Recently I had a economy bulb over heat to a point where it could have caused a fire, but we smelt it, before it did any dammage. Interested to se why it got so hot I took it appart. I was amazed by all the stuff in the base of those bulbs, there are enough eletrical components you could build a simple radio! Capacitors, transistors, coils, a transformer, resistors and all sorts of other little goodies, not to mention the bulb and the plastic housing hiding the circuit board. My point is there are a lot of components that have to be made, the raw materials have to be mined, transported, processed, assembled, transported a few more times, shipped around the world, used to make light for a while then dumped in a landfill. The old style bulbs are simple they are a glass bulb with a tungsten fillament and not a lot else. I have not done any research on the subject, but I'd be interested to see a comparison on these different bulb types and their environmental impact from cradle to grave, not just during the time they light out homes.
I still use Economy bulbs, but am pondering switching to old style bulbs for bulbs thet don't get much use, like in the bathroom and storage rooms.
2 comments:
I read something recently that made the point that although energy saving bulbs consume less electricity in almost every other way they are certainly not more environmentally friendly.
They take more energy to make, use more materials, but also another factor is that they give off considerably less heat than ordinary bulbs - and considering their efficiency at doing this it is probable that any savings you make using the economy bulbs are offset to a certain degree by using more heating in the winter to compensate for the lesser heat radiated by economy bulbs.
Yep, that is another good point, I heard a similar argument on CBC recently. Not sure how valid it is, but I think it is something worth thinking about. I notice that Australia is planning to phase out incandescent bulbs by 2009. That is a pretty big move, it had better be based on some sound research.
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