# Low energy lightbulbs.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 14, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249 "2011-12-14T23:37:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mewl\_Dear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mewl_Dear)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/1 "2011-12-14T23:37:41Z")
We got a flyer at work today that had pictures of a guys foot after he had broken one and stepped on a shard. To say it was gruesome is putting it mild.
The flyer said if you break one do not vacuum as you would spread the mercury.
My question, if you broke one on carpet would you just have to trash it or would a hepa filter work?
They want to make these things mandatory here.
---
### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/2 "2011-12-14T23:46:12Z")
CFL bulbs are not mandatory anywhere i know of.
---
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/3 "2011-12-15T00:02:50Z")
The amount of Mercury in a CFL is minuscule (around 5mg).
There is a lot of FUD being spread about CFLs, and the Mercury issue is mostly blown out of proportion.
I’m all for making them mandatory - the amount of Mercury that power plants put into the environment due to the higher energy usage of incandescent lamps is far greater than the amount of Mercury in CFLs.
---
### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/4 "2011-12-15T00:06:26Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> the amount of Mercury that power plants put into the environment due to the higher energy usage of incandescent lamps is far greater than the amount of Mercury in CFLs.
Yes but the smoke stacks of the power plant doesn’t spew it’s mercury directly into my living room. That is the issue with CF mercury, the location of the contamination.
---
### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/5 "2011-12-15T00:21:03Z")
FYI, [here](http://www.epa.gov/cfl/cflcleanup.html) is a page from the EPA on how to clean up a broken CFL.
BTW, the OP mentions an injury after someone stepped on a shard of glass. What about that injury was specific to a broken CFL (as opposed to a broken incandescent bulb or even a broken piece of any sort of glass)?
---
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/6 "2011-12-15T00:29:03Z")
> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> Yes but the smoke stacks of the power plant doesn’t spew it’s mercury directly into my living room. That is the issue with CF mercury, the location of the contamination.
Right - it shows up in your food, instead.
Unless you are breaking CFLs daily, it’s a complete non-issue.
---
### Author:  [@Mewl\_Dear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mewl_Dear)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/7 "2011-12-15T01:03:40Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> FYI, [here](http://www.epa.gov/cfl/cflcleanup.html) is a page from the EPA on how to clean up a broken CFL.
>
> BTW, the OP mentions an injury after someone stepped on a shard of glass. What about that injury was specific to a broken CFL (as opposed to a broken incandescent bulb or even a broken piece of any sort of glass)?
I will read closer tomorrow. I thought getting mercury in the wound made it so bad. His foot was gross.
---
### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/8 "2011-12-15T01:07:22Z")
Mercury is has antibiotic properties. If anything, it would help.
---
### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/9 "2011-12-15T02:59:34Z")
> [@Mewl\_Dear](#):
>
> I will read closer tomorrow. I thought getting mercury in the wound made it so bad. His foot was gross.
When I was a kid one of the standard antiseptics Moms put on kid’s cuts was made from mercury. [Merbromin - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercurochrome) It’s since been pulled from the market in the US due to hysteria. It’s still available in Europe. See also [What happened to Mercurochrome? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2518/what-happened-to-mercurochrome)
---
### Author:  [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/10 "2011-12-15T04:18:35Z")
The same people freaking out about a “mandated” switch to CFL’s have never made a stink about the larger sized exact same technology of fluorescent bulbs that have been sucking the life out of workplaces and public schools since the '60’s. It’s all political rubbish. All fluorescent lighting contains mercury.
I personally hate CFL’s, but luckily LED’s are genuinely making it now. You can go to Lowes and get what I assume are decent 450 lumen LED bulbs. I have several from Cree lighting, so I can’t be certain of the ones carried at Lowes. They all have a funny looking heat sink at the base of the lamp. I’m very happy with the ones that I have, although they are pricey. Unlike with the CFL’s, I expect their failure rate will be lower. My experience with CFL’s is that hey burn out all of the time. They also light up instantly and have a nice color.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/11 "2011-12-15T18:11:28Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#):
>
> I personally hate CFL’s, but luckily LED’s are genuinely making it now. You can go to Lowes and get what I assume are decent 450 lumen LED bulbs. I have several from Cree lighting, so I can’t be certain of the ones carried at Lowes. They all have a funny looking heat sink at the base of the lamp. I’m very happy with the ones that I have, although they are pricey. Unlike with the CFL’s, I expect their failure rate will be lower. My experience with CFL’s is that hey burn out all of the time. They also light up instantly and have a nice color.
I have LED bulbs form 3 different manufacturers that I purchased at Lowe’s and/or Home Depot, and all of them are awesome. Plus, I love the fact that they all have a 25,000 hour life (that’s well over 3 years of always being on). I’d rather pay $20 for a lamp now and know that it uses no electricity and will (almost) never need replacing than buy another incandescent.
I used to use CFLs, but since LEDs have come onto the market at reasonable prices, I started switching all my lamps over to LEDs.
---
### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/12 "2011-12-15T19:32:44Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#):
>
> The same people freaking out about a “mandated” switch to CFL’s have never made a stink about the larger sized exact same technology of fluorescent bulbs that have been sucking the life out of workplaces and public schools since the '60’s. It’s all political rubbish. All fluorescent lighting contains mercury.
I have heard complaints about the quality of florescent tube lighting and flickering from well before there was such a think as CF. The mercury issue is somewhat more recent because it is now known to be harmful, back then the risk was not well understood.
---
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/13 "2011-12-15T19:37:42Z")
> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> I have heard complaints about the quality of florescent tube lighting and flickering from well before there was such a think as CF. The mercury issue is somewhat more recent because it is now known to be harmful, back then the risk was not well understood.
That’s crap.
Mercury has been known to be dangerous since the Beaver pelt days.
---
### Author:  [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/14 "2011-12-15T19:56:43Z")
No kidding. The phrase “Mad as a hatter”, came from a time when there were hatters.
---
### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/15 "2011-12-15T20:16:27Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> That’s crap.
> Mercury has been known to be dangerous since the Beaver pelt days.
This would seem to disagree with you:
[http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0203060.html](http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0203060.html)
> [@](#):
>
> The results of the survey indicated that many residents across the state are unaware of products that contain mercury. Many also lack basic knowledge about mercury, which in turn, leads to improper handling and disposal of at least two products that contain the element - household thermostats and fluorescent light bulbs.
Which is from 2002.
---
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/16 "2011-12-15T20:35:55Z")
> [@kanicbird](#):
>
> This would seem to disagree with you:
> [http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0203060.html](http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0203060.html)
> Which is from 2002.
All that says is that the general public is ignorant.
Like, that’s news?
---
### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/17 "2011-12-15T21:14:51Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> All that says is that the general public is ignorant.
> Like, that’s news?
It shows that the general public was unaware of the hazards of mercury and products that contain mercury back in 2002 and specifically the mercury in CF lighting
and dismisses your posts to the contrary.
---
### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/18 "2011-12-15T21:38:33Z")
That paper was about people in Washington state. nuff said. (i kid, i kid)
Lewis Carroll thought it was dangerous. scientific papers were written a century ago and longer about its dangers.
---
### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/19 "2011-12-15T21:43:56Z")
I take mu old ones to Lowes, & they recycle them.
---
### Author:  [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249/20 "2011-12-15T21:56:05Z")
Are these: (link hidden because the pictures are so gruesome that they might be NSFW)
[http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=71917](http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=71917)
the pictures in your flier? The consensus on that thread at the snopes MB seems to be that they couldn’t be from stepping on a broken CFL.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/low-energy-lightbulbs/606249.md?page=2)