Student Article High School Science Journal Author: Heidi Lee

Light Bulbs and their Impact on the Environment

August 05, 2007

Recently, the European Lamp Companies Federation strategized that they would use public incentives in order to encourage consumers to purchase and use more efficient light bulbs, rather than the common incandescent ones. They estimated that if all incandescent bulbs sold in Europe were switched with the more efficient ones, 27 fewer power plants would be needed in the continent as a whole. Those power plants are, more often than not, fueled by coal, which releases carbon dioxide when burned. Carbon dioxide emissions are one of the greatest contributions to our ever-growing problem of global warming.

      Compact fluorescent bulbs are not only a safer choice for our environment, but they are also three times more efficient and last longer. But the main reason consumers have been reluctant to buy them is because they cost more per bulb, despite the fact that in the long run they will save everyone much more money.

      The rising recognition of the light bulb problem is discernable. Last month Australia’s government announced plans to ban incandescent bulbs as soon as possible, and California and New Jersey lawmakers introduced similar bills. Last year, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, began promoting the use of compact fluorescent bulbs as well. The European Union is encouraging the use of such bulbs on streets, in offices, and in homes. They haven’t yet banned incandescent bulbs, but are working on a way to effectively and successfully shift in such a direction. Besides compact fluorescent bulbs, there are also halogen lights and light emitting diodes (LEDs) on the market, and the popularity of those are growing rapidly as well. LED lamps are 12 times as efficient as incandescent bulbs, last longer than compact fluorescent bulbs, and can produce light in any color. They are more of a high-end energy efficient light source.

      From a manufacturer’s standpoint, Philips, the world’s largest lighting maker, has shifted to making compact fluorescent light bulbs. General Electric however, said that banning incandescent bulbs is a bad idea. GE’s founder Thomas Edison was the one who actually patented the incandescent bulb in 1880. They say that they are developing more efficient incandescent bulbs and that governments should not be allowed to dictate what sort of technology should be used by consumers. Another reason that more energy-efficient bulbs are a bad idea is that 90 percent of them are produced in China, which would make the U.S. more dependent on non-U.S. manufacturers for all of its general-purpose lighting. This would also result in the loss of jobs for those who work at such companies.

      However, the pros of banning incandescent bulbs far outweigh the cons. It would be of great benefit to the environment, and in the long run, save consumers lots of money. The profit that lighting companies make from selling incandescent bulbs rather than the more energy-efficient ones is not a very big sacrifice, and the decrease of global energy usage that it would cause would drastically help our global warming situation. The United States accounts for a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Global warming is such an incredibly serious problem, and everything we can possibly do to help the situation is necessary. When discussing the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated that, “even among the broader public climate change is no longer an inconvenient issue — it is an inescapable reality.”

 
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