Chem321:Compact fluorescent bulbs

Energy saving Compact fluorescent bulbs

Gethmini Jayasundara- June 28th, 2011

Energy saving Compact fluorescent bulbs

A “green product” is a product that has less of an impact on the environment or causes least damage to the environment compared to its predecessor. It usually could be recycled or reused and are mainly produced out of reused materials and manufactured in a more energy conservative approach. A compact fluorescent lamp is a category of fluorescent lamps.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps as an Alternative

Traditionally used incandescent bulbs were invented in the 1800s and were at the peak of lighting at that time. They use thermal energy or heat to produce light when an electric current passes through their metal filaments heating it to the point where it glows. They are only 10% efficient and waste a lot of energy, as almost 90% of the energy is given off as heat. The lifespan of incandescent bulbs are much longer and the cost price per bulb is also lower and economical. Incandescent bulbs are sold on a power based market. The necessity to look for an alternative to incandescent bulbs was because incandescent lamps turned out are of higher cost during usage due to the greater consumption of electricity. Electricity today, is a very important and essential basic need of life and it is necessary to come with a solution which is also environment friendly. When it comes to humans as individuals or as large industrial companies, as industries the usage of electricity is very much higher. It is a very high component that, adds up to the expenditure, when it comes to individuals and industries both. It is very much essential to see the possibility of reducing the cost factor while improving the standards and sophistication of appliances. Lighting is a major component of electricity consumption not just in a nation, but worldwide. As to come up with a cost effective but very much efficient lighting alternative which is also environment friendly, the compact fluorescent lamps could be brought into use in large scale.

Compact Fluorescent Lamp

Compact Fluorescent Lamps is a type of fluorescent lamps and was known to be invented by Peter Cooper Hewitt. Compact Fluorescent lamps are commonly used in offices, factories, classrooms, restaurants, and libraries, offices as well as in houses nowadays. They are said to have achieved greater popularity as environmental efforts have grown and also due to its energy efficient cost effective properties. It is considered to be a green product which is eco- friendly because compact fluorescent lamps could be recycled and reused which is very much energy conservative and minimizes pollution. A compact fluorescent lamp is very much similar to a fluorescent lamp. The main difference is in the size where compact fluorescent bulbs are made in special shapes using special technologies.

Objectives of using Compact Fluorescent Lamp

The main objective of a lamp is to convert electrical power into light. Different lamps do this with varying efficiencies. Efficiency of a light bulb could be determined by its two main factors to consider, the relative visibility of electromagnetic radiation, and the rate at which the source converts electric power into electromagnetic radiation. Light is measured in lumens while power is measured in Watts. For the generation of the same light output or relative visibility of electromagnetic radiation in comparison Compact Fluorescent lamps requires less power than Incandescent lamps. Compact Fluorescent lamps use 20 to 33 percent of the power of compared to an incandescent. The reason for this difference is that an for a specific quantity of light, an incandescent light bulb produces more heat which means it uses up a lot of its power to generate heat. Therefore only 10% comes out as light energy and almost 90% energy is lost to the surrounding as heat which is a huge waste of energy. Most scientists agree that emission of pollutants and greenhouse gases from fossil fuel-based electricity generation account for a significant portion of world greenhouse gas emissions; leaving the CO2 given out during transportation. Since this is a global issue and natural resource use has to be conserved and used, efficient usage is necessary. Fluorescent lamps convert more of the input power to visible light than incandescent lamps. This means that to produce the same quantity of light (lumens) a lesser power is needed (W) for a compact fluorescent lamp when compared to an incandescent. Compact Fluorescent lamps only uses about 20% to 33% of the total power used by an incandescent. They help save power and also helps saving money for electricity bills. Also compact Fluorescent lamps last for a longer time where it is between 8 and 15 times greater than that of incandescent. The overall expected lifespan of a Compact Fluorescent lamp is about 6,000 and 15,000 hours, whereas, that of incandescent bulbs are 750 hours or 1,000 hours. Compact fluorescent bulbs come in different sizes and shapes to fit almost any fixture which is very convenient. In addition, CFLs produce about 70% less heat than standard incandescent bulbs, so they are much safer to operate with. The heat produced due to incandescent bulbs in a house or a building is higher and significant especially when the bulbs are in large numbers. Therefore this could save up a lot of energy and money both used up for cooling systems in houses, buildings or any other places that use much lighting. Manufacturing process of Compact Fluorescent Lamp

