Fluorescent bulbs bad for some people?

[Ironhorse]

*The following was in the February 3, 2008 Parade Magazine in the Fresno Bee:*

Medical Alert
By Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld
Published: February 3, 2008
Bright Lights, Bad Headache?

As energy-saving fluorescent lightbulbs become standard, new research suggests some dangers: Flickering bulbs have been reported to precipitate migraines or even seizures, though manufacturers say the new models have been improved. Fluorescent light also can aggravate skin rashes in people with lupus, eczema, dermatitis or porphyria. Perhaps most important, the bulbs contain mercury. If one breaks, don’t vacuum the debris—that can release toxic dust into the air. Leave the room for 15 minutes. Then, wearing gloves, place fragments into a plastic bag, seal it and take it to a recycling center.

http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_02-03-2008/Medical_Alert

[Iris]

Thanks for the post Ironhorse. We recently replaced all of our standard bulbs with the new ones. Upon breakage, my first inclination would have been to vacuum, YIKES! :eek:

[Ironhorse]

Thanks for the post Ironhorse. We recently replaced all of our standard bulbs with the new ones. Upon breakage, my first inclination would have been to vacuum, YIKES! :eek:

That's what I would have done too, have done that before with those long ones in the kitchen overheads. Guess I shouldn't have.

[Kahlua Kid]

I was just talking to a client today about fluorescent lights - she is allergic (and has Lupus).

I told her I'm stocking up on the old fashioned bulbs - filling my garage - I HATE Flourescent lighting.

[oakhurstleaf]

I read something a couple months back that incandescent bulbs (Edison's invention) will be phased out completely by 2012.

I was just talking to a client today about fluorescent lights - she is allergic (and has Lupus).

I told her I'm stocking up on the old fashioned bulbs - filling my garage - I HATE Flourescent lighting.

[monkey]

When I was in my 20's (long before I got my AARP card) I worked at a lumber yard/hardware store. One day someone dropped a case of fluorescent bulbs and they all broke. Not knowing the dangers, I helped clean up the mess and boy, did I get sick! I had to take the rest of the day off. My boss thought I was faking and was so mad at me.

[Kahlua Kid]

I read something a couple months back that incandescent bulbs (Edison's invention) will be phased out completely by 2012.

Yup - that's why I'm stocking up!!!

They say Flourescents are good for us - save energy -

But uh - what about all the Mercury they are going to have in the dumps... do we really think everyone is going to send them to the right place when they go bad.

Also - where are all the incadescent lamps going to go - in the dump...

Just like TVs will when they phase in to only hi-def...

[MadScot]

I don't have the numbers but I believe all the CFLs used in this country don't have as much mercury in them as is pumped into our air by coal burning power plants. They can be modified but Bush striped the funding for EPA enforcement.
Mercury is not the only problem with CFL lamps they emit UV and they radiate energy in other forms.
There are alternatives we could be exploring the technology already exists. High pressure sodium doesn't use mercury and they last for years. We use them now but only in higher wattage applications like street lamps they are the ones with the slight yellow tint.
Another alternative is Light emitting diodes. You can buy LED replacements for your car dome lights. They are also used in the new crank flashlights. They don't emit the same levels of brightness but more research could improve them and they are cheap to produce. I believe they are the ultimate answer they consume a tiny amount of energy compared to any other method of producing light. They also run on very low voltage less than one volt so you don't have the problem of HPS where you must step up the supply voltage to 10,000 volts which has obvious safety issues.

Waste management is a problem in itself. A lot has been done in this area but not nearly enough. Japan has a very efficient waste management system. They have no space for landfills and since such a large part of their diet comes from the sea they didn't want to pollute their food supply. All the garbage is used in a productive manner those object which can be recycled are and the rest is used for energy production. Some large cities in our country have began to copy their methods. I'd like to see large tax breaks given to companies to change their methods and grants and 0 interest loans given to new companies starting in this effort.

If we as a race plan on continuing life on this planet we must change how we do many things. Global warming is only one of the challenges that face us creating other problems in the attempt to cure one isn't going is get us to the end goal. It's time to replace easy profit with common sense.

