Urging policy makers to put in place a Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) in the interest of all stakeholders

• THE MANUFACTURING OF CFLs
• CFL DISPOSAL CYCLE
• WHY CAN’T CFLS BE CHEAP?
• A MERCURIAL DILEMMA
• ARE CFLS SAFE?
• CFL FOR ALL

THE MANUFACTURING OF CFLs

Dr B Sengupta , Member Secretary, Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi 

Elemental mercury is used in CFL production. The process involves the use of CFL shells received from in-house glass plant. For injection of mercury, the phosphor coated spiral or U shaped CFLs are fitted in the rotating disc where the required amount of mercury is injected through an injector. The temperature is maintained around 60°C, so that the elemental mercury remains like a tiny globule when the CFL is ready. After injection of mercury, the entire system is operated under vacuum; lamps are sealed and checked for leakage. About 3 to 4 mg of mercury is injected in each CFL.

Last year we studied the process at two CFL Industries in Uttarakhand at Phoenix Lamps Ltd, Dehradun and at Havell’s India Ltd. Haridwar. Phoenix uses elemental mercury while Havells uses an amalgamation of zinc and mercury in CFLs. But it was alarming to note that both these industries had no norms of safe disposal in the even of breakage, exposing the workers to mercury contamination.

We estimated that a maximum of 1 percent of production loss occurred through breakages during manufacturing and packaging in Phoenix. The arrangement for the workers was to collect breakages into a bucket with water. Fused lamps were dismantled and also collected in the bucket. Once in a fortnight, the bucket is cleaned and the liquid is passed through a gold filter. The mercury thus obtained is sealed and sent to the company from where mercury as raw material is purchased (in this case Merc) for recycling. But the shop floor where mercury is dispensed remains a source of fugitive emissions and safety norms for workers need to be put in place.

The situation was worse in Havells. Since the mercury injection takes place under vacuum through a capsule at 60°C there is likelihood of mercury getting vaporised and entering the ambient air, unlike in tube light production where the mercury injection takes place around 600°C. We have taken two ambient air samples and are waiting for its results. Also we observed that there was no collection mechanism for breakages. Although the shop floor is well ventilated, possibility of inhalation of the emissions from breakages remains. We hope that the unit in near future will place a mechanism of safe mercury disposal for its workers.

The onus on the manufacturer, I feel, does not end here. Once, the lamps have over run their period of life, a safe disposal system for the consumer needs to be put in place too.

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CFL DISPOSAL CYCLE

Recommendations for a CFL disposal mechanism

• CFL manufacturers should offer a sizeable guarantee period and outline any disposal system that has been made available. Recently, talking to the Philips distributor I found that although the company extends a guarantee period of a year on a CFL, it is from the date of manufacturing and not of sale. If a user encounters problems in operation, he may remain unable to demand for replacement as the date of sale may be distant from the date of manufacturing. To safeguard the interest of the consumer it is imperative that the date of sale be held as a parameter for extending guarantee.

• The packs should contain information about disposal cycle as well as the mercury content (each CFL may contain 4 to 10 milligrams of mercury).

• As consumers are aware, a CFL that promises to last over six months to a year in many cases turn tail much before that. So the lifetime issue remains shrouded in ambiguity. . Individual consumers should have easy access to CFL take-back programmes.

• Collection should be well publicised and not located in back of beyond places that one would hardly take time out to find.

• Hardware/retail/electrical stores can also buy back dead CFLs for recycling.

• An easy nation wide directive can be imposed on stores to give back the deposit the consumer makes while purchasing a new CFL (about twenty percent of the cost), to take back a dead CFL, recycle and send to the manufacturer/waste collection departments in special containers built for the purpose and just be polite about the whole affair.

• Waste collection packaging can be moulded from recycled paper, papier mache and cartons like eggs cases can be created to stock dead CFLs. Once a carton is full it can be sealed and sent to the recycling plant.

• An easy access point may be electricity offices, especially the bill deposit counters which are used by consumers every second month, if not every month.

• A nationwide waste recycling unit may be set up by roping in all the manufacturers and getting   them to support the endeavour.