A more complex manufacturing process is involved in compact florescent lamps than incandescent lamps. Extra processes include coating the gas-filled tube and twisting it into its final shape. With its complexity comes the cost factor which will be much higher than that incurred in the manufacture of incandescent lamps. The main parts of compact fluorescent lamps are a lamp cover, a coiled glass tube, two electrodes that emit a flow of electrons, phosphor coating, mercury vapor which is the source of ultraviolet radiation, argon, ballast, ballast housing and a base. According to a company that manufactures compact fluorescent lamps; the process commences with cutting of the straight glass shells. The glass shells are then bent into a U shape. Chemically purified water at a temperature of 65-75 degrees centigrade is used to wash the tubes. Next, the tubes are dried for about 25 minutes at a temperature of about 80 degrees centigrade. A coating of fluorescent powder prepared with a binder and purified water is then applied to the glass shells. The fluorescent powder is a combination of phosphor (containing calcium phosphate, aluminum oxide) and polyethylene oxide and dispersion agents. Then these tubes are dried and put in a baking machine that maintains a temperature of about 550 degrees centigrade. It is left for about three minutes and the tubes are taken out and a fluorescent-whitening agent is applied and a filament is slipped inside the tubes. The ends of the glass tubes are cleaned and they are mounted on a sealing machine for locking the filament inside the tube. The tubes are vacuumed in an exhaust machine and mercury and argon are introduced into the tubes while the cathodes are heated The heated cathodes turn the mercury into gas. The tubes are sealed using a tipping machine and the electrical components such as the ballast are connected with the tubes. Finally the compact fluorescent lamps are capped with a plastic base. Quality checking is done to rate their performances based on luminosity.

How does a Compact Fluorescent Lamp work?

A compact fluorescent lamp is a gas discharge lamp that uses electricity to glow by exciting mercury vapor. Fluorescent lamps mostly replaces the conventionally used incandescent lamp which produces light by heating a metal filament wire to a high temperature until it glows. An electric current is driven through the glass tube that contains a fluorescent coating such as phosphor, mercury vapor and argon. When this electric current flows through, the mercury vapor is excited and produces an invisible ultraviolet light (UV). Then this produced Ultraviolet light hits the florescent coating which is phosphor and produces visible light by changing it to light that we can see. Both give a combined spectral distribution of light that is different from those produced by incandescent lamps. The relative intensity of light emitted in each narrow band of wavelengths over the visible spectrum is in different proportions compared to that of an incandescent source.

Good and Bad Debate

Every coin has two sides. Similarly everything has its good side and its bad side. Along with its many advantages it has its disadvantages as well. Energy efficiency is it’s most talked about advantage, because it uses 50-80% less energy than an incandescent bulb. A compact fluorescent lamp lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb. Reduction in electricity costs and bills, higher life span, convenient usage enabling easy fixture are all advantages of using compact fluorescent lamps. They are highly versatile and can be used in any setting unlike incandescent bulbs, enabling easy fixture anywhere. They come in enough shapes and sizes that you can use them for recessed fixtures, table lamps, track lighting, or ceiling lighting. As its main disadvantage, compact fluorescent lamps contain about 3 to 5mg of mercury which can be poisonous when it gets out. Mercury could contribute greatly to air pollution if contaminated in landfill sites and burning of waste. But mercury being in the air is quite less dangerous than mercury getting contaminated with lakes, oceans since it could be a threat to human health if mercury gets contaminated with water and gets build up in fish. Also this water would be very much unfit even for drinking. When these fish are consumed by humans, this could affect their health. Especially the health of pregnant women and small children would be affected. It has also been found that the frequent switching on and switching off of compact fluorescent lamps reduces the life of them and that with time the amount of light decreases exponentially. Compact fluorescent lamps generates a small amount of Ultraviolet light and it has also been a concern as to whether this amount of UV is harmful to humans but has been found out to be almost the same amount of UV in daylight. Other than that the disposal of the broken bulbs is the concern, where it could cut somebody due to broken glass. There is no immediate health risk to anybody using compact fluorescent lamps. Disposal of is a major problem and has also been addressed. The recycling of is been encouraged. During recycling, broken glass and material are been taken for re-use. Recycling the compact fluorescent lamps could reduce cost during production by not having to get brand new raw materials and also prevents mercury from getting into the environment. Through a Life Cycle Analysis it a comparison was carried out for greenhouse-gas emissions related to the creation, use, and disposal of both a CFL and an incandescent. According to this it was shown that the gas emission during the operation phase was the same approximately, but over the other benefits compact fluorescent lamps offer it is much advisable to adopt the usage of compact fluorescent lamps.

References

Ramroth, Laurie . "Comparison of Life-Cycle Analyses of Compact Fluorescent and Incandescent Lamps Based on Rated Life of Compact Fluorescent LampRocky Mountain Institute". (2008), http://old.rmi.org/images/PDFs/Climate/C08-02_CFL_LCA.pdf. (accessed June 28, 2011).

Wagner, Travis P. . "Household Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) Recycling in Maine." September 2009.http://web1.uct.usm.maine.edu/~esd/fac/documents/twFINALreportsept_12_2009.pdf (accessed June 28,2011).

Lavelle , Marrianne. "The End of the Light Bulb as We Know It." December 19, 2007.http://www.thecubscientist.com/Physics/ContentTopics/No_More_Light_Bulbs.pdf (accessed June 28,2011).

Marquardt , Ryan. "Compact Fluorescent Lamp Recycling Project Phase I Draft Report Background Research and Program Options ." September 10, 2002 .http://www.zerowaste.org/cfl/IMAGES_A/phase_I_rpt.pdf (accessed June 28,2011).

"Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs – A Tale From Dust to Dust." The Watt (2008): http://thewatt.com/node/175

"Compact fluorescent lamp." (2008).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp#Cost((accessed June 28, 2011).)