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Coincidentally, I was talking about mercury poisoning (and fluorescent
bulbs) during one of my classes yesterday and students were asking what
the effects were and how potent it is. Without looking it up for my
precise answers, I basically said "very" potent and mentioned
that a spoonful can poison an entire lake (or something to that
effect).<br><br>
David<br><br>
At 01:07 PM 2/22/2013, Benjamin Pratt wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Gennaro--<br>
just because you have not noticed any health effects from exposure,
it<br>
does not mean it id not harming you or others around you. The
effects<br>
could take years to manifest themselves, and may be attributed to<br>
other things.<br>
I would strongly encourage you to look at the science, and
not<br>
anecdotal evidence, and for your sake, refrain from breaking<br>
fluorescent lights.<br>
Ben<br><br>
<br>
On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 10:35 AM, Michael O'Brien
<obrien@hevanet.com> wrote:<br>
> Hi, Eli--<br>
><br>
> Your wife is right to be concerned about mercury. However, if
your<br>
> electricity is being generated by a coal-fired power plant, it is
putting<br>
> more mercury into the atmosphere than the broken bulb. I mean, the
amount of<br>
> mercury in the bulb is only a fraction of the mercury that the
bulb's<br>
> electricity use creates. It's just more immediately obvious when the
source<br>
> is at your feet.<br>
><br>
> In our house we use a mix of CFLs and halogens. The halogens are 20W
floods<br>
> on tracks that run off a common 600W transformer, which makes the
individual<br>
> fixtures inexpensive. We like the brighter, contrastier light for
some<br>
> functions, like reading or working at the dining room table. At 20W
each the<br>
> power consumption is not horrible.<br>
><br>
> Best,<br>
><br>
> Mike O'Brien<br>
><br>
> Mike O'Brien Photography<br>
> mikeoregon.zenfolio.com<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> On Feb 22, 2013, at 8:07 AM, Eli Talking wrote:<br>
><br>
> We have been encouraged to use CFL bulbs to save energy which
reduces<br>
> pollution from the reduced production of power that it would take to
feed<br>
> that same amount of light of incandescent bulbs. However, the
mercury<br>
> contained within is an environmental threat. I felt incomplete
when there<br>
> was no way to dispose of burnt out bulbs until Lowe’s starting
taking them<br>
> locally. However, how should we clean up the inevitable
breakage in the<br>
> home.<br>
><br>
>
<a href="http://www2.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl" eudora="autourl">
http://www2.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl</a><br>
><br>
> describes the EPA’s answer to that.<br>
><br>
> My wife has picked up on this threat and has insisted we return to
the<br>
> inefficient incandescent.<br>
><br>
> Thoughts are appreciated on the response to the threat of broken cfl
bulbs.<br>
><br>
> Are LED lights ready to replace the common side lamps?<br>
><br>
> Eli<br>
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><br>
><br>
><br>
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<br><br>
<br><br>
-- <br><br>
<br>
b e n j a m i n p r a t t<br><br>
professor art+design<br>
the university of wisconsin stout<br><br>
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</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<br>
David Bergman RA LEED AP<br>
<font size=2 color="#808080"><b>DAVID BERGMAN</b> ARCHITECT | <b>FIRE
& WATER</b> LIGHTING<br>
</font><font color="#808080">architecture . interiors .
</font><font color="#008080">ecodesign</font><font color="#808080"> .
lighting . furniture<br>
</font><font size=2 color="#808080">bergman@cyberg.com
<a href="http://www.cyberg.com/" eudora="autourl"><u>www.cyberg.com</a>
</u></font><font color="#808080"> <br>
</font><font size=2 color="#808080">212 475 3106 twitter:
@EcoOptimism<br><br>
</font><font color="#808080">author -
<a href="http://ecooptimism.com/?page_id=58">Sustainable Design: A
Critical Guide</a><br>
blog - <a href="http://www.ecooptimism.com/">EcoOptimism</a><br>
adjunct faculty - Parsons The New School for Design</font> </body>
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