{"id":3414,"date":"2023-01-06T15:46:19","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T20:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/newjersey\/articles\/saying-farewell-to-fluorescents\/"},"modified":"2023-05-31T13:26:59","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T17:26:59","slug":"saying-farewell-to-fluorescents","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/newjersey\/articles\/saying-farewell-to-fluorescents\/","title":{"rendered":"Saying farewell to fluorescents"},"featured_media":45707,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[163],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"person_tax":[],"region_tax":[],"state":[8,9,16,23,24,2,33,40,41,50],"topic_tax":[135,148,143],"class_list":["post-3414","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[135,143,148],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":false,"event_type":false,"campaigns":163,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[2,8,9,16,23,24,33,40,41,50],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":135}},"featured_image":45707,"caption_override":"","excerpt":"Fluorescent light bulbs are a common sight in offices, garages, and basements\u2014but they contain toxic mercury and are incredibly inefficient compared to newer alternatives. It's time to phase them out.","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":[],"hide_hero_image":false,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":2,"people":"1024"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}},{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":4,"people":"203"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fluorescent lighting was once the preferred option for many uses, but not anymore. LED light bulbs\u2014readily available as replacements for fluorescents in all needed shapes and sizes\u2014do not contain any of the toxic mercury that fluorescent bulbs do. LED bulbs also cut energy use in half compared to fluorescents, last about twice as long, and typically cost far less to purchase and operate over their lifetime.\u00a0 It's time to say farewell to fluorescent bulbs.<\/span>","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_featured_resource","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_featured_resource":{"resource":[3446]}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<h3><b>Fluorescent bulbs contain toxic mercury<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mercury is a potent and persistent neurotoxin that threatens human health and the environment. The World Health Organization <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/teams\/environment-climate-change-and-health\/chemical-safety-and-health\/health-impacts\/chemicals\/mercury\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">counts mercury <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">among the top 10 most dangerous chemicals impacting public health.<\/span>","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_large_image","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_large_image":{"width":"narrow","image":45621,"caption_override":"Exposure to mercury \u2013 even small amounts \u2013 may cause serious health problems, and harm early child development."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All fluorescent bulbs contain mercury by design and they release mercury whenever they are broken. Because fluorescent lighting is ubiquitous, lamp breakage can occur in homes, schools, child care settings, office and apartment buildings, retail stores, factories, health care and other facilities, as well as during disposal.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no \u201csafe\u201d level of exposure to mercury. When a fluorescent lamp breaks, the clean-up recommendations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/mercury\/cleaning-broken-cfl#di\">detailed<\/a> by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are \u2018above and beyond\u2019 what most people are aware of and prepared to do. This includes immediate evacuation, ventilating the room for several hours, shutting off central heating and cooling to avoid mercury dispersion, collecting all contaminated materials (clothing, protective gloves, rugs) in a sealed plastic container, and following their local government\u2019s disposal recommendations.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And when fluorescent bulbs are not disposed of properly\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aceee.org\/research-report\/b2202\">as happens with an estimated 75% of bulbs<\/a>\u2014mercury contamination follows. Mercury in our waste stream puts sanitation workers at risk. Mercury also leaches from landfills and gets burned in incinerators and eventually contaminates rivers, lakes, and oceans and the fish and shellfish within them. <\/span>","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_large_image","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_large_image":{"width":"narrow","image":45711,"caption_override":"LEDs, which are mercury-free, are safer and more energy efficient than fluorescent light bulbs. Technological advancements in recent years have made them readily available and cost effective."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<h3><b>LED bulbs are more energy-efficient than fluorescent bulbs<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because LED bulbs are more energy efficient than fluorescents, they cost less to operate, more than paying back their slightly higher upfront costs\u2014which continue to drop each year\u2014through lower electric bills. According to the report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aceee.org\/research-report\/b2202\">Farewell to Fluorescents<\/a> released by ACEEE in 2022, a typical school could see more than $5,000 in annual utility bill savings if all its fluorescent bulbs were replaced with LEDs. LEDs also last about twice as long as fluorescents, so they need to be replaced less often.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LEDs use approximately half the electricity as fluorescent bulbs to produce the same amount of light.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<h3><b>States can lead the way<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2022, Vermont and California became the first states to phase out the sale of most fluorescent bulbs. Now a number of other states <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.ea-test.com\/media-center\/advocates-to-lawmakers-say-farewell-to-fluorescents\/\">are considering action<\/a> to phase out sales of the most common fluorescent bulbs by 2025.\u00a0<\/span>","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_large_image","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_large_image":{"width":"narrow","image":45627,"caption_override":"A diverse coalition including environmental, public health, and consumer organizations, labor unions and waste companies supported phasing out fluorescent lighting in California. "}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more states act, the more retailers move away, and the greater the chance that the Biden Administration will support an international phase-out of all general-purpose fluorescent lamps by 2025 at the upcoming <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mercuryconvention.org\/en\/meetings\/cop4.1#:~:text=Due%20to%20the%20ongoing%20COVID,1%20to%205%20November%202021\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fourth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP4) of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.\u00a0<\/span><\/a>","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_featured_action","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_featured_action":{"action":[3411],"action_query_string":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_accordion","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_accordion":{"title":"Additional Resources","entries":[{"title":"Mercury in Fluorescent Lighting: Unnecessary Health Risks & Actionable Solutions","content":"This 2021 <a href=\"https:\/\/cleanlightingcoalition.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/Mercury-in-Fluorescent-Lighting_FINAL-1.pdf\">report<\/a> by the Clean Lighting Coalition, Mercury Policy Project and the Responsible Purchaser Network outlines the health risks and environmental impacts of fluorescent lighting, highlights the many compelling advantages of transitioning to mercury-free alternatives, and gives actionable solutions to phase out mercury-added lamps in the United States."},{"title":"Farewell to Fluorescent Lighting: How a Phaseout Can Cut Mercury Pollution, Protect the Climate, and Save Money","content":"This 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aceee.org\/research-report\/b2202\">study<\/a> by ACEEE finds that drop-in LED replacement lamps are available for all common linear fluorescent tubes, pin-based compact fluorescent lamps, and specialty applications."}]}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Saying farewell to fluorescents<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fluorescent light bulbs are a common sight in offices, garages, and basements\u2014but they contain toxic mercury and are incredibly inefficient compared to newer alternatives. 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