I was browsing the different early morning news on TV and a news report about the energy department giving away free CFL lights caught my attention. I googled it but can’t find a news about it though.
I have not used incandescent bulbs for years because it apparently consume so much energy. CFL lights, although more expensive, lasts longer than traditional bulbs. Using CFL lights also lowers down a households electrical consumption. I wonder why manufacturers don't just discontinue the production of yellow lights to help solve the problem of using too much electricity. They should just develop CFL lights that costs as much as the cheap incandescent bulbs that a lot of people still use.
But there apparently is a downside to using CFL according to a July 2011 study:
Once broken, a compact fluorescent light bulb continuously releases mercury vapor into the air for weeks to months, and the total amount can exceed safe human exposure levels in a poorly ventilated room, according to study results reported in Environmental Engineering Science, a peer-reviewed online only journal published monthly by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. ~greenwashinglamps.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/defra-cfl-faq/
Good thing I’ve never broken a CFL bulb in the house. And based on the study, the mercury exposure is not safe for humans only if the bulb gets broken in a poorly ventilated room. Still, safe material handling should always be main priority when changing and disposing a CFL bulb. The study may or may not be wrong but it’s still better to be safe than sorry.
