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September 23, 2008
Lighting for the Future
Move over Thomas Edison there are some improvements coming to the future of household lighting that will give the industry a much needed switch. Rising electricity prices and a demand for energy efficiency has invigorated innovation in bulb technology. Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL), halogen, and Light Emitting Diodes (LED) are emerging as cost effective alternatives to Edison’s incandescent bulb. In the past these lighting options did not have the necessary market or price tag to be successful, but advancements in technology and market demand has set the course for light bulbs to be changed world wide.
The transition to the new technology will be most noticeable in the hardware store. The new bulbs are all manufactured to fit into the existing sockets that were designed for Edison’s incandescents. As the advancements in design continue to improve, the bulbs will effectively match all of the existing functions that are found in a traditional bulb. For example dimming, light output, and light color are functions that are becoming cheaper to design and manufacture. The coming generations of lights are still a work in progress, but the existing options are well worth the small investment.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs use only a third as much electricity as a standard incandescent bulb and are very affordable. CFL’s contain a gas that gets excited and produces invisible ultraviolet light when it gets in contact with electricity. The white coating of the bulb then interacts with the UV light, which is emitted at non-hazardous levels, and makes it visible. The bulb is formed into coils, or tubes, to maximize the surface area, and therefore increase the amount of light that is produced. CFL advancement is coming rapidly as it has received government endorsements worldwide. The improvements will include: faster light up times, dimmable lighting options, and brighter light in smaller bulbs. This innovative process is not only more energy efficient, but it will produce light up to ten times as long as a regular bulb which means it will easily pay for itself.
Halogen light bulbs work in much the same way as a traditional bulb, but with more efficient materials. The proper combinations of gases is put into a small filament that when heated produces light. In this case, halogen can emit more light at the same temperature as an incandescent bulb. This means it requires less electricity to be just as bright. It also means that many of the functions that are available with traditional bulbs can be easily reproduced with Halogen bulbs. As the technology advances, companies will begin to sell halogen lights that do not produce as much heat and they will limit the emission of UV light. Like the CFL, halogen bulbs last much longer than the standard incandescent bulb.
There is considerable amount of advancement that is required before LED’s become a feasible household option. Currently, bulbs that match the output of a traditional 25 watt incandescent bulb cost around 40 dollars. Prices have continually been falling and eventually the technology will give the LED a place in the energy efficient household lighting market. They last ten times longer than CFL’s, are much cooler than Halogen, and operate with 80% less electricity than standard incandescent bulbs. It will be an interesting journey for the LED as it transitions away from smaller lighting applications to larger scale features.
The environmental implications and savings are the key to the story. According to the Energy Star website, “If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.” It is recommended to find the four or five most used light bulbs in your home and replace them with an energy efficient one. All this just adds to the age old question, “How many people does it take to change a light bulb?”
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