It’s Like Christmas Tonight
This is a very, very interesting late night at the Crabitat. I just finished the previous post and then found this little jackpot of all jackpots for the day. San Francisco bans plastic bags and cuts down more trees as a result. That's amusing, the next item is hilarious. There have been repeated mentions in the news lately of efforts to ban incandescent light bulbs and mandate the use of compact fluorescent bulbs instead. Only it turns out those bulbs pose another - really large - problem.
With an estimated 150 million CFLs sold in the United States in 2006 and with Wal-Mart alone hoping to sell 100 million this year, some scientists and environmentalists are worried that most are ending up in garbage dumps.
Mercury is probably best-known for its effects on the nervous system. The Mad Hatter in the classic children's book "Alice in Wonderland" was based on 19th-century hat makers who were continually exposed to the toxin.
Mercury can also damage the kidneys and liver, and in sufficient quantities can cause death.
U.S. regulators, manufacturers and environmentalists note that, because CFLs require less electricity than traditional incandescent bulbs, they reduce overall mercury in the atmosphere by cutting emissions from coal-fired power plants.
But some of the mercury emitted from landfills is in the form of vaporous methyl-mercury, which can get into the food chain more readily than inorganic elemental mercury released directly from a broken bulb or even coal-fired power plants, according to government scientist Steve Lindberg.
"Disposal of any mercury-contaminated material in landfills is absolutely alarming to me," said Lindberg, emeritus fellow of the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The mercury content in the average CFL — now about 5 milligrams — would fit on the tip of a ballpoint pen, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and manufacturers have committed to cap the amount in most CFLs to 5 milligrams or 6 milligrams per bulb.
The majority of Philips Lighting's bulbs contain less than 3 milligrams, and some have as little as 1.23 milligrams, said spokesman Steve Goldmacher.
To prevent mercury from getting into landfills, the EPA, CFL makers and various organizations advocate recycling.
Funny how complicated it all really is in the real world, isn't it? A lot of advocacy groups push single solutions to complex issues - and those single solutions are sometimes actually creating more but slightly different problems. Some of the different problems are actually worse than the ones the single issue solution initially addressed. For example: it is all very well to force the use of highly efficient light bulbs. Then you have to mandate recycling to keep these out of landfills. But that brings up a few little, teeny questions:
What happens when you break one of these inside your home? Will it be mandated next that hazmat teams have to decontaminate your home? Better yet: will you, personally, become legally responsible if the buyer of your home down the road finds that there is mercury contamination as a result of a light bulb breaking while you owned the house? These are not insignificant questions, folks.
Environment | Gaius Tuesday, 27 March , 2007
By crosspatch, Wednesday, 28 March , 2007 @ 12:40 am
I will share something else that was on the San Francisco news tonite that I believe is a pure fabrication. In tis article the following statement is made:
And I believe that statement is a fabrication. It is fabricated by either the writer of the article, the person who related it to the writer, or the lender who was searching for a reason to deny the loan and this was the best they could come up with.
The reasons I think this is a fabrication are many. First of all, Saddam’s sons have been dead for a long time and we wouldn’t be searching for them. Secondly, Hassan is a very common name. Half of Dearborn probably has someone with Hassan as their first, middle, or last name. Because someone’s middle name is the same as a dead man’s nickname would not be enough to deny a loan. That the name is one of the most common names I know in the Arab community means that thousands, possibly tens of thousands of people in this country must be having the same problem.
I don’t believe it. I believe that portion of the story is a fabrication and I notice that the name of the lender is not provided.
By fred, Wednesday, 28 March , 2007 @ 3:32 am
San Francisco bans plastic bags, thus encouraging the adoption of biodegradable bags, which are on par in price with paper bags. Increased demand for biodegradable bags is expected to reduce the price further.
Get it right.
By Gaius, Wednesday, 28 March , 2007 @ 5:28 am
Ah, yes. I should have mentioned the sanctimonious, self-righteousness, too.
By Quilly Mammoth, Wednesday, 28 March , 2007 @ 6:16 am
To what? Only _twice_ what the plastic costs? A 33-gal “Bio-Bag” costs $16.50 for a roll of twenty (20)!
As my pal Kermit says: “It’s not easy being Green”; there is a cost to being Green. One which invariably is suffered by the least wealthy among us. And which the average person looks at as a waste of money when nice paper sacks are available. But then to the Watermelons it’s the thought that counts not the reality.
By iftheshoefits, Wednesday, 28 March , 2007 @ 7:07 am
Except that when you create excess demand for an item, or grant it a monopoly, the price almost always goes up.
By crosspatch, Wednesday, 28 March , 2007 @ 10:02 am
Those biodegradable bags are made of corn. We are already seeing a doubling of world corn prices due to increased ethanol production. People are rioting in Central America because tortilla prices are going up because corn has doubled. If we now start making our fuel AND shopping bags out of corn, what the heck is going to be left to EAT?
By wheels, Wednesday, 28 March , 2007 @ 10:36 am
Back when I was in the Navy, one of my collateral duties on the sub was “Mercury Control Officer.” The brass got more serious about mercury at that time, and we ended up having to treat flourescent bulb breaks as hazardous cleanups, with canary suits, breathing apparatus, and sealed disposal bags.
I don’t know if the Navy kept that level of concern up too long - it may have been a submarine-only deal because of the recirculating atmosphere. I do know that there’s broken glass from a flourescent bulb by the dumpster behind my office today, and nobody’s too worried about it.
By feeblemind, Wednesday, 28 March , 2007 @ 10:55 am
I thought we had those flimsy plastic shopping bags instead of paper in order to save the trees? If we all go back to paper, where will all the trees to make them come from? Will the spotted owl go homeless? As for the bulbs, your points are all well taken. One wonders if the manufacturers have thought the liability question through? This could be the next generation’s asbestos litigation. In the interest of full disclosure I have a few of the flourescent bulbs. I like them. One has been running 24/7 for 3 or 4 yrs.
By Quilly Mammoth, Wednesday, 28 March , 2007 @ 1:45 pm
The real answer is to require that people use reusable shopping bags. Preferably net bags made from hemp rope that is hand braided by a patchouli oil smelling, dirt encrusted, dope smoking neo-hippie named Star. And people say dopers are stupid.
By the way…has anyone actually looked at the energy costs required to make ethanol? This wouldn’t be a problem if it used electricity provided by hydro or by nukes.
By Quilly Mammoth, Wednesday, 28 March , 2007 @ 8:13 pm
PS: From today’s UK Telegraph a column by Cathrine Ellsworth in SF where she extols the virtue of carrying out groceries in her purse of backpack. After she’s paid, of course! Neither paper nor plastic appeals to her.
Paper or Plastic? No Thanks!
Of course such a commitment means shopping about every day. Which is ever so lovely when one is vacationing in Europe but a real pain here.