• CFL disposal should be incentive based. just like carbon credits  – manufacturers with best promotion and management techniques should be awarded.

• Extended Producer Responsibility entails that all manufacturers phase out hazardous substances in their CFLs as soon as environmentally sustainable alternatives are available (mandatory substitution), establish take back schemes and ensure effective recycling of CFLs.

• To ensure that the consumer does not destroy the used CFL, monetary or ‘exchange old for new’ support may be provided, that may be handed over the electricity/sales counter. 

Recommendations Towards CFL awareness

• With energy efficiency statistic of CFL usage, number of CFL units and the amount of mercury in circulation should also be made available.

• There is need for an Indian spreadsheet based on US Environmental Protection Agency to relieve concerns, incase of CFL breakage. The US Environmental Protection Agency urges consumers to get rid of dead CFLs, and clean up materials from a breakage, responsibly, but we are not directed about how to dispose CFL safely in India.

• Although CFL bulbs are categorised as household hazardous waste, our consumers cannot consult mercury details before purchasing a CFL as the price governs most preferences - besides the details are not written on the packs

• Enforcement agencies such as BEE needs to star label the products of different lighting companies and put them under strict norms that would ensure a reduction in replacement ratios as well as effectively deal with complaints of low wattage and lighting inefficiency over a well defined timeline.

• No well meaning interventions towards CFL usage in India include any provision for dealing with the manufacturer directly, imposing a recovery and recycling of the products they promote.

• At least mandatory consumer awareness on the lines of ‘Tobacco is injurious to health’ on every pack containing a CFL, (also a manual with picture stories on do’s and don’ts about CFL usage and disposal) should be placed with immediate action.

• Local electrical shops stock broken CFL parts. Potentially hazardous the electricians are unaware of the ramifications and hoard them in the hope of creating an indigenous, free of cost CFL. Such hazards need to be highlighted and eliminated for health reasons.

• In our survey - customers reported poor quality as some CFLs starts to flicker while several turn dim in the first six months. The illumination criteria needs to be ascertained and easy ratings provided. A customer feedback format would be beneficial to address such problems.

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WHY CAN’T CFLS BE CHEAP?

Sulagna Chattapadhyay 

So then how much does a CFL really cost? Starting with the basics, we decided to investigate the factory prices of a CFL. The production figures were difficult to access as the manufacturers were not forthcoming with any information. “With our kind of quality control it would be difficult to bring down the prices in the near future” claimed a Philips distributor. After running from the veritable pillar to post, turning clueless and losing heart, we were about to give up when as a last pitch, we decided to contact the importers as CFLs are mostly assembled in our country.

Bingo! Now fully armed with data on import duty concessions on the raw materials/components used in a CFL bulb we broke it apart to assess the production cost of one CFL. The figures were astounding - the CFL suppliers are without doubt filling their coffers in the name of saving energy. The maximum cost of production of a standard CFL, 20 lumens bulb, will be about 0.8 $ - in rupee terms not more than 32, computed with the concessional duty on import. If all costs, such as banking, clearing, forwarding, inward transportation, labour, other overheads, selling, distribution, advertising – including a profit margin of 15 percent is computed the price of the same CFL does not exceed Rs. 54. Our source also admitted that the data was inflated and the actual cost of production had in today’s regime gone down to below Rs. 20 - considering the economies of scale in CFL bulb production.

Suppose the data provided to us is correct (not considering that production or import prices may have fallen since then) the maximum retail price (MRP) in no way should be the one that is fixed today. Charged almost four times the production cost – CFL is a manufacturer’s dream come true. Interestingly the average discount offered to the retailers across all states is a whopping 43 percent on the MRP.

The Indian Government is creating awareness about the benefits of CFL - the consumers are turning willing to adopt the new path - yet the profit mongers, retailers and suppliers, riding the wave of enviro-elitism, are happily charging an unusually high rate of profit. To me the entire scenario seems uncoordinated and can prove detrimental to the entire campaign of CFL promotion. The dubious addition of electricity distribution companies to the list of CFL promoters is another hitch. Advertised as, two for the price of one led to ecstatic CFL users gathering up at the electricity distribution counters - ready to arm themselves with a score of CFLs. But, priced at Rs 200 for one, consumers trudged back, sore to be befooled by the tall claims of freebies.   

