Saying farewell to fluorescents

Fluorescent lighting was once the preferred option for many uses, but not anymore. LED light bulbs—readily available as replacements for fluorescents in all needed shapes and sizes—do 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.  It’s time to say farewell to fluorescent bulbs.

Fluorescent bulbs contain toxic mercury

Mercury is a potent and persistent neurotoxin that threatens human health and the environment. The World Health Organization counts mercury among the top 10 most dangerous chemicals impacting public health.

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.

There is no “safe” level of exposure to mercury. When a fluorescent lamp breaks, the clean-up recommendations detailed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are ‘above and beyond’ 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’s disposal recommendations.

And when fluorescent bulbs are not disposed of properly—as happens with an estimated 75% of bulbs—mercury 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.

LED bulbs are more energy-efficient than fluorescent bulbs

Because LED bulbs are more energy efficient than fluorescents, they cost less to operate, more than paying back their slightly higher upfront costs—which continue to drop each year—through lower electric bills. According to the report Farewell to Fluorescents 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. 

LEDs use approximately half the electricity as fluorescent bulbs to produce the same amount of light. 

States can lead the way

In 2022, Vermont and California became the first states to phase out the sale of most fluorescent bulbs. In 2023, five other states followed suit, with Hawaii, Colorado, Oregon, Rhode Island and Maine also phasing out fluorescents. In 2024, Washington, Minnesota and Illinois passed the bill. Efforts  continue in Michigan, Massachusetts, New York and Maryland to phase out sales of the most common fluorescent bulbs. These efforts build on global initiatives to phase out the sale of mercury-containing lighting agreed upon by 150 countries at the Minamata convention in November 2023.