Some light on the subject, please?

If you've ever talked to me about sustainability or energy use in person, you'd probably be surprised to not find much (anything) on the topic here. Green light bulbs and lighting are two popular "green" topics that I can get pretty vocal about. It's one example of a field where I think we have a fair bit of greenwashing, political lobbying, and misinformation. And frankly, I think we've beat up the poor incandescent bulb more than it ever deserved.

As soon as you delve into this area, you'll realize the controversy is about energy use. Since the advent of electricity, we've eagerly gobbled up amps chasing the dark out of our homes and workplaces. Of course there are many other ways we use electricity daily, but lighting is one the obvious. And, it's true that the incandescent light bulb - specifically the tungsten A-lamp is an old technology that puts out more energy in heat than in light. You remember your physics classes right? Energy in = energy out. But energy out often features energy lost to side effects. In the case of that light bulb, most of the energy is lost to heat. So,the argument goes, if we got everyone to use a more efficient light source, one that has less undesirable loss to heat, we'd save energy. A good goal.

At the center of this initiative in the lighting world came the incandescent light bulb. Note that this is not a local, American, initiative, but rather one that's global. According to wikipedia, nations around the world either have, or are in the process of having, banned or phased out the tungsten incandescent light bulb as we know it. In the United States, this movement really took off in 2007, with motions in California and on the Senate floor. Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007:

To move the United States toward greater energy independence and security, to increase the production of clean renewable fuels, to protect consumers, to increase the efficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles, to promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options, and to improve the energy performance of the Federal Government, and for other purposes.

You've probably heard of this Act, and the debate over the light bulb may be one of the primary reasons you have. But, as is made clear in the description, there's actually a lot more going on in this Act. Title III, Subtitle B addresses lamps. Or rather, "Lighting Energy Efficiency." And, it's not limited to the incandescent light bulb, but that's the one we hear about most. Why? Because the Act, as written, would phase out the A-lamp  that's most common in residential use.

The Act doesn't actually ban the A-lamp, per se. Rather, it sets efficiency standards for "General Illumination Lamps". Note that there are exceptions for three-way lamps and appliance (oven and refrigerator) lamps.

GENERAL SERVICE INCANDESCENT LAMPS

Rated Lumen Ranges	Maximum Rated Wattage	Minimum Rated Lifetime	Effective Date
1490–2600	72	1,000 hrs	1/1/2012
1050–1489	53	1,000 hrs	1/1/2013
750–1049	43	1,000 hrs	1/1/2014
310–749	29	1,000 hrs	1/1/2014

What's a lumen?  It's a measure of lamp intensity - the amount of light a source gives off.
A table from Energy Star gives minimum lumen output for our standard tungsten incandescent light bulbs:

INCANDESCENT BULBS (WATTS)	MINIMUM LIGHT OUTPUT (LUMENS)
5	250
40	450
60	800
75	1,110
100	1,600
125	2,000
150	2,600

So, as of January of this year, the 100W and 125W incandescent lamps are phased out.  A new incandescent lamp could be introduced to replace them, but the new lamp would need to give off as much light as a 100W light bulb, while using only 72 Watts.


Lighting is important - it gives us the ability to perform tasks, discern objects and colors, and enhances security. It also affects our health - not just our eyesight, but our sleep patterns, mood, and cellular production.
I'll cover more about the differences between incandescent, fluorescent, and LED sources in a separate entry.  In the meantime, my favorite way to save energy?  Turn off the devices you're not using!


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