I have time and again investigated the need to place a safe disposal system for CFL as they contain toxic mercury. There too we have argued that suppliers and manufacturers need to play their part in setting in place a disposal system for this hazardous household waste. I wonder why we are unable to bridge the gap between profit and purpose. I look up to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, set up with a mandate to bring about a revolution in energy efficient technologies to seek a solution. Perhaps it is time that Shri Ajay Mathur, Director General of Bureau of Energy Efficiency takes a stand to, if not place but at least synergize a disposal system, (supported and funded by all the CFL manufacturers) and make serious commitments about bringing the cost of CFLs down to make it palatable for the service and poor class. 

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A MERCURIAL DILEMMA

Sulagna Chattapadhyay 

So be it. Brand me for being the proverbial spoke in the wheel but the issue of mercury contamination through inefficient CFL usage remains. In a country that has pressures untold on her precarious reserve of resources, an additional burden of mercury contamination perturbs no one. Environment is new component of school education and a relevant part of any self respecting syllabi. That’s all.

 Yet I try. Dabbling with mercury, a well documented toxic metal is associated with adverse health effects. Although the mercury within the bulb poses no threat, once broken, inhalation of the mercury vapour can be harmful. Statistics show that a power plant emits 10 mg of mercury to produce the electricity to run an incandescent bulb compared to only 2.4 mg of mercury to run a CFL for the same time. The net benefit of using a CFL may be positive but the catch is that this is only true if the mercury in the fluorescent tube is kept out of the waste flow when the lamp expires. When every energy efficient element of the CFL usage has been calculated, why are the numbers of CFL units and the amount of mercury in circulation not pointed out in the same argument?

I’m a big CFL believer - all my home lighting requirements are met by slim tubes and CFLs as they undoubtedly save energy. Yet they really do represent a significant mercury hazard if allowed to enter our landfills through mishandled disposal cycle.  That’s why any promotion of CFL usage must provide means to recycle them. With about 4 mg to 10 mg of mercury in each lamp and billions of incandescent lamps that CFLs will replace - huge quantities of mercury will be in the consumers’ hands. When we are getting rid of mercury in teeth fillings, eliminating millions of mercury thermometers, and now barometers, just to replace them with mercury in CFLs - a far more ubiquitous item, does it not raise any alarm?

 West is the best. I agree that many solutions offered by the ‘technology happy’ developed nations, works well for most of the poorer world.  A trend against the inefficient edisonian bulb that began in Castro’s Cuba before making its way to Venezuela was lovingly picked up by the European Union, Australia, California and recently Canada - that officially declared to phase out the incandescent light bulb in five future years. A unique way to resolve world’s escalating energy needs with a reward of carbon credits to manufacturers who believe. Yet niggling doubts remain - what is the back story to this seemingly great proposition and can the millions of under and uneducated masses of India understand the ramifications of carbon credits, energy efficiency, mercury content, recycling and disposal?

I love our elected representatives - because we get what we deserve. Coupled with a bureaucrat, the nation can be held for ransom and we would still continue to watch the latest Salman flick with bulging biceps and pulsating hips, without a blink. Frankly, he is far more interesting than rubbish dumps, contaminated water and disposal streams. Besides, the Government has a ‘west the best’ spreadsheet by US Environmental Protection Agency to relieve our concerns, incase a CFL breaks. Open a window, leave the room, do not touch the fragments with hand, use a paper towel to pick up remnants and dispose off in sealed plastic bag, are few of the instructions provided. Interpreting in the Indian context, paper towel and sealed plastic bag makes no sense and yet there is no desi fact sheet that does. The US Environmental Protection Agency urges consumers to get rid of dead CFLs, and clean up materials from a breakage, responsibly. Do you know how to dispose mercury in your area?

