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Alternative light: A bright idea?

March 30, 2007

The Cedar House, a green hotel in Truckee, CA, uses efficient lighting such as this flourescent fixture in their bathrooms.

Click here to see a comparison of different types of light bulbs.

California is attempting to lead the nation in a move to reduce energy consumption by banning the sale of incandescent light bulbs by the year 2012. The "How many Legislators does it take to Change a Light Bulb Act" is the brainchild of Assembly member Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) who says it is time to replace the "incredibly inefficient" incandescent bulbs which convert only "five percent of the energy they receive into light."

Replacing a 75-watt incandescent bulb with a 20-watt compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb reduces the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by 1300 pounds in the life of a single bulb. It also saves the consumer up to $50 in energy costs during that same time period, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute.

There are, however, environmental trade-offs to consider. Using CFLs reduces the amount of carbon dioxide released from coal-fired power plants, but it also has the potential to increase mercury pollutants when the bulbs are disposed.

Levine's office says it is working on an amendment to provide for a recycling program to handle the mercury.  It says "neither (the mercury in CFLs nor the lead in incandescents) is 100 percent environmentally friendly without some sort of recycling program."

GE recently announced plans to release a high-efficiency incandescent bulb in 2010 that would be twice as efficient as current bulbs. Those bulbs would also continue to improve to a maximum efficiency equal to what CFLs currently have.

==Start Related Links==

OurTahoe.org Links
Comparison of different types of light bulbs
Green hotel tour
Make a promise
Play Tahoe Life
Global moves to reduce incandescents


Outside Links
National Geographic guide to "green" lighting
Learn how to dispose of CFLs
Florescent bulb recycling in South Lake Tahoe
Florescent bulb recycling in Incline Village
GE press release
Conversation on treehugger.com
Phillips Lighting Company seeks phase out of incandescent bulbs

==End Related Links==

 

A comment on treehugger.com poses an interesting alternative solution to banning the bulbs. "Instead of banning a specific technology (incandescent in this case) -couldn't the law be reworded to require a minimum lumen per watt ratio? This way we are removing inefficient implementations of any technology (could be Xenon, Incandescent, halogen, whatever)."

"It's premature to write off incandescent technology with all that's happening, " says Steve Bishop, sustainability designer for IDEO, an innovative design company based in Palo Alto, California. "There are a lot of opportunities with incandescent bulbs."

Proponents of the California bill point to the immediate potential for positive environmental impacts. If the 3 to 4 billion incandescent light bulbs currently being used in the US were replaced with CFLs it would save approximatley $10 billion dollars in energy costs and reduce coal burning by 30 billion pounds a year, according to the National Resource Defense Council and the Environmental Protection Agency.

With the future of light bulb technology uncertain, what do you feel is the best way for the California legislature to proceed?  Leave a comment, and tell us what you think.

 

Related posts: [ Global moves to reduce incandescents ] [ Tour the Cedar House ] [ Is there missing information? ] [ Light bulb moment: Turn it off ] [ TRPA postpones pier review ] 

Written by Keith Anderson · Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment