There can be little doubt that overall, low energy light bulbs, rather than the old-fashioned incandescant type, are a good thing. But as so often with technological issues, the issue is more complicated than it first seems.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs
(or CFLs), work by containing phosphors, compounds that are phosphorescent, giving off light without heat and using some 60 per cent less electricity than standard bulbs to do so. If a standard bulb lasts some 1,000 hours (a year on average), the CFL lasts between six and 15 times longer, cutting carbon emissions. Over their lifetime, each bulb saves the consumer around £20 in electricity bills. However as they are higher-tech they use more energy in manufacture than traditional bulbs.
Also CFLs contain mercury,
about 5mg per bulb, which will contaminate the environment when they are thrown away, unless special recycling facilities for bulbs are used.
IKEA is to date the only retailer offering to take back old CFLs for recycling.
Some manufacturers such as Philips and GE make very low-mercury content CFLs. In 2007, Philips claimed its Master TL-D Alto range to have the lowest mercury content of any CFL on the market, at 2mg. Safe disposal requires storing the bulbs unbroken until they can be processed. Consumers should seek advice from local authorities. Usually, one can either:
- Return used CFLs to where they were purchased, so the store can recycle them correctly; or
- Take used CFLs to a local recycling facility.
Official advice states that if a low-energy bulb is accidentally smashed indoors, the room needs to be vacated for at least 15 minutes.
A vacuum cleaner should not be used to clear up the debris, and care should be taken not to inhale the dust.
Instead, rubber gloves should be used, and the broken bulb put into a sealed plastic bag - which should be taken to the local council for disposal. However a prominent toxicologist stated that five bulbs would have to be smashed for the level of mercury to present a significant health risk.
The flickering problem that affected early CFLs has largely been overcome. Early CFLs flickered at a rate of 50 times per second, newer ones at 50,000, impossible for the human eye to detect. Another problem for some consumers, that CFLs cannot be dimmed, has been overcome by manufacturer Osram, who have just launched the first CFL dimmable bulb.
Other problems surround health concerns. The Migraine Action Association has been contacted by some members who report that the bulbs exacerbate their condition. Concerns have also be raised by epilepsy charities that the flickering of the bulbs might trigger attacks. The Lighting Association which represents bulb manufacturers claims that the modern bulbs do not produce a flicker.
it has also been reported that some people are getting painful skin reactions due to a reaction to the low levels of ultra-violet light that the flourescent bulbs produce. Health conditions which can involve some form of light sensitivity, include the auto-immune disease lupus, the genetic disorder Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), certain forms of eczema and dermatitis, photosensitivity, and porphyria.
Several groups including the British Association of Dermatologists have called for exemptions to the forthcoming ban on incandescent bulbs, to allow those affected to continue using traditional bulbs. Overall however, the case against the traditional bulb is fairly clear. The technology is outdated, and 85 per cent of the energy it consumes disappears as heat.
Modern CFLs typically have a life span of between 6,000 and 15,000 hours, whereas incandescent lamps are usually manufactured to have a life span of 750 hours or 1000 hours. For example, lighting accounted for approximately 9% of household electricity usage, so widespread use of CFLs could save most of this, for a total energy saving of about 7% from household usage. |