[only1alphafemale]

To add more to this post in regards to recycling and energies used,~

I saw on the news the other night, where PG&E is (somehow???) are halting/stopping the manufacture of appliances which have the "standby" mode built in to them. This will help save on energy~ ( The standby mode being the "instant on" feature we have in most of our appliances these days...)
However I find I get "tickled" when I think and look back and remember how we used to have to "warm" up the TV when we turned it on.... (OK, yea I know I'm dating myself here....lol ) .. ...I get tickled at the thought of our new 50" - Hi Def - plasma/LCD "TV's" needing to "warm up" bfore they come on, in the not to distant future... We've advanced so far....and yet we havent really advanced much at all~ ;)

[MadScot]

The problem wouldn't be warming up it would be coming on at all. Power supplies in elctronics like to stay warm. When a old capacitor cools down it changes value. When you turn the compute/tv/dvd on the capacitors in the power supply doesn't charge fast enough and the power supply shuts down to prevent damage (if your lucky). Remember with the old stereos from the 70s. You turn them on then a couple seconds later you hear the relays click and the sound comes on. They had protection circuits in them too just like the new stuff which uses switching transistors instead of relays.

The power consumed by todays standby circuits is really really tiny. We're talking less than .1 watts. I can't see that the impact of this would amount to much. They will likely spend more energy studying this than the circuits will consume over the next 25 years.

[only1alphafemale]

The problem wouldn't be warming up it would be coming on at all. Power supplies in elctronics like to stay warm. When a old capacitor cools down ...... <snip>
The power consumed by todays standby circuits is really really tiny. We're talking less than .1 watts. I can't see that the impact of this would amount to much. They will likely spend more energy studying this than the circuits will consume over the next 25 years.


Then what is PG&E so worried about?? unless this is a substantial "savings' of energies spread around through millions of people, then why are they taking this stance? The news report didnt say it was a "study", more that it was already going to be in practice, in (or rather out ! ) of electronics by around 2010 or 2012 ( thats an estimation from memory only... it may have been sooner.. ) :eek:

[MadScot]

Just a hunch but it may have something to do with the claims against them for damage caused to equipment by problems with the supplied power. If there is a main shutoff which completely disconnects the units from the incoming power than damage can only occur when the unit is on. I had one customer that had everything in his house damaged when the transformer went bad. 3 TVs, 2 stereos,DVD, VCR, frig, AC, phnoes, answering machine, fax, clocks. Can't remember what the estimate was but it was big. Most of the stuff was beyond repair.

[MadScot]

A simple solution would be to run the standby circuit off a solar cell and rechargable battery. Best of both worlds your remote control can still turn on the unit and there would be no power drain on the grid for the standby circuits.

[only1alphafemale]

Just a hunch but it may have something to do with the claims against them for damage caused to equipment by problems with the supplied power. If there is a main shutoff which completely disconnects the units from the incoming power than damage can only occur when the unit is on. I had one customer that had everything in his house damaged when the transformer went bad. 3 TVs, 2 stereos,DVD, VCR, frig, AC, phnoes, answering machine, fax, clocks. Can't remember what the estimate was but it was big. Most of the stuff was beyond repair.

I can relate to that for sure! The second year we lived in North Fork, we had lighting hit our ( not really sure what it hit, if it was the transformer or something else...but it welded the chain to the metal gate we had too!! ) and it sent a fire ball ? through our home. It exited out the antenna of our cordless phone ~ which just happend to be sitting right next to on the table~ with a huge ball of light and an big BANG! Scared the heck out of me..I could hear something humming around in the walls maybe? not sure about that either..but it took our my phone my stereo equipment and some other electronics too ! Everything had been fused fried or melted in to a mass inside ~ :(

[Ironhorse]

The Case for CFLs
Compact fluorescent light bulbs are safe, and they look great, too.
By Brendan I. Koerner
Posted Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008, at 7:39 AM ET

CFL use is spiraling upward
I'm constantly being told that the simplest way to improve my green cred is to start using compact fluorescent lights. Yet some naysayers—like one of your Slate colleagues—argue that the environmental benefits of CFLs are negated by their mercury content. Who's right?

The case against CFLs is built largely on half-truths and innuendo. Yes, the energy-saving bulbs contain mercury, a neurotoxin responsible for a tremendous amount of human suffering over the years. And safely recycling CFLs remains far more difficult than it should be. But these facts don't justify sticking with inefficient incandescent technology that has barely changed since the invention of the tungsten filament nearly a century ago.

CFLs are lauded by environmentalists because they require far less electrical power than their incandescent

rest of article: http://www.slate.com/id/2183606/