Manufacturers  are kings – they rule the market and the market rules us. So, different manufacturers present varying fluorescent lamps containing variable amount of mercury. Philips lamps with Alto Lamp Technology, for instance, claim to contain less mercury than conventional fluorescent lamps, about 70 percent less mercury than other bulbs. Although CFL bulbs are categorised as household hazardous waste, do our consumers consult mercury details before purchasing a CFL when is it the price that governs most preferences? 

Laws don’t work. Speaking with Ajay Mathur, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), I found that none of the well meaning interventions towards CFL usage included any provision for dealing with the manufacturer directly, imposing a recovery and recycling of the products they promote. With a parallel system of CFL delivery and recycling through electricity distributing companies to be swung into place soon, as promised by the DG, the manufacturers can perhaps be taught to tow the line. However, without at least mandatory consumer awareness on the lines of ‘Tobacco is injurious to health’ on every pack containing a CFL, (also a manual in each pack with picture stories on do’s and don’ts about CFL usage and disposal) can any system, laws or provisions be beneficial?  

Case studies showcase reality. I was reading through one such consumer record of an environmentally aware US citizen. She gave examples of many Californian malls and large offices that had cost effective programmes in place to recycle millions of fluorescent tubes used. Yet as an individual consumer when she ventured out to recycle the dead CFLs she found poor and infrequent service. Most US states, she said, offered some rudimentary CFL take-back programmes that individual householders could use but actual collection was not well publicised and was often located in such back of beyond places that one would hardly take time out to find it. Even hardware stores that are supposed to take dead CFLs back for recycling refused when approached. So she gave up on recycling. Think about it - a developed nation with a hard to find recycling programme. India at present has no recycling programme in place and has even if it does, will it work in such apathy towards environment protection?

Yes, CFLs are valuable. They can cut India’s energy cost in the short term, yet to promote it so openly and mandate the use of mercury filled fluorescent products when equally efficient and far more environment friendly alternatives such as LEDs are being shaped up, would be such a waste of effort. When there are decent LED domestic lighting solutions freely available then open market mechanisms may be allowed to come into force. As of now, policy makers please warm up to our cause and intervene to stop unprecedented mercury contamination.

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ARE CFLS SAFE?

Sulagna Chattapadhyay 

Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) is being projected as the panacea of all lighting needs of the nation which will control if not bring down the whopping demand for energy, which in India is mostly met from greenhouse gas-producing thermal power plants. But there is a poisonous side to this harbinger of good tidings that is being swept under the proverbial carpet, durries perhaps, in the Indian context.  

The campaign

Ban the century-old ‘Edisonion’ incandescent light bulbs to help reduce global warming is a powerful thought. Smashing the light bulb that produces more heat than light, energy inefficient as a lighting device, is perhaps the right choice. And if replacing it with CFLs that produce the same light using less energy makes you feel that you have done your bit for cooling the earth, then by all means go ahead!  CFLs , made like florescent tubes, produce four times more light than traditional bulbs. Hence a 15-19 wattage CFL produces as much light as a 60 watt bulb. Much of the western fraternity has progressed down the route already. But with the positives comes a few negatives too and cleaning the air doesn’t necessarily justify poisoning the soil.

The issues

Point 1: Left unsaid is that each CFL contains 4 to 10 milligrams of mercury, a deadly neurotoxin. When a CFL breaks or are discarded it releases mercury into the air. Every product containing mercury should be handled with care. Exposure to mercury, can affect our brain, spinal cord, kidneys and liver, causing symptoms such as trembling hands, memory loss, and difficulty in movement. Even 1 gm of mercury is enough to contaminate a lake and make its fish unfit for eating. Compounds like methyl mercury are the deadliest poisons known to life, which travel globally and get deposited in our food chain. Mercury passes the placental and blood-brain barrier, passing on from mother to child and can cause overall reductions in IQ of exposed populations. Though exposure from a single CFL may not cause any perceptible individual harm, in numbers they can be deadly, especially to pregnant mothers and children.

