Lighting Options

Green lighting options come in many forms and all of them have compromises but the good news is that we have choices. The technologies that are involved are relatively mature and constantly improving in most cases. Lets have a look at the oldest first.

Incandescent Lighting: I am sure that Edison is happy that his invention still is around, but it is a dinosaur. It produces light by heating a thin wire till it glows, grossly inefficient wasting both light and heat. Many countries have banned incandescent light bulbs. Very short lifespan, perhaps as long as 1,500hrs of usage.

Compact Fluorescent Lights: CFL is for the most part replacing incandescent light bulbs. It is very energy efficient and has a very long life, about 60,000 hrs of use. For example I put in 42watt CFL's to replace 100watt incandescent bulbs in a farm building. I am getting the equivalent of 150wats of light from a 42watt CFL so with two CFL's I get the light out put of the 3 100watt incandescent bulbs. I even added two more so I have a much better lit building for the same power and since they last about 40 times longer it is a great deal. Some mercury is used in CFL's but it is substantially less than in older fluorescent designs and if properly disposed of represents a minimal impact on the environment.

Light Emitting Diodes: LED, is the newest of the technologies I am writing about today, they are small transistor like modules, that use small amounts of electricity to emit light. LED's use an order of magnitude of electricity less than CFL's do, 10's milliwatts vs. Watts. They also last about 4 times longer than CFL's. Currently the cost of LED fixtures (bulbs) is higher than other competing types of lighting so they would need to be used where other forms either won't work or you have a special need. LED's also do not use mercury in their circuitry so they have an advantage over CFL's.

Comparing the 3 options if you have a room you have lights on for 12hrs a day.

• A 60 watt incandescent bulb will use 720 watts over a 12hr day. If your energy cost is $0.13/KwH So each month the cost would be $2.81
• A 12 watt CFL will use 144 watts over a 12hr day. So the cost per month with a CFL would be $0.56
• A 3 watt LED will use 36 watts over a 12hr day. So the cost per month would be $0.14 with an LED

The cost of a 60 watt bulb is maybe $0.50, the 12 watt cfl about $5, a 3 watt LED about $27

It will take about 3 60watt bulbs to last a year, the CFL will last about 15 years and the LED will last about 60 years.

Lets add up the cost for a years lighting (cost of the bulb is taken over the life of the bulb per year):

• Incandescent (60 watt bulb) $3.81
• CFL $0.89
• LED $0.59

Remember the none are perfect but they do represent a substantial savings in energy costs and the less energy we use the lower impact we will have on the planet.

Tip of the week:

Shutting off your computer and monitor will save you substantially on your electric bill.

Kraig Geise - Senior Internet Analyst