Currently all of Emerald Planets CFL’s are liquid mercury free.

All Emerald Planet’s Compact Fluorescent Lamp’s use less than 3mg of Mercury amalgam which is an alloy of mercury combined with other metals.  It is more eco-friendly and a safer alternative to liquid mercury.

Amalgam technology makes the CFL lamp more resilient to ambient temperature variations, maintaining light output closer to rated lumens in both warmer and cooler ambient temperature environments.

The benefits of amalgam Compact Fluorescent Lamps are numerous, including:

•   Universal burn positions for same light output
•  15,000 hour lamp life
•  High efficacy (up to 74 lm/W)
•  High CRI up to 82
•  Multiple colour options
•  Dimmable
•  Integral End of Life protection
•  Maintain 90% of light output over broad range of ambient temperatures of 5º – 60ºC.

(This can vary slightly by lamp style and wattage.)

About Mercury

Mercury is considered to be a naturally occurring toxic element that poses health hazards to human beings and damages to the environment.

Liquid mercury poses potential danger in case of lamp breakage; with all products that require mercury, Amalgam which is liquid mercury free is the preferred choice of social responsible manufacturers.

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) require mercury amalgam for efficient operation, however the small amount of mercury sealed in a CFL does not pose a hazard to users. Mercury is a toxic metal and every product containing mercury should be handled with care and always dispose of used CFLs properly and clean up any broken CFL’s safely.

What is Amalgam?

Amalgam is an alloy of mercury combined with other metals which is in a stable solid form under room temperature. It is a more eco-friendly and a safer alternative to liquid mercury because mercury vapour would not be released until it reaches around 100°C under atmospheric pressure. At room temperature, the mercury inside the Amalgam is concealed inside the metal alloy and would not escape even if the lamp breaks. Amalgam does not pose a health hazard to people or pollute the environment and the use of Amalgam makes the lamp even easier and safer to handle on disposal.

Picture of 3mg ball of amalgam next to a 1c piece.

Dental fillings

Compared to CFLs, metal dental fillings that millions of people have in their mouth contain staggering amounts of mercury. According to Dr. Eddy Clinic’s dental blog:

“Many people are unaware that “silver” amalgam dental fillings are actually 50% mercury. The American Dental Association (ADA) refuses to publicly state that dental amalgam fillings contain a high level of mercury, and adamantly denies that the mercury escaping from them can cause serious health issues. “

A single dental amalgam filling with a surface area of only 1/2 square cm is estimated to release as much as 15 micrograms of mercury per day. A person with 8 amalgam fillings in his mouth could absorb up to 120 micrograms of mercury per day from their fillings. Multiply that by 365 days a year = 43,800 micrograms = 43.8 milligrams a year (the equivalent of mercury contained in 10 CFLs!)

Mercury in Amalgam can be Recycled and Reused

In its solid form, the mercury inside Amalgam can be collected, recycled and reused more readily than liquid mercury. Since Amalgam will not release mercury vapour when it is exposed under room temperature, it does not pose a health hazard to people or pollute the environment in its solid state.

Reducing mercury by using CFL’s

A 14watt, 10,000hour CFL will use 140kWh of electricity in its rated life. Its incandescent equivalent, a 75 watt bulb - will use 600kWh. On average, 0.0012mg of mercury is released into the atmosphere with each kWh of electricity used.

Therefore, the amount of mercury released due to the use of a 75watt incandescent light bulb is;

600kWh X 0.0012mg = 7.2mg of mercury.

The amount of mercury released due to the use of its CFL equivalent is;

140kWh X 0.0012mg = 1.7mg of mercury.

Replacing one 75 watt incandescent bulb with one of these CFL’s will reduce mercury emissions by 5.5mg, assuming the CFL does not break and is recycled.

If a broken CFL is sent to a landfill, according to EPA only as little as 14% of the light bulb’s original mercury content will release into the atmosphere.

If all 290 million CFLs sold in 2007 were sent to a landfill (versus recycled, as a worst case) – they would add 0.16 metric tons, or 0.16 percent, to U.S. mercury emissions caused by humans.  Clearly, the mercury pollution will be reduced as a result of replacing incandescent light bulbs with CFLs.