Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
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Conservation

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Making the Switch

Making the switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs is easy. Here's a few things that you should take into consideration.

  1. Color: if you like a bluish cast to your lighting fixtures, choose a “cool white” bulb. If you are used to regular incandescent light, choose a “warm white” bulb. This should be indicated on the package.

  2. Size: We’ve been used to choosing bulbs based on how much power they consume instead of how much light they give off—but a 15-watt CFL gives off approximately the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent bulb.

  3. Look: CFLs come in all shapes and sizes from spotlights to vanity globe-style bulbs to the generic ice-cream twist shape.

  4. Quality: The lifespan of a CFL will be displayed on the package and typically varies between 6,000 and 10,000 hours.

  5. Fixture Rating: When a fixture says “60 watts only”, this refers to the maximum power consumption that the fixture is designed for—not the minimum. Remember that a 15-watt CFL produces as much light as a 60-watt incandescent. The opportunity here is that you can replace a regular bulb with a much brighter CFL and still be well below the power rating for the fixture.

Click here to see how much money you could save by switching your incandescent bulbs to CFLs.

 

The Mercury in CFLs

You should also be aware of the mercury content in CFL bulbs. Here are a few things to take into consideration:

  1. Mercury is neurotoxin which can be particularly harmful to children.
  2. CFLs contain as much as 5 mg and as little as 1 mg of mercury. 1 mg is one-thousandth of a gram. This isn’t the only source of mercury in the home. The thermostat on your hallway wall contains about 3000 mg of mercury which is 750 times more than a CFL. Each battery in your wristwatch contains 25 mg, or 5 times more than in a CFL bulb, so it can be said that we already live safely with mercury in our homes.
  3. Because CFLs are more energy efficient, you end up saving on mercury pollution that would have been produced as a by-product of coal-fired electric power stations. In fact, over its lifetime, a CFL with 2.4 mg of mercury will avoid releasing about 10 mg of mercury pollution from coal-burning plants. In Alberta, we use predominantly coal but if you live in an area where hydropower is prevalent, it’s a different story.
  4. Mercury is only released if you break a bulb - which is unusual but not impossible. CFLs are not the only bulb with mercury; any fluorescent bulb contains mercury as it is essential to make them work. Our hospitals, schools and daycares are filled with the long fluorescent tubes which contain mercury. The prevailing wisdom is to wipe the glass and debris (you won’t see the mercury) up with a disposable damp cloth - don’t vacuum up the debris or the mercury can be dispersed into the air.