Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) require less energy to produce the same amount of light as incandescent lamps and can last up to ten times longer. While the EPA works on ways to get Americans to recycle CFLs, all of which contain mercury in varying amounts, Philips Lighting Company is reducing the risk of mercury contamination with improvements to their technology.
Philips has announced the next generation Alto II technology to replace T8 line. Each new lamp will now contain only 1.7 mg of mercury, 50% less than the original Alto lamps. The Director of Corporate Communications Susan Bloom says, “T8 lamps with ALTO II technology offer the same long life, energy efficiency, and lumen output as the previous generation of ALTO lamps, but with a level of mercury far below the prior version’s already-low levels.â€
Philips has been the leader in low mercury lamps since introducing their Alto lamps in 1995, which were the first fluorescent lamps to meet the EPA’s TCLP (Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure) standards for non-hazardous waste. How strange - the bulbs look like they’re burning brighter more than ten years later.
