In our never ending battle to be greener, we may be doing more harm than good. Studies are now showing that those amazing little coiled light bulbs may be more dangerous for the environment than previously thought.
The compact Fluorescent bulbs have been touted as using up to 50% less energy as regular bulbs while lasting several times longer (10,000 hours as compared to 1,500 hours of a normal bulb). As it turns out, the waste industry is now speaking up about the difficulties their having disposing of the miracle bulbs. The poisonous innards of one bulb contain enough mercury to contaminate 6,000 gallons of water, which can cause kidney and brain damage. Awesome!It’s no surprise environmental agencies are torn by this information. The efficient bulbs have, in California alone, prevented 1.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from being release into the air since their inception, but that leaves a lot of mercury floating around as well. Oh what an entangled web we weave when at first we do try to be greener and end up killing everyone from mercury poisoning. Yeah, I know it doesn’t rhyme, but just ask Will Smith how this is going to turn out. I’ll give you a hint; zombies, cannibalism, and doing pull-ups alone with your shirt off; scary stuff!
1 comment:
I always wondered why people acted so weird about the bigger fluorescent bulbs but thought the little ones were so great for the planet. Now I know. Thanks Lucas, knowing is half the battle, because knowledge is power!
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