The Incandescent Lamp

Posted July 10, 2007 // Tagged as Articles // No Comments ↓

No matter who you believe invented it the incandescent lamp became a viable light-source in the 1870s transforming the energy market for lighting from Gas to Electricity over the following 50 years, it was not an instant event. Since the early carbon filament lamp there has been a steady development of the technologies involved through development of the filament material and form, the vacuum or gas fill, the shape and finish of the envelope, the automation of manufacture to the point today where it is the cheapest method of converting electricity to light.
The materials it is made from are generally inert, that is are not inherently  poisonous, are non reactive so do not pose any particular hazard however they are disposed of.
The quality of light is unique in that it exhibits a continuous spectrum and therefore provides the highest colour rendering ability and therefore is the most comfortable light to live with being true to the nature of any heat or flame based light.
We are being asked to abandon this very human light-source in favour of the compact fluorescent lamp (CFL). This is manufactured from a combination of many materials, oil based plastics, refined chemical phosphors, heavy metal electronic components and mercury in addition to the simple materials found in the incandescent lamp.
The light quality is variable, a discontinuous spectrum and delivered at  a frequency, either that of the mains supply or possibly a higher frequency. They take time to emit the full rated output, the colour rendering is very inferior to that of the incandescent lamp and the majority are sold as equivalents of incandescent lamps that have higher outputs.
Increasingly, even main stream lamp manufacturers are supplying lamps manufactured in China thus exporting the problems of worker safety and pollution.
If we are being asked to consider that the use of CFL as beneficial to the environment we must have concrete information on the embodied energy, that is the energy use to manufacture the lamp and all its components, its delivery and its safe disposal at end of life, so far manufacturers have either not done these calculations or are afraid to publish the results.
On waste disposal in the UK it is permissible to dispose of small quantities of CFLs in domestic waste. If all lighting currently performed by incandescent lamps is in the near future to be done with CFLs there is a major problem with waste disposal. Currently there is only one outlet I know of that are taking CFLs for “recycling” from the domestic market and that is IKEA. Assuming the take up for recycling in the UK of approximately 20% this will result in many tons of CFL going to landfill leaching mercury and other noxious substances into the ground and eventually into water courses.
Is this a smart thing to be doing or are we building a new problem, potentially larger than the clean up that has been required for the nuclear industry, toclean up landfills full of CFLs late this century or early next century?

No matter who you believe invented it the incandescent lamp became a viable light-source in the 1870s transforming the energy market for lighting from Gas to Electricity over the following 50 years, it was not an instant event. Since the early carbon filament lamp there has been a steady development of the technologies involved through development of the filament material and form, the vacuum or gas fill, the shape and finish of the envelope, the automation of manufacture to the point today where it is the cheapest method of converting electricity to light.

The materials it is made from are generally inert, that is are not inherently  poisonous, are non reactive so do not pose any particular hazard however they are disposed of.

The quality of light is unique in that it exhibits a continuous spectrum and therefore provides the highest colour rendering ability and therefore is the most comfortable light to live with being true to the nature of any heat or flame based light.

We are being asked to abandon this very human light-source in favour of the compact fluorescent lamp (CFL). This is manufactured from a combination of many materials, oil based plastics, refined chemical phosphors, heavy metal electronic components and mercury in addition to the simple materials found in the incandescent lamp.

The light quality is variable, a discontinuous spectrum and delivered at  a frequency, either that of the mains supply or possibly a higher frequency. They take time to emit the full rated output, the colour rendering is very inferior to that of the incandescent lamp and the majority are sold as equivalents of incandescent lamps that have higher outputs.

Increasingly, even main stream lamp manufacturers are supplying lamps manufactured in China thus exporting the problems of worker safety and pollution.

If we are being asked to consider that the use of CFL as beneficial to the environment we must have concrete information on the embodied energy, that is the energy use to manufacture the lamp and all its components, its delivery and its safe disposal at end of life, so far manufacturers have either not done these calculations or are afraid to publish the results.

On waste disposal in the UK it is permissible to dispose of small quantities of CFLs in domestic waste. If all lighting currently performed by incandescent lamps is in the near future to be done with CFLs there is a major problem with waste disposal. Currently there is only one outlet I know of that are taking CFLs for “recycling” from the domestic market and that is IKEA. Assuming the take up for recycling in the UK of approximately 20% this will result in many tons of CFL going to landfill leaching mercury and other noxious substances into the ground and eventually into water courses.

Is this a smart thing to be doing or are we building a new problem, potentially larger than the clean up that has been required for the nuclear industry, to clean up landfills full of CFLs late this century or early next century?

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