Robert,

I'll respectfully disagree and say that the price signal is right, because the overall cost (bulbs + electricity) of your lighting is greatly reduced.

However, your mention of accidental breakage did make me curious about the correct disposal of Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs).

From the US EPA

...Fluorescent light bulbs contain a very small amount of mercury sealed within the glass tubing. EPA recommends the following clean-up and disposal below. Please also read the information on this page about what never to do with a mercury spill.

Before Clean-up: Air Out the Room

* Have people and pets leave the room, and don't let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out.
* Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
* Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.

Clean-Up Steps for Hard Surfaces

* Carefully scoop up glass pieces and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
* Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
* Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place towels in the glass jar or plastic bag.
* Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug

* Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
* Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
* If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
* Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.

Clean-up Steps for Clothing, Bedding and Other Soft Materials

* If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from inside the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be thrown away. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.
* You can, however, wash clothing or other materials that have been exposed to the mercury vapor from a broken CFL, such as the clothing you are wearing when you cleaned up the broken CFL, as long as that clothing has not come into direct contact with the materials from the broken bulb.
* If shoes come into direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from the bulb, wipe them off with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes. Place the towels or wipes in a glass jar or plastic bag for disposal.

Disposal of Clean-up Materials

* Immediately place all clean-up materials outdoors in a trash container or protected area for the next normal trash pickup.
* Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials.
* Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states do not allow such trash disposal. Instead, they require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.

Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug: Air Out the Room During and After Vacuuming

* The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window before vacuuming.
* Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.

So, nothing to worry about then!
;-)

Re: micromanging rule makers.

This isn't a disease that the left alone suffers - authoritarian conservative nitwits are just as bad as their left wing equivalents - they just have a different set of fetishes to make rules about and use as an excuse to boss people around (which the whole "war on terror" scam has demonstrated pretty comprehensively).

Al Gore is usually considered "left" wing (admittedly this is something your average anarchist or socialist might find laughable) and he has proposed that the best way to solve global warming is to impose carbon taxes and then give the money back in cuts to other taxes. That seems like the best way of sending a market signal that everyone gets - yet right wingers often oppose this in favour of heaily regulated cap and trade schemes...

Before ranting proper... I would like to point out that NZ has much laxer, or looked at another way, more "liberal" rules governing DIY house wiring. Unlike OZ where all work must be done by a qualified electrician. This might potentially be a factor.

If you followed the stringent US EPA guidelines above, unless you actually stuck your nose in the tube pieces and inhaled deeply, your exposure to the ~5mg of Hg is very very small.

Never mind that these and other guidelines are also written by those nanny state lefties! God damn them , not only are these goody goodies trying to minimise the overall load of Hg to the environment, the largest being due to coal fired power stations, ~10 % of the power from which has to light those tungsten filament museum pieces; But God Damn if they aren't also trying to save us in the event of a tube breakage! Will their incessant nannyness never cease in their quest to deny me the freedom to pollute the environment and hurt myself!

The issue is either that the policy has not had a good public education program... OR some people have failed to take it in and properly educate themselves; preferring instead to see some left wing conspiracy. Curiously the motivation for this particular conspiracy is "to boss people around"... not money... not power... just... bossines. Interesting motivation.