You can buy them (compact flourescent bulbs) almost anywhere conventional incandescent bulbs are sold. (Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart, Target, Costco, Sam's). Most have a telltale twist that looks a bit like a soft vanilla ice cream cone. Low in wattage (7-watt CFL equals 40-watt incandescent, 26-watt CFL equals 100-watt incandescent, for example). They They cost more than incandescents., but the power savings they produce offer a return on investment of which we would all be proud. Don’t look for “CFL” on the label, as manufacturers give them their own catchy names, such as G.E.’s “Energy Savers.”
     As with so many advances, there are downsides to CFLs. Each bulb contains about 5mg of mercury, which means you should not put them in the trash when they give out (usually after several years), which would route them to landfills. CFLs are also slightly hazardous if they break, as they release mercury vapor, which is toxic, especially to the newborn. (The Center for Disease Control says that 8% of all women of child bearing age – 4.9 million – have mercury levels high enough that the 830,000 children they bear each year are at risk of brain damage.
     Roddy Scheer, in an E-Magazine article entitled "The Dark Side of CFLs, had this to say about the problem:
     “While the world embraces compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) as an energy-efficient alternative to the incandescent bulbs that have reined supreme for 125 years, a new crop of concerns has arisen about the potential for mercury contamination from the newer bulbs. While each CFL contains only a trace amount of mercury, landfill managers are worried that large numbers of them ending up in their facilities could pose problems for employees, not to mention surrounding communities.
     The Environmental Protection Agency recommends switching over to the bulbs for the energy and greenhouse gas emissions savings, but it acknowledges that the newer bulbs pose a contamination problem when they break. The agency’s website provides a detailed outline on how to air out a room to dispose of the pieces of a broken CFL so as not to endanger family members or the environment.
     Currently only seven U.S. States ban putting CFLs in the regular trash, and there are still very few CFL recycling centers. “I think there are going to be hundreds of millions [of CFLs] in landfills all over the country,” says Leonard Worth of Illinois-based CFL recycler Fluorecycle.
     CFL manufacturers are working hard to minimize the mercury in their bulbs while simultaneously ramping up R&D on other high-efficiency bulbs that do not contain these toxic elements (such as light-emitting diode bulbs and high-efficiency incandescents). A solution is needed urgently, as Australia, China and now the U.S. have made big commitments to CFLs in order to lower their carbon footprints.”
     It is worth remembering that most of us have been dealing with the disposal of conventional fluorescent bulbs for many years, and have learned what to do with them in our respective locations. The CFL problem is not as complex as that.
     While we are considering the mercury in CFLs, it is important to realize that mercury is also emitted by burning coal, a pollutant not restricted by the Clean Air Act. Keeping this in mind, remember that CFLs draw one-sixth the electricity of incandescents. If everyone uses them, there will be less coal consumed by utilities, and hence, lower emissions of mercury. Incandescent bulbs spend most of their lives making heat, not light.
     Some will say, that is OK in the winter, right? Yes, it is true, but it is the opposite in the summer, when the AC needs to overcome the heat from light bulbs on top of the atmospheric heat. But, it is interesting that the economics of CFLs improve at the higher Latitudes because there the balance between heating and cooling is more even.
     According to the New York Times, 22% of electricity is used for lighting. About 42% of that 22% are incandescents, say NRDC and Phillips Lighting, as part of a group that has been formed to totally eliminate them. “A complete phase-out would save $18 billion per year in electricity, and obviate the need for 30 nuclear reactors or 80 coal-fired power plants." Just a quick note about the coming-of-age of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which don’t have a mercury problem. Today, they work well as accent and dash lights, as well as desk and floor lamps. (More about LEDs in a future article.) For now, however, if you want to replace your average light bulb, CFLs are the wave of the present and near future.
      - John Burr