Point 2: According to the US Environment Protection Agency replacing an incandescent bulb with a CFL will reduce the amount of mercury released into the environment (from thermal power stations) from 13.6 mg to 8.3 mg over the lifetime of the CFL. The question then arises about the lifetime of a CFL. As consumers are aware, a CFL that promises to last over six months to a year in many cases turn tail much before that. So the lifetime issue remains shrouded in ambiguity.

Point 3:  Experts declare that environmentalists should be aware that CFLs are a kind of tube light with more or less the same components including mercury vapour. The amount of mercury in a standard tube light can vary dramatically, from 3 to 46 mg. If mercury problem wasn’t an issue then, it shouldn’t be now also. “ We need to address every mercury containing product in the country from the ubiquitous thermometer to tube lights and CFLs to stop hazardous pollutants from entering our food chain,” says Tanmay Tathagat, Director, Environmental Designs Solutions, working with Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Govt. of India, on energy efficiency related projects.  However, the inherent question that arises here is the scale of operations. CFL is tethering on the brink of replacing every bulb in the nation. As any random study will point out, bulb usage is way above the lowly tube light - thus replacement ratios will be sky rocketing. If CFLs are to be introduced en masse, it will mean that our current consumption of mercury annually in the lighting sector will multiply by more than ten times. Besides if we had just one kind of tubes to combat before, now we will have unprecedented quantities of discarded CFLs rising to the ranks of deadly pollutants.

Point 4: As a buyer knows, CFL outlets are the very same age old electrical stores that do provide a year’s guarantee on the product, yet treat you like a leper if you happen to encounter a problem and return to seek a replacement. Almost thirty to fifty percent of times replacements are required. “Out of the 19 CFL bulbs I purchased of different companies, 2 did not work at the outset, while 3 started flickering after the first month of their use. Several have dimmed since I first used them,” pined Archana, an irate customer at the sales counter, where the reporter visited to collect CFL samples.  Also one seller refused to replace the malfunctioning CFL of another seller, making life all the more complicated for the poor, and now poorer, consumer. The downsides are many – from lack of interest in CFLs on the side of the purchaser and destruction by the seller in an environmentally hazardous manner to sheer loss for the nation that is trying to plug the energy gap and at the same time attempting to achieve carbon points. 

The other side

The US Environmental Protection Agency prepared a fact sheet to respond to concerns about mercury in energy-efficient lighting that uses CFL technology and declared that CFLs are responsible for less mercury than incandescent light bulbs.  In fact they argue that CFLs present an opportunity to prevent mercury from entering air, where it most affects our health. The highest source of mercury in our air comes from burning fossil fuels such as coal, the most common fuel used to produce electricity. A CFL uses 75 percent less energy than an incandescent light bulb and lasts at least 6 times longer. A power plant will emit 10 mg of mercury to produce the electricity to run an incandescent bulb compared to only 2.4 mg of mercury to run a CFL for the same time. They claim that CFLs do not add to the mercury released to the environment while providing significant greenhouse gas emission reductions. On the contrary CFLs over their life-time reduce the overall amount of mercury released into the environment from the production and use of electricity.

Disposing CFLs

The dangers of mercury contamination at end of life of the CFL persist. And with CFL technology still inefficient with large number of replacements, the end of life may be nearer than projected. This would mean a huge disposal problem. “Unfortunately in India tubes are dumped, smashed and left in landfills, releasing mercury into the environment. Also at present there is no norm of CFL disposal instituted in the country,” states Tanmay. Thus in the absence of collection and recycling systems, CFLs will sully the air and groundwater. While the technology for safe disposal and recycling are available, the challenge of ensuring that such systems are implemented is enormous in India.

The alternative

Does CFL, then, have an alternative? Experts point towards light emitting diode (LEDs) that hold unlimited promise. They have a 10 to 100 year life as the prototypes claim, which is way longer than CFL and use 40 percent lower energy than CFLs.

