Mercury Rising

Well, I was wondering the other day about the total environmental impact of CFLs. Here's a great link to Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit, with links of its own, talking about how CFLs, which contain small amounts of mercury, cause less mercury pollution than incandescents, which contain no mercury. Check it out:

Ironically, compact fluorescent bulbs are responsible for less mercury contamination than the incandescent bulbs they replaced, even though incandescents don't contain any mercury. The highest source of mercury in America’s air and water results from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, at utilities that supply electricity. Since a compact fluorescent bulb uses 75 percent less energy than an incandescent bulb, and lasts at least six times longer, it is responsible for far less mercury pollution in the long run. A coal-burning power plant will emit four times more mercury to produce the electricity for an incandescent bulb than for a compact fluorescent.

Sounds good to me.