Mercury and Fluorescent vs. LED

Your point about unthinking substitution of fluorescents makes sense.

But we're all kind of new to this sustainability idea. It used to be just implement your good idea, and if there is aproblem, than we'll deal with it.

The euro folks have a precautionary principle approach, and all that seems to be doing is moving real production out of their backyard to former eastern bloc and china, where they can then criticized by the Euro 'greens."

High levels of mercury can be problematic, but as a kid I played with bulk quantities of the stuff, and I still have a couple of pounds that I use for cleaning metal fouling out of gun barrels.

Chronic exposure through food and water over time is a far likelier danger than the occassional spill of a single bulb in your house. But how do you calculate the trade offs between Carbon/ global warming and local mercury disposal in the landfill consequences.

I guess its up to the folks with the land fills to come up with a recycling plan. The folks at the epa sure didn't

Great critical thinking in your post.

milo

How do you use mercury to clean metal fouling out of gun barrels?

I've got a few barrels that are in serious need of a really good cleaning. I was considering buying a electrolysis cleaning system but if mercury will do the same thing then I may try that first.

I shoot a lot of copper jacketed FMJ loads. The copper and the lead build up get "amalgamated" in the mercury. just stop up one end,pour it in, empty it and scrub with a dry brush, repeat as needed.

For my wheel guns, I use a lewis lead remover too. you can buy that from Brownells

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/catsearch.aspx?k=lewis%20lead%20remover&ps=10&si=True

milo

I also used to have a substantial quantity of mercury I used and "played with" during the 1940s and 50s when I was growing up. I have always considereed the mercury health scare a big red herring, because unless the mercury is in the vapor phase or reacted and part of the food chain, one has little to no likelyhood of getting mercury poisoning. Same with lead poisoning, which according to WHO only affects small children. Seems that if a child would ingest enough lead from chewing on lead house paint, the parents would be suspicious because the walls of their house would be bare.

This topic grates on me because I have yet to see a standard set by EPA that has anything to do with science.

I am a child of the 40's.

I got lead poisoning from chewing a very small amount of paint on a wooden window frame, tiny amounts. It was enough. Not bare walls believe me.....

You shit blue Turds with lead poisoning.

It 'ain't nice believe me.....I was 2 years old and have never forgotten it.....

It also affects your mental powers.

DUUUHHHH!!!! (Homer like groan!!)

A lot of the resistance on high-efficiency lighting comes from the marketplace. It can be shown that replacing a 40W incandescent with a 7W high-efficiency lamp can be an attractive proposition, even if the lamp is energised for only 10 minutes per day. The resistance arises when, instead of around £0.40GBP per lamp the uninformed punter is invited to pay £4.95GBP per lamp for a LED replacement or £2.49GBP for an ugly fluorescent substitute.

Even in well-informed-punter-households, the prospect of spending a fiver on a new lightbulb just because a child breaks one in a real-stroppy-hissy-fit can bring on apoplexy...

Hey PW.

I was in the marching band, so I'm not a punter.

Would you mind sharing your calculations?

Its been my 'marching band' experience that these suckers don't last the hours (or calendar days regardless of hours for that matter) that the good old fashioned Tungsten filament bulbs seem to. Regardless of if I buy Philips, GE or cheapie brand. SO If I have to pay 10X the Price and get less than the hours of the original, (Not to mention the ugliest turn your girlfriend int olooking like a corpse light quality) i'm not sure that 10 minutes a day makes a successful punt.

milo

Two points: Actually, organic mercury compounds are far more hazardous than mercury vapor. A mercury expert was killed at UNH a few years ago, because she "forgot" that organic mercury compounds could readily penetrate latex gloves. Secondly, how much mercury (mostly initially vapor) is emitted by coal-burning power plants? I suspect a lot.

Coal burning plants also emit, relative to a nuclear plant, large amounts of radiation per day, more than a nuclear plant in a whole year!!!