The Fray's pushing for CFL bulbs is a highly irresponsible, and somewhat mis-informed effort.

People being what they are, most will continue to throw away CFLs in the trash, where they're broken, releasing the mercury into landfills, then runoff, ground water, and finally the oceans, where it's concentrated by the various food layers until we feed it back to our children via tuna and other fish.

And don't think for a second that 4 mg (or even just 2 mg) if mercury is "miniscule." Let's assume for a moment that half of all Americans used CFLs. Let's also assume that a full 50% of all Americans who utilized CFLs for all fixed lights in their homes and recyled the used bulbs appropriately. That's a HUGE stretch, by the way, as the correct figure is closer to 10%.

Given these assumptions, and a total of 12 fixed lights throughout a typical 3-BR home or apartment, that comes to between 90 Million and 150 million CFLs being dumped into landfills. Let's use the average of 120 Million for simplicity. That's still 240 kg, or just shy of 530 lbs of mercury each and every year.

If you don't think that's all that much, perhaps there are some facts about mercury of which you're unaware.

First, concentrations as low as between 1 and 40 micrograms (one millionth of a gram) per square meter cause tremors, impaired cognitive skills, and sleep disturbances. (source)

Second, it's so toxic, and at such low concentrations, that many countries have banned it's use in any products produced, imported, or exported, altogether. Nearly all countries, including the European Economic Community, at the very least highly restrict it's use, banning it in many products, and providing maximum concentrations in others.

Finally, much of the damage done by mercury poisening to babies and children who are developing is irreversible, even after chelation therapy to reduce mercury levels in the body to normal levels.

But that's not the half of it, as CFLs are NOT the best choice if one wants to save money, reduce their CO2 footprint, or minimize environmental impact (eliminate mercury poisening).

LEDs are.

The latest generation of LEDs cost less than half of what they did just two years ago, faithfully reproduce a white light that's pleasant on our eyes, and the per-hour cost over the LED's life cycle is now cheaper than that of CFLs, even when one adjusts for the higher entry cost and inflation.

That's right - they're cheaper.

And they don't pollute the environment or poisen ourselves and our children.

And they use a LOT less electricity than CFLs, thereby reducing the CO2 footprint even further.