CFL bulbs, or the energy saving bulbs touted by many, require mercury to produce light. All told, each bulb requires about 5 miligrams of Mercury- a dangerous heavy metal that must be respected and guarded against as it is toxic in our food and water supplies.
These bulbs require about 25% of the electricity required by their incandescent counterparts. This is due to the way incandescent bulbs light, which is by heating the filament at the center of the bulb to over 2,300 degrees celsius, causing the filament to glow white hot an light the room. However, these CFL bulbs work differently, and do not require heating the bulb white hot. Instead the bulbs are filled with gas and a small amount of Mercury which produces light when the mercury is excited by running between two electrodes in the base of the bulb. They bulb produces ultraviolet light which excites the phosphor coating of the bulb, emitting visible light.
Although at first it may seem frightening that the bulbs are utilizing Mercury, they are actually using less mercury by only using 25% of the energy required by their incandescent partners because our number one source of electricity production, burning coal, releases around 0.0234 mg of mercury—plus carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide—into the air per 1 kwh of electricity. In total, the CFL bulbs contain only 5 milligrams of electricity, so they’re clearly a better option.
So don’t be afraid to spend a little more on bulbs this year! Its totally for a good cause.
Thanks for explaining how these bulbs work, they’re definitely very interesting and I will keep an eye out for them in the grocery store! Do you know if incandescent bulbs function the same way? Just curious!