In case you haven’t noticed shopping at your local hardware store, the incandescent light bulb discovered by Thomas Edison has gone the way of the dinosaur. This is thanks to government regulations which encourage greater light bulb energy efficiency. The market for incandescent light bulbs has quickly been replaced by CFLs and LED bulbs in recent years. While you can still find incandescent bulbs, they are typically specialty bulbs with very low wattage that are not ideal for interior home lighting.
Compact fluorescent lightbulbs have the very alarming problem of mercury exposure should one of these nasties ever break in your home. CFLs also pose an environmental threat to soil and water surrounding landfills as few folks recycle their CFLs choosing instead to throw them in the garbage for their unsuspecting garbage collector to have to deal with sans mask and gloves.
What about LED (light emitting diode) light bulbs in comparison? I’ll give you the good news first.
LED bulbs are indeed energy efficient. End of good news.
The bad news is that they are not in any way a better choice than CFLs for your health or the environment.
How depressing! It seems stocking up on your incandescents is the only way to go at this point to tide you over until a nontoxic solution becomes commercially available – besides candles, that is!
LED bulbs Contain Toxic Heavy Metals
A study by the University of California Irvine found LED bulbs to be loaded with lead, arsenic, and/or nickel. These heavy metals are used to create the LED artificial light. This is quite different compared with the harmless, heated filament in traditional incandescent bulbs.
The high intensity red LED bulbs used in full spectrum infrared saunas contained the most arsenic. Low intensity red lights had high amounts of lead. White bulbs used for home lighting had lower amounts of lead but worrisome levels of nickel.
Fortunately, unlike CFLs, LED light bulbs are not as fragile or likely to break in the home environment, However, LEDs still need to be treated as hazardous waste. Broken bulbs in landfills threaten soil and groundwater with contamination.
Similarly, anyone unfortunate enough to break a LED bulb is advised to don a mask and gloves and sweep up the hazardous mess with a specially made broom. The team of scientists also recommended safety gear for crews who respond to car crashes as LED technology is utilized for car headlights and traffic lights now.
LED Bulbs and Too Much Blue Light
Perhaps the worst thing about LEDs is the artificial light pollution they create in a home or work environment.
Standard white LED bulbs create light that favors the blue spectrum. Exposure to this type of light after sundown disrupts circadian rhythms to the detriment of the deep, restorative sleep we all need. This is why sleep experts recommend a “no screens” policy especially for children 1-2 hours before bed. Too bad they don’t include warnings against using LED bulbs in the home too. Most parents are completely unaware how dangerous LED light is to long-term health. More on how too much blue light is wrecking our sleep in this article on biohacking your way to deeper slumber habits.
In essence, using LED bulbs introduces the serious problem of light pollution into your home environment. It’s a very unhealthy, unbalanced type of light to be exposed to on a daily basis particularly after sundown.
The only upside to LED bulbs is when you use them on the outside of your home. The cooler blue light tends to not attract as many insects!
What to Do if you Can’t Get Away from LED Light Pollution?
What to do if you can’t get away from LED light pollution because of frequent traveling or working late in an LED lit office?
Some people I know are donning special blue blocking glasses at sundown to combat the problem. These glasses prevent LED blue waves from reaching the eye so they don’t disrupt circadian rhythms. The bonus is that using these glasses allows you to work on your computer, watch TV or use your phone after sundown without sleep disruption too.
Do you use LED lightbulbs in your home? Will you be switching back to old fashioned incandescent bulbs now that you know they are bad for your health?
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
CFLs are better solution, both economically and environmentally. They do save energy, but they also contain small amounts of mercury. Recycling mercury-containing products, including CFLs, is becoming an important issue. As this article states, it is important for consumers to realize that CFLs and fluorescent bulbs require special handling and disposal. Like all mercury-containing fluorescent lights, CFLs should be properly stored, transported and recycled to prevent these fragile bulbs from breaking and emitting hazardous mercury vapor. They cannot be thrown away in the trash, but should be taken to a recycling center or disposed of by using a proven recycling box. However, taking them to a recycling center may not always be the most efficient solution. Consumers can use a recycling box to ship bulbs instead. If consumers choose this option, it is important to select a packaging configuration that effectively contains mercury vapor. A recent study conducted by the University of Minnesota tested the effectiveness of various packages in containing mercury vapor emitted from broken fluorescent lamps. The study found that many packages do not sufficiently contain mercury vapor, such as single-layer cardboard boxes (representing the original manufacturer’s box or container) as well as single layer boxes with a sealed plastic bag. Just one configuration–consisting of a zip-closure plastic-foil laminate bag layered between two cardboard boxes–minimized exposure levels below acceptable occupational limits, as defined by state and federal regulations and guidelines. Find out more about this proven packaging method at: vaporlok.blogspot.com/2010/05/layers-of-protection-packaging-used.html
I would love to see an LED drop and break. An LED Bulb consists of several LED’s inside a container and I am willing to mail you a single LED that is found inside an LED bulb so you can drop it as many times as you wish to see if it will break and release its contents. You will get tired of trying waiting for it to break as it wont happen unless you plan on smashing it.
