Intro:
For as long as most of us can remember, when a lamp in our household fizzled out, we just reached into our stock on the shelf somewhere and simply replaced it. We probably never gave any thought of the extra heat being produced while we were trying to keep the house cool during the hot summer months, or its long overdue need for change.
We are all, as of late, into the doldrums of an ever increasing energy crisis, not only here in America, but the whole world. We are rallying together to help find answers. Some have taken the road of ridding themselves of the overuse of fossil fuels and its consequential further polluting of our environment. Some are choosing to better insulate their homes, both eventually saving them money in the long run and lessening the future pollution. The auto industry is designing future cars that they hope will begin to curb the present trend, but right now it's really only a pipe dream. It is certainly hoped that with everyone's effort, each contributing a minute amount to lower our total global pollution. The question is...just what can we do to create the biggest energy lowering change with the least amount of effort ? The first culprit that comes to mind is the incandescent light bulb. One might respond, " why not just get rid of the automobile ?" We can quickly see the consequences that would quickly create. But, one might also ask, "why choose this almost globally universal light source ?" If we were talking about this subject a few decades ago, our thoughts on this matter would be a lot different.
Why The Incandescent Light Bulb ?
The key reason is simple...inefficiency. Today, with Energy Star rating in dominance guiding our purchase of appliances, etc., it is no wonder our thoughts on energy consumption is beginning to be first on our minds in our daily life. Today, we also have available much more efficient light sources and though the cost per bulb is still quite a bit higher, the brightness for the amount of power consumed is much greater, which lowers our total energy requirements. Since the trend is to decrease energy use globally, something must be done and as quickly as possible if we are going to avert the possible consequences from the effects of the realities Global Warming. It has now been agreed by many of the world's top experts in lighting engineering that there are other much more efficient lighting sources now available on the market, namely, the CFL's, which are 4 times more efficient, and are a modified fluorescent lamp designed to replace the almost universally standard incandescent light bulb.
What Are The Facts ?
First of all, many people are not aware the the incandescent lamp produces almost 90 % of the energy used as heat, which is invisible to the human eye and emits about 10 % as visible light. Simply, a 100 watt light bulb gives off only 1/10 of the power consumed, as visible light, 9/10 as heat, probably only good for keeping hamburgers warm at a fast food restaurant. Another point to be made is that before the light bulbs in our traffic lighting system began being replaced with the newer Led cluster lamps in the late '90s, we were paying 100 % of the energy costs for running the traffic lights...in taxes, but were only getting about 10 % in visible light usage. This went on for several decades. Something to think about.
