Light Bulb

How can we save the environment, save energy and affect climate change in our own small way and at the same time? Simply change your light bulbs with CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light) bulbs.

CFL bulbs consume less power than the traditional incandescent light bulb, which has been around for more than a hundred years. CFL will outlast incandescent ones and although they cost more, the cost is considered negligible as compared to the amount of savings with your electricity bill. I am a proponent of the use of CFL but lately I found out its bad effects if not handled properly. Experts have been debating on the hazards of using CFL because of one of its component, mercury.

Mercury, Hg on the periodic table, is toxic and can be inhaled or absorbed by the skin.

From Wikipedia;

“A study has shown that acute exposure (4-8 hours) to calculated elemental mercury levels of 1.1 to 44 mg/m3 resulted in chest pain, dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, impairment of pulmonary function, and evidence of interstitial pneumonitis.

Acute exposure to mercury vapor has been shown to result in profound central nervous system effects, including psychotic reactions characterized by delirium, hallucinations, and suicidal tendency. Occupational exposure has resulted in broad-ranging functional disturbance, including erethism, irritability, excitability, excessive shyness, and insomnia. With continuing exposure, a fine tremor develops and may escalate to violent muscular spasms. Tremor initially involves the hands and later spreads to the eyelids, lips, and tongue. Long-term, low-level exposure has been associated with more subtle symptoms of erethism, including fatigue, irritability, loss of memory, vivid dreams, and depression.”

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, mercury in the air “can come from both natural and man-made sources. Coal-fired power plants are the largest man made source because mercury that naturally exists in coal is released into the air when coal is burned to make electricity.”

Based from the facts mentioned, we can greatly reduce energy consumption and mercury (that affects our health) generated by coal plants if we use CFL bulbs. But we can’t always have the best of both worlds and there is always a trade off. Since CFL bulbs have small quantities (some consider it negligible) of mercury, the problem arises after it has served its useful life. Unlike ordinary trash, they must be properly disposed and that is the problem. Waste management in the Philippines although there is already a law is still in the medieval times. Even if responsible citizens do their job with segregation, the garbage collector simply reverses what you have done after you give them your trash. So even if CFL’s have miniscule amounts of mercury once they reach the dumpsite, they form a sea (or just a river… a lake perhaps?) of mercury! The best way for now is to keep your busted CFL’s and wait till some agency/manufacturer decided to buy or take them back for recycling.

But there is hope with regards to lighting applications, LED (Light Emitting Diode) which is more energy efficient and maybe more environment friendly is in the pipeline… but for now… we have to contend with the lesser evil.

Click here for EPA fact sheet

Lafayette’s Environmental Management System

Rapu Rapu is an island of Albay located in the Bicol region and is considered a 4th class municipality (that means they have an average of P13,000,000 to P21,000,000 annual income for the last three years). Lafayette Mining Ltd. is an Australian mining firm involved with gold, silver, copper and zinc exploration and extraction and they have setup Rapu Rapu Processing Inc. (RRPI) as their local counterpart in the Philippines. According to its website:

“Rapu-Rapu mineral resource currently supports an eight-year mine life capable of producing approximately 10,000 tonnes of copper in concentrates, 14,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrates, 50,000 ounces of gold and 600,000 ounces of silver annually.”

I am quite not sure as to how much precious metal that can be extracted from the amount of concentrates mentioned above but simply put, our country is really rich in mineral resources and is considered one of the top mining destinations in the world. If only these resources are explored internally, we may be earning more than the present arrangement of our government with foreign firms… but then again… maybe not.

According to reports, on October 11 and 31, 2005, Lafayette allegedly discharged wastewater into the sea with above acceptable levels of cyanide. The discharge affected the local fisherman due to considerable amount of fish kill that resulted. If my memory serves me right, the local population’s health was also affected as skin irritations emerged. Their operation was suspended and was fined by a huge amount by the DENR.

Recently, Lafayette or RRPI has acquired ISO 14001: 2004 certification through Certification International Philippines Inc. (CIPI). The Philippine Daily Inquirer on September 3, 2007, Business Section, published the news. For a mining firm that was dubbed the flagship-mining project of the government, the news kind of slipped under the radar as I was expecting at least half of a news page paid advertisement.

ISO 14001 is simply a standard designed for operating an Environmental Management System (EMS) authored by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) through technical committees. It is the counterpart of ISO 9000 series that is for the implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS). Acquiring such certification is no joke, as it requires a company to identify all the operational factors that might affect the environment, its impact and corresponding countermeasures. It also requires a company to implement projects that would eliminate or reduce waste made by its day-to-day operation.

I was once asked regarding what should a community/government require from a mining firm before giving them permission to start mining even if the DENR already issued an ECC (Environmental Compliance Certificate). My immediate reply was first they should have an environmental management system in place. But even if they present such system and they have completed the certification process through a third party certifying body, it’s not enough to embrace mining. ISO 14001 if implemented by the book will bring forth progress without sacrificing the environment. One mining firm in the northern parts of Luzon claimed to have successfully implemented the system and has brought sustainable development to its neighboring communities. Even if mining firms subject to a periodical audit through a third party certifying body, the government must also perform it’s own periodical audit or better… surprise audits.

Why perform a separate audit? Isn’t it redundant?

It is redundant but the reason behind it is that most companies do not take their EMS seriously. And when I say companies, it covers big, small even multinational ones. I think multinationals are more prone to violations of their standards than small ones due to the size and complexity of their organization. Aside from the obvious good reasons that companies acquire certification, some just do it for the sake of completing a requirement from a customer and worst of all is to just show off. Some certified companies suffer from selective/amnesiac implementation. They only implement their system when there is an impending audit, worst… on the day of the audit itself.

Lafayette needs to be given a chance to erase their previous failure in environment protection and conservation. Maybe ISO 14001 is one step. But… given their record, the government and the people must not sleep on this one.