Do incandescent light bulbs contain mercury?
Incandescent light bulbs do not contain mercury however their use ultimately releases much more mercury into the environment throughout each bulbs lifetime when compared to CFLs. This is because the biggest source of mercury pollution is coal-fired power plants. Burning coal to illuminate incandescent lamps releases about five times the mercury into the environment compared to burning the same coal to illuminate CFLs. This is significantly more than the mercury contained in the CFL. Ultimately, the net benefit of using a low energy CFL is positive, particularly if the mercury in lamp is recycled and kept out of landfills.
