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About CFLs:

Yes, they do contain mercury, and I feel like it's our failing that more members of the public don't know this. Basically the tube of a fluorescent bulb -- compact or linear -- contains a tiny amount of mercury vapor, which when excited gives off tight green, violet, and UV emission. The light from the mercury (mostly the violet and UV) makes the phosphor coating on the inside of the tube glow, in a broader spectrum because the powder is in solid form. The green light which leaks through helps give them their sickly cast. Fluorescent = Hg. Still, it's a very small amount of vapor.

In the base of a CFL there is a PC board, and various resistors and capacitors and stuff; so it's a small-scale version of the problem of computer disposal. Some -- not many -- CFLS are modular, with seperate tube and ballast.
http://an.hitchcock.org/repairfaq/sam/cfl2prts.jpg

Also, I've heard that the "hum" of fluorescent ballasts, an annoyance to most of us, can induce migranes in some. I have a cheap CFL by my bed which buzzes annoyingly. Were I like my sister I might be incapacitated by it. As we make lots and lots and lots of these things, that's something to keep in mind.

As far as a lot of energy going into making them; My exemplar of what a weird system we have is the time my brother's house and yard was hit by an ice storm and we went to the store to get something to cut up the fallen branches.

An ax, manufactured 200 miles away in North Carolina, made of one piece of wood, some varnish, and two pieces of metal: $25.

An electric chainsaw, manufactured on the other side of the world, made of several steel alloys, copper, aluminum, multiple kinds of plastic resin, with stickers and manual and warranty card, packed in polystyrene foam in a cardboard box: $20.  

We bought the ax. Yarrrr! Not just green but macho.

Kathryn beat me to The Story of Stuff.

Marc Taylor
Coordinator, Andrus Planetarium
Hudson River Museum
511 Warburton Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10701
914 963 4550 x223
Fax 963 8558
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