4-27-07 TANSTAAFL - pt2
Yesterday, I posted about how there's no such thing as a free lunch, when it comes to compact fluorescent lightbulbs... This is a new angle for me regarding things "green" and eco-friendly, since I had no idea that the bulbs contained mercury. Today, I spotted this article describing the plight of a Maine woman who purchased a bunch of CFL's and while attempting to screw one into her daughter's bedroom ceiling fixture, the bulb fell onto the floor and broke.
Now, you really have to understand what has happened to this woman. It will cost her TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS to get the hazardous waste removed from her daughter's room! I mean, this hazard cleanup is for ONE LIGHTBULB that broke on the floor!
Yesterday I speculated that the cost of disposal for CFL's may well equal or surpass whatever money anyone might save by using them. But TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS is a whole heckuva lot more than I could have EVER imagined it would cost to clean up after one had been broken!
This woman in Maine has what I would call a real nightmare. Of course, the story neglected to mention anything about the radioactive isotope (Kr85, a gamma emitter with a half life of 10.7 years) used in some CFL's. This is something I haven't spent any time researching yet, but here is a page describing radioactive substances in lighting products, and this page is concerned with sustainable development of compact fluorescent lamps, neither of which I've read yet because they're both rather long and technical. Nonetheless, the more I look into the materials that go into these "green" and "safe for the environment" and "eco-friendly" products, the more I learn about the true meaning of "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch" as it applies to the products we're being sold under the aegis of being "better" for the planet.
Because of the TWO THOUSAND DOLLAR cleanup cost for breaking ONE LIGHTBULB, however, I believe that I'll be looking into this a bit further as the days go by.
Now, you really have to understand what has happened to this woman. It will cost her TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS to get the hazardous waste removed from her daughter's room! I mean, this hazard cleanup is for ONE LIGHTBULB that broke on the floor!
Yesterday I speculated that the cost of disposal for CFL's may well equal or surpass whatever money anyone might save by using them. But TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS is a whole heckuva lot more than I could have EVER imagined it would cost to clean up after one had been broken!
This woman in Maine has what I would call a real nightmare. Of course, the story neglected to mention anything about the radioactive isotope (Kr85, a gamma emitter with a half life of 10.7 years) used in some CFL's. This is something I haven't spent any time researching yet, but here is a page describing radioactive substances in lighting products, and this page is concerned with sustainable development of compact fluorescent lamps, neither of which I've read yet because they're both rather long and technical. Nonetheless, the more I look into the materials that go into these "green" and "safe for the environment" and "eco-friendly" products, the more I learn about the true meaning of "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch" as it applies to the products we're being sold under the aegis of being "better" for the planet.
Because of the TWO THOUSAND DOLLAR cleanup cost for breaking ONE LIGHTBULB, however, I believe that I'll be looking into this a bit further as the days go by.
posted by Jeff Barnard at 9:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home