I have been using LEDs since I was a child building projects and never once have I seen one break, even under great force. You would need to hit it with a hammer or place it in a vice to get the epoxy to break away from the semiconductor. And if it is that much of a concern, we all may want to get rid of all our electronics in your house as they all contain a diode or semiconductor of some sort even if it not a Light Emitting Diode.
When my son was 2, he went through a phase of throwing toys from his crib. Thank God I heard the tinkling sound of broken glass the day he broke a CFL that was in the ceiling fan/light fixture in his room! On instinct alone I raced in there, grabbed him, opened a window (middle of winter), left the room and shut the door behind me. Then I went online to see what to do about his room, and how to clean it all up. Let’s just say that most of him room was bagged up and thrown out that day, including bedding, keepsake monogrammed baby blanket, toys, area rug, and much more. It took me several hours to clean enough that I thought it was safe. Even though I followed all the safety instructions online, I still had to take frequent breaks in the beginning because I felt dizzy, lightheaded and weak in my limbs after just 10-15 minutes of cleaning. This was after the room had aired out for about 45 minutes with 2 wide open windows.
What a NIGHTMARE!!! Thankfully I have noticed no ill effects in my son (he’s 3 1/2 now), but the risk of CFL use is so NOT worth it to me! I still feel guilty to this day, because I set all the contaminated bags outside the door to get it out of the house as quickly as possible. It was only a few days later that I realized my husband put it out with the regular garbage. 🙁 So yes, most people will do that as well, and contaminate the environment. I just hope that the sealed bags contained the powder and vapors enough to not cause harm to any people in the process of the disposal.
Also, just imagine the harm that could come to children and families from this scenario if the parent did not realize the dangers of mercury in these bulbs. It’s not hard to imagine an uninformed parent wiping a few things off and vacuuming the rug. Frightening!
I will no longer purchase CFL’s because we had one break. After looking up online how to clean the mess up, we decided the risk was not worth it to our family. Thankfully we have hardwood floors, otherwise you are really supposed to dispose of the carpet. There appears to be too many environmental hazards to make these environmentally friendly. I told a friend about the horrible details that go into cleaning up a broken one. The response was disbelief that I was overreacting and vacuuming up the broken glass was sufficient cleaning up because that was they did. UGH!
The very “right brained free market system” unrestrained by the “left brained bureaucrats” produces and sells bright and shiny kids’ toys made with LEAD PAINT that’s toxic. Or tooth paste made with ARSENIC. Or dog food made with poisonous filler. Or cribs with dangerous slats. Etc. etc. Any of this sound familiar?
So, I’m kind of a fan of the “nanny state” myself, even if they do sometimes screw up as they’ve apparently done with light bulbs. It’s fine to point out their failures, but the sweeping generalizations are just silly and weaken your argument.
Thanks for this information! I just realized that CFLs are considered hazardous waste when I started researching information on recycling in my area for a blog post.
I haven’t clicked over to check out the link, but it doesn’t surprise me that the solution is equally bad, if not worse. I’ve been trying to track down a recent study that showed that BPA-free plastic products had their own issues, and still leached into hot and cold food.
LEDs may not be as green or safe as incandescents but they are no where near as bad as CFLs which seems to be what most us are taking issue with here. They may not be perfect but they are certainly far better than CFLs. Let’s keep some perspective here.
AMEN!!!
Oh, everything is toxic anymore. But I’m sure theres worst sources of mercury than a lightbulb.