“Unfortunately, LEDs are not yet being mass produced and don’t produce the amount of light we usually expect from household lamps. Also the current off the shelf fixtures are not consumer friendly,” informs Tanmay. India does have several showcased pilot projects where LED has been custom fabricated (like the solar powered LED lantern), but technology needs to be scaled up considerably if LEDs are to become a household name. The progress continues, but we still are years away from getting something on store shelves that will adequately replace the CFL. “Besides,” points out Tanmay, “subsidies for CFL are in place, but LED’s are yet to find its place in the sun.”

White light LEDs that are sufficiently cheap, pleasing, and efficient is almost there, but more often than not they are used for spotlight applications. To replace the light bulb, LEDs need to have the ability to distribute light in the same manner which it does not have at present. While the lumens/watt in a LED are increasing at a dramatic rate, the lighting fixtures are not. In fact companies are selling LED bulb’s but they are not nearly as bright as CFLs and cost much more. LED light bulbs have their place in decorative lighting applications but cannot at present replace CFLs. “Some ten years will have gone before we can use LED lighting in homes,” adds Tanmay conclusively. 

Seeking solutions

If CFLs are here to stay then we may propose a few steps that can perhaps contribute to a safe and better world that the fluorescent tubes and bulbs advocate.

Factory orientation:  Most of the CFLs used in households provide less lighting than the promised wattage. It also turns dark at the edges, malfunctions and requires replacement. Enforcement agencies such as BEE needs to star label the products of different lighting companies and put them under strict norms that would ensure a reduction in replacement ratios as well as effectively deal with complaints of low wattage and lighting inefficiency over a well defined timeline.

Consumer orientation: Enforcing authorities like BEE can act as facilitators between the hapless purchaser and the CFL dispensing shops. At best it could eliminate the intermediaries and create kiosks in all market centres which are flashpoint company outlets - with purchase, replacement within guarantee period and disposal, all integrated within the same model. “The companies can function in the same way as private telecom systems function in the country,” suggests Dr. D Sharma, a CFL user. 

Disposal backup: Implementing agencies can put in place systems for take back and safe disposal practices by the manufacturers (also known as Extended Producer Responsibility). All manufacturers should be required to phase out hazardous substances in their CFLs as soon as environmentally sustainable alternatives are available (mandatory substitution), establish take back schemes and ensure effective recycling of CFLs.

To ensure that the consumer does not destroy the used CFL, monetary support may be provided, that may be handed over the counter in terms of buy back scheme (where the rag picker and poorer sections will benefit and at the same time clean up landfills) or extend offers on newer purchases where the buyer avails a certain discount if he brings back a CFL for recycling. 

End note

The concern cannot be trivialised, since countries now promoting CFLs have strict collection and recycling laws for discarded lamps. While climate change is very serious business, we must consider all aspects when we take action for its mitigation and not produce ‘bad’, when trying to do good. The point is that CFL is no magic solution and must not be presented as such. It is thus most important that everyone is aware of the choices before them before being asked to switch to another system.

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CFL for all

Sulagna Chattapadhyay 

Energy is a familiar word. Our day-to-day life is just so intricately linked with it. Consuming energy “makes the world go round”, be it heating up our homes and offices or cooling them. Drinking cold water in summer requires energy, as does preserving food. Come winter, even taking a bath in hot water calls for energy. No wonder the world today cannot do without energy.

Energy and its Sources

Energy can be classified into renewable and non-renewable. Renewable sources of energy are inexhaustible such as the energy from the sun, wind, waves and tides, and geothermal heat. Non-renewable energy sources are those that are exhaustible and non-replaceable. These include fossil fuels like coal and petroleum, biomass and nuclear.

Fossil fuels play a very important role in our lives. Electricity that performs endless tasks in your home has its roots in fossil fuels. Rotating the shafts of turbines produces electricity. These shafts are rotated by energy produced from steam, which is produced by boiling water, which in turn is boiled using coal and petroleum. Thus heat energy is converted to mechanical energy, which is converted to electrical energy in a generator. These fuels are also used in industries and automobiles. Fossil fuels have taken million of years to form and are non-replaceable. The current stock of fossil fuels will not last more than 100 years at the current rate. Though alternate forms of energy such as nuclear, biomass, even renewable energy like solar, wind and waves are continuously being evolved and produced, we also urgently need to conserve energy. Preserving energy will benefit us, in turn, by lasting longer, reducing pollution and saving our electricity bills, thus our money.

