Because about 80% of all lighting in the home today is still using incandescent light bulbs, the collective energy waste is very significant. With a change to energy-saving alternatives, realistic running cost savings for European consumers of EUR 5-8bn per year and an indirect CO2 reduction of 20m tons could be achieved.
The case against Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) is built largely on half-truths and innuendo. Yes, the energy-saving bulbs contain mercury, a neurotoxin responsible for a tremendous amount of human suffering over the years. And safely recycling CFLs remains far more difficult than it should be. But these facts don't justify sticking with inefficient incandescent technology that has barely changed since the invention of the tungsten filament nearly a century ago.
CFLs are lauded by environmentalists because they require far less electrical power than their incandescent counterparts. A 26-watt CFL bulb produces the same lumens as a 100-watt incandescent bulb. Assuming that you keep one of those bulbs aglow for six hours a day, switching to a CFL will save you 126 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which translates to 170 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions on average.
Now, how many bulbs do you have in your house? Twenty? Thirty? Replace them all and you could conceivably (assuming six-hour-a-day use throughout the building) reduce your annual CO2 output by upward of 2.3 metric tons.
Just look at what's forecast for Australia, which last year became the first nation to mandate a gradual phase-out of incandescent bulbs. According to Australia's Environment Minister, the measure will eventually slash the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 4m metric tons per year-the equivalent of taking 1m vehicles off the road.
But what about the mercury? The toxic heavy metal is integral to the design of current CFL bulbs: Electricity agitates the mercury molecules, causing them to emit ultraviolet light. That light then spurs a bulb's phosphor coating to give off visible light. But the amount contained in each bulb is barely enough to cover the tip of a ballpoint pen, and won't cause any bodily harm as long as simple precautions are taken. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association has voluntarily imposed a limit of 5mg per bulb on all CFLs sold in the United States-about 1 percent of the mercury contained in an old home thermometer. Since manufacturers are well aware that health fears are preventing the widespread adoption of CFLs, most have committed to making bulbs with even less mercury than NEMA's standard.
The average CFL bulb now contains around 4mg of mercury, and that figure should drop closer to 2mg in the very near future.
Major Lighting industry players such as Philips have invested heavily in the development of techniques to reduce mercury consumption during lamp life, including the development of a unique mercury capsule, which allows a precise dosing of the smallest quantities. The new Philips Extreme Low Mercury designated products can be recognised by a logo on the packaging and product. And all of them are already below 2mg.
The irony of CFLs is that they actually reduce overall mercury emissions in the long run. Despite recent improvements in the industry's technology, the burning of coal to produce electricity emits roughly 0.023mg of mercury per kilowatt-hour.
© The Peninsula 2008