You got that right .. VACCINES! And lest folks thinks that shots are thimerosal free now, think again. One independent study took vials of supposedly mercury free shots and tested them .. every single one contained thimerosal! Guess the “filtering” of the thimerosal after manufacture of the vaccines doesn’t work too well! But, the Big Pharma scam artists label it “thimerosal free” anyway.
We need to get rid of most of our reps and vote for people who will vote no on every bill that increases the size, the reach, and the cost of the Federal Government. We need to vote for people like Ron Paul who know what they are talking about.
It seems the source article from the Orange County Register is complete crap. Most of the source links lead nowhere, except for the study above, which shows the opposite of what the article is saying… wth?
Surprise indeed, considering the studies you link to show the opposite. You must not have read the studies correctly:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es101052q
“Barium, cerium, gadolinium, mercury, tungsten, and yttrium were not detected in any of the LEDs. The lead (Pb) content of low-intensity red LED was 8103 mg/kg, which is higher than the levels determined for the other LEDs by at least 3 orders of magnitude. The combined weight of these metals corresponds to approximately one-third the total LED weight, regardless of color or intensity (Tables S-1 and S-3 and Figure S-2 of the SI); the remaining weight is derived from the plastic housing.”
The only thing high was lead. And I’m sorry, I’d rather have LEAD, sealed in a plastic composite then mercury in the air from a CFL bulb. Look at the study yourself people. CFL’s are crap, LED’s ARE in fact good for the environment!
You’re forgetting about the arsenic and nickel. You may be ok with lead, but I’m not.
You might be forgetting that an LED is solid, and sealed. Even if you swallow it, nothing is going to leach out. I don’t understand what your knee jerk reaction is to. There’s lead in the ground, where do you think it comes from? I’d rather have LED’s which will not lead to any exposure of anything, rather then a CFL bulb which can shatter and send mercury vapor in the air.
Arsenic is the only real worry, but again, the whole thing is sealed in a solid globe of plastic, and you should be recycling your LED’s anyway when they burn out (which is far longer then CFL or regular bulbs). They don’t pose an immediate danger of release like CFL’s.
You can still break an LED bulb. It will contaminate landfills. If you break it at home, then you have to sweep it up with a special broom and don a mask and gloves as recommended by the study team at Univ of CA – Irvine. Lead lowers children’s IQ and even a little bit is a problem. You must work at an LED factory, your answers are so passionate.
Oh, and so few people will recycle LEDs! The majority will of course end up in the garbage just like with CFLs. I want my nontoxic incandescents!!!!
you probably CAN break an LED… with considerable effort, and maybe a hammer. It’s not something you could do accidentally, like dropping a CFL on the floor.
As far as contaminating landfills, they may do so, but that doesn’t automatically make them as bad as CFLs. Just the fact that they last MUCH longer means that there would be far fewer of them in the landfill to begin with.
My point is that LEDs are not green and hence no better than CFLs that aren’t green either. Both are a step down from incandescents. So we pollute the landfill slowly or quickly depending on which bulbs we use? That seems a silly argument. Let’s not pollute at all and stick with incandescents until a technology that is truly green and energy efficient becomes available. Don’t force people to buy polluting technologies like LED or CFL with a short sighted law banning incandescents. I am very surprised by the defense of LED bulbs in these comments, I must say.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m 100% against these laws forcing people to buy or use certain types of light bulbs. They’re completely unconstitutional. And on a personal level, I don’t like CFLs or LEDs and would much rather buy incandescents. In fact, I’ve been stockpiling them.
But I do like honest accurate information, and the idea that you can somehow accidentally break the tiny, solid piece of plastic that is an LED and release toxic chemicals into your house is absurd. Also, given the unfortunate choice between contaminating landfills slowly and contaminating them quickly, yes, I would pick slowly. Especially if that choice is also the one that’s less likely to contaminate the house.
It seems like every time someone contradicts one of your claims, you just stress a different claim, or reword what you originally said. The way you state things over-dramatically and then ignore any dissenting opinion is what makes people like me, who actually do agree with your position on the law, seem like we completely disagree with you when we comment.
If the chance of breaking LEDs is so absurd, then why does the study mentioned in the article detail this as a risk and suggest ways to protect oneself and one’s home if/when it does? These are not my suggestions, they are from a study by a well respected university. If you don’t agree with the study, that is fine. Just don’t shoot the messenger – I’m just giving my personal take on the story.