Conserving Energy

When we talk of conserving energy we do not mean that comfort needs to be sacrificed. It is possible to use all the electrical and electronic devices in our lives optimally to save energy and also make use of its advantages. It is possible to get maximum returns from all the energy units by using state of the art technologies. This proves as a cheap and efficient way of reducing energy expenditure, thus conserving it. This article discusses some methods of saving energy in lighting devices.

Incandescent Light Bulb

An incandescent light bulb is the most commonly used regular bulb. Englishman Sir Joseph Swan and American Thomas Edison both, simultaneously, invented the light bulb, in 1878 and 1879, respectively, and within 25 years, millions of people around the world had installed electrical lighting in their homes.

Regular light bulbs produce light by passing electricity through a thin filament which becomes hot and glows, giving off the light we see. Several molybdenum wires support the tungsten filament in a modern light bulb. The ends of the support wires are imbedded in a glass button at the top of the glass support rod. A glass support stem supports the copper and nickel lead-in wires, which carry the current to the filament. One lead-in wire is soldered to the metal contact at the base of the bulb, while the other is electrically connected to the side socket contact. An insulating plate separates the contacts. An electrical current can pass in either direction through the filament. During manufacture, the bulb is evacuated through the exhaust tube and filled with nitrogen/argon gas. The bulb is partially re-evacuated and the lower end of the tube heat-sealed. The lead-in wires are soldered to their contacts and the glass bulb cemented to the threaded metal base.

Although tungsten is the most temperature resistant filament material known, it is highly reactive when hot. Light bulbs are filled with an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon to avoid the filament reacting with air. Exposing the hot filament to even the smallest amount of air causes the tungsten to oxidize to tungsten trioxide. Thus over a period of time causes the light bulbs to burn out or fade.

Compact Fluorescent Lamp

A compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) is a type of fluorescent lamp which screws into a regular light bulb socket, or plugs into a small lighting fixture. There are two main parts to a compact fluorescent lamp: the gas-filled tube and the magnetic or electronic ballast. CFL uses electricity to excite mercury vapour in argon or neon gas, resulting in plasma that produces short-wave ultraviolet light. This light causes the phosphor waiting inside the tube to fluoresce producing a visible light. This is the final product of CFL. CFLs that flicker when they start have magnetic ballasts, but CFLs with electronic ballasts are much more common and are turned on immediately like conventional bulbs. Kelvin (K) is the measurement used to denote the colour of light. The Kelvin temperature of a lamp refers to the actual colour of light and is a comparison to natural outdoor light. The higher the number, the 'cooler' the shade. A regular bulb is 2700K. CFLs are produced in varying shades of white ('K'): 'Warm white' (2,700 K) provides a light extremely similar to that of an incandescent bulb, somewhat yellow in appearance; 'Soft white' (3,500 K) bulbs emit a yellowish-white light, 'Cool white' (4,100 K) bulbs produces more of a pure white tone; and 'Daylight' (6,400 K) bulbs; is slightly bluish-white. Compact fluorescent bulbs are extremely energy efficient light bulbs. They can replace incandescent and halogen bulbs, since they cast a similar colour spectrum and fit into the same fixtures, saving money and power.

Regular Bulbs Vs CFLs

Compact fluorescent bulbs use many times less energy than any other kind of lights. Bulbs consume watts, a measurement of electricity. We're familiar with wattage for traditional incandescent bulbs, which fall around 40-150 watts. Yet CFLs can use as little as 11 watts, and only go up to around 20 watts for the same amount of illumination. It's important to compare the brightness of all kinds of light bulbs based on an emerging standard unit of measurement-lumen. Lumens give you a better indication of how much light is actually created by a bulb, regardless of the wattage. For example, a 75 watt incandescent gives about 1100 lumens. For the same amount of light, you can power an 18 watt compact fluorescent bulb, which gives you the same amount of lumens. Not only are they less expensive to operate, but they also end up creating less pollution during manufacture. Incandescent light bulbs are less energy efficient than fluorescent light bulbs, because much of the electrical energy is converted to heat instead of light, which is energy lost. CFLs use up to 75 percent less energy and lasts up to 10 times longer than incandescent light bulbs. If you replace just four 100-watt regular bulbs that burn four or more hours at home with four 23-watt CFLs, you would get as much light and save at least 1356 kWh of electricity. The new technology CFLs with ever-increasing options also provide the aesthetic effect given by the regular bulbs. 

