How much mercury is there in a fluorescent bulbs that are used to replace incandescent bulbs?
I ask this question because I am concerned about the environmental effect that they will have when disposed of.

The standard fluorescent lamp contains approximately 20 milligrams of mercury. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that over 800 million lamps are produced each year to replace 800 million lamps that are then disposed. Since 1 gram of mercury is enough to contaminate a 2-acre pond, there is enough mercury in those lamps to contaminate 20 million acres of water.

Please check out the following links:

Fluorescent Lights and Mercury (http://www.p2pays.org/mercury/lights.asp)

Purchasing for Pollution Prevention: Fact Sheet on Mercury in Fluorescent Lamps (http://www.informinc.org/fact_P3fluorescentlamps.php)

fluorescent lights (http://www.worldwise.com/recfluorlig.html)

Another factor is the mercury released burning coal to provide power for the lights. I am not going to take time to dig up the figures, but it needs to be done before making a decision. The mercury from coal goes straight to the atmosphere. The mercury from fluorescent bulbs if not recycled, end up in a landfill. Thus, very little of it ends up in the environment. There are other environmental factors in mining and burning coal for electricity. There is also the fuel consumed in hauling replacement incandescent bulbs to the store and landfill.