Tackling Mercury pollution with LED tubes and lamps
For those looking to reduce their environmental footprint MyLEDlightingguide is a leading source of information and energy efficient lighting devices
. MyLEDlightingguide is excited to be a part of the LED revolution. While LED lamps are illuminating numerous PAR and highbay lights all over the globe and the city of Los Angeles is installing its 140,000 LED street lights, LED tubes are changing the way tube light fixtures are illuminated. We believe that given their low energy consumption and zero mercury characteristics, LED lights are the most environmentally friendly lighting technology in the market today.
Fluorescent tubes have a major drawback. They contain mercury. There was a time when parents allowed their kids to play with mercury. But that was only till it was discovered that Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can enter the body through the dermal route. Once the effects of mercury became known there was a clampdown on the use of mercury. Emissions norms for factories were tightened, dental amalgam fillings were replaced with ceramic fillings and the use of mercury was banned in thermometers too.
In all the excitement about reducing energy consumption many seem to have lost sight of the fact that increasing penetration of fluorescent tubes will lead to a massive build up of mercury in soil and water. Unless this collateral mercury contamination is checked the day is not far when epidemiologists will be linking increased incidence of mercury poisoning to the shift to energy efficient lighting.
Incandescent lamps that wasted energy and contributed to the massive buildup of carbon-di-oxide and led to mercury emissions from coal burning power plants are being replaced by the modern LED lamp. It is time that LED tubes replace their polluting counterparts. Calculations demonstrate that were all lighting devices to shift to fluorescent lighting, United States would have to safely dispose more than 2 billion light bulbs containing more than 11,000 kilograms of mercury added to the environment. Given the constraints on safe recycling of mercury containing products (Lack of safe recycling facilities was one of the reasons that led to the ban on mercury containing thermometers) it is unlikely that more than 30% of the bulbs will be recycled safely. Indeed data from Asia and North America suggests that safe recycling figures are around 20%. When the recycling was not trusted to deal with a few thousand thermometers is it a safe assumption that 2 billion plus bulbs will be handled safely?
Tackling Mercury pollution with LED tubes and lamps