However, buying a CFL is costlier than the conventional bulbs, but fluorescent light bulbs last up to 6 to 10 times longer than a regular light bulb (about 10,000 hours compared to 1,000 hours for an incandescent counterpart). Besides lasting longer, fluorescent light bulbs will also use less energy, making them the energy conservator's choice. If you replace 1/4 of your regular light bulbs with fluorescent light bulbs, you can save around 50 percent on your electricity bill. Major savings can be made in expenditure on lighting devices and the whole cost can be recovered within a year. Outfitting all the lights in your home with compact fluorescent bulbs is easy. Initially installing CFL may prove costlier but in the long run they will pay back by saving your electricity bill, not to mention conserving the overall exhaustible energy. The retail price of CFL has a wide range, but most lamps are priced between Re. 70 and Re.. 150, depending on rating and manufacturer among other things.

The household and commercial lighting even today account for a large share of peak power demand. Nearly 10-12 percent peak shortage in the Indian power system occurs for an hour in the evening hours. This represents the evening peak due to sudden addition of household and commercial lighting loads. Replacement of just one such CFL that is operational at the peak time by every household in the country can reduce the peak power demand by over 5,000 MW.

A reasonable quality CFL can pay back the higher initial cost, in short period of 15 percent to 25 percent of its net life; depending on the electricity tariff. For example, suppose the electricity tariff is Re. 3/kWh, a CFL operating for just two hours a day, saves electricity to pay back the higher initial cost in a period of eight months. For lamps operating for longer duration the payback is proportionately faster. For the remaining 75 percent to 85 percent of CFLs life, it results in net saving for the consumer.

In addition to saving energy CFL play a major role in reducing the pollution in the environment. If every household in the country replaced one light bulb with a CFL, it would prevent enough pollution equal to removing one million cars from the road. CFLs provide high-quality light, smart technology, and design, require less energy and last longer than the typical incandescent bulbs.

As for conserving energy, cleaning of lighting devices is also necessary as a regular measure. Accumulation of dust, grease and dirt decreases the output of light and absorbs 30 percent of the light from lamps and reflecting surfaces, thus wasting energy. 

CFL problems

The two most common problems people encounter when attempting to switch to compact fluorescent lamps are the size of the lamp, and the warm-up period with low initial light levels in some lamps. Although the size issue has been greatly improved in recent years, some compact fluorescent lamps will simply not fit where an incandescent lamp (that they supposedly will replace) went. Obviously, you can't use compact fluorescent lamps in ovens or refrigerators and many globe, ball or recessed fixtures simply exceed the length or width clearance needed.

The warm-up problem has surfaced in some of the more recent compact fluorescent lamp designs. For a variety of reasons, these lamps initially illuminate at less than their full brightness, and in some cases less than 20 percent of their full brightness. They then take up to five minutes to reach their full brightness levels each time they are turned on. Some manufacturers have addressed this design issue and better lamps are now available. So it is necessary to check the brand of CFL purchased and the area where the CFL has to be installed. Obviously, bathrooms are not ideally suited for the light to 'warm up' before use.

Endnote

Saving energy is a step towards saving our nation from burnout. Effective use of natural light also affects energy needs in our homes and offices. So, for maximum utilisation of natural day light, placement of windows and skylight is very important. This reduces our lighting expenditure during the day.

India's economic growth is hampered by severe electricity shortage and inefficient use of power. Inefficient use of energy is like burning our money and it is our duty to be energy conscious and to become energy conserving citizens. Using devices that save energy is the first step as  every unit saved is every unit produced.

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