs), the coiled energy saving light bulbs that we’ve all been changing over to, aren’t really all that green. In fact they are fairly toxic. That broken light bulb scenario, every time it is repeated, which in a household with cats and toddlers can be quite often, exposes us to the mercury which is inside the bulb. Mercury... euggh. Read up about it and you find that it isn’t something you want rolling about on the floor where kids will be sitting and playing or pets lying around on. A neurotoxin that builds up in the body, mercury is especially dangerous for children and pregnant women.

The other drawback comes at the end of the bulb’s life. How do you dispose of it safely? Landfill sites can quickly reach really dangerous levels of mercury if everyone is using CFLs and then throwing them in the trash. Land contaminated with mercury is no longer safe to grow any food crops on. Recycling programs for CFLs are still hard to find and you have to be a dedicated recycler to seek them out.

So now we are looking for alternatives to CFL energy saving light bulbs. So far the best option seems to be LED light bulbs, which use even less energy and last much longer. They don’t have mercury in, but further research shows that they do contain other heavy metals, so even these aren’t perfectly green. And they are still very expensive, though their energy savings should make them pay for themselves in two years, after which they should last another 8-10 years. Sounds better already.

But to be truly green, the only option currently available seems to be to go to bed when the sun does and get up at dawn.....