There's a brighter future ahead for discarded fluorescent light bulbs in Alberta.

The University of Calgary, in conjunction with Direct Energy, is shining a light on how to keep the familiar fluorescent tubes from harming the environment once they've gone dark.

The two partners recently unveiled a bulb-eating machine, which not only crushes the glass from the bulbs, it also removes the mercury, a neurotoxin, from the fluorescents and diverts it from the landfill.

The Bulb Eater works by grinding the spent fluorescent tubes, filtering out the bulb's contaminated air and mercury and storing the glass shards for disposal.

The captured mercury - .15mg of mercury in each four-foot fluorescent tube - is sent to a designated hazardous waste facility.

The environmental benefits, however, don't stop there. The bulb-eater also reduces the glass volume from 1,200 fluorescent lamps into a single 40-gallon barrel for disposal, which in turn cuts transportation costs because of a lower number of truck loads headed to the landfill.

"We are reducing the volume and in turn reducing the transportation costs, which also means a reduction in greenhouse gases as there are less trucks loads," says David Simmons, energy group manager for Direct Energy Business Services.

The one down side, adds Simmons, is that there is no recycling opportunities for the milky-coloured crushed glass, which can't be mixed with clear glass. But the company is hoping eventually to complete an environmentally friendly circle that will further cut landfill use.

Photo courtesy University of Calgary
Workers plan to feed more than 180,000 fluorescent tubes into the bulb-eater as part of the U of C’s campus lighting retrofit.

Hans Lu, the U of C's environmental management co-ordinator, says they are also seeking a company to accept the glass for recycling.

"We're thrilled though, that this technology is available. Prior to this, they were going straight into the waste bin. They were being landfilled."

The bulb-crusher costs about $4,500 US, but the university spent about $50,000 on its containment facility.

The machine, manufactured by Chicago-based Air Cycle Corp., was developed through the company's involvement in the lighting industry. Air Cycle CEO Scott Beierwaltes says they saw a need for equipment to make lamp disposal more easy and efficient.

"It's relatively popular," says Beierwaltes. "There are about 3,500 currently in use at large facilities throughout the world, with the heaviest concentration in the U.S."

"We're constantly trying to get the word out that this technology exists," he adds.

Air Cycle says it has other Canadian clients, with about 75 systems in operation on this side of the border.

It's unlikely the Bulb Eater will go hungry at the U of C. The university will be retrofitting approximately 90,000 fluorescent light fixtures containing more than 180,000 fluorescent tubes across the campus with more energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs. Once the retrofit is complete, it is estimated that a further 10,000 tubes per year will be crushed in the new machine.

Direct Energy, as part of Project Evolve, a long-term strategic energy management partnership between the two organizations, brought the Bulb Eater to the university's attention.

It's estimated the retrofit alone will save more than 16 million kilowatt hours of electricity and more than 3,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year - or the equivalent of removing 780 cars from the road or planting 853,000 trees over 784 hectares of land.

Other methods Direct Energy has introduced at the U of C include automated systems called "vending misers.”

The misers can turn off vending machine lights, though they do come back on when sensors detect a person or motion nearby.

Other lighting programs at the university are designed to shut down lighting - except emergency and hallway lights - at designated times. They can, if needed, be turned back on by phone.

Simmons says most of these technologies can easily be applied to other institutions or businesses.

"The purpose of our (business services) department is to save energy costs for our clients."

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)