When will we see the light?

Lights consume about 2 trillion kilowatt-hours annually, or one-eighth of all electric power. Globally, lighting is equal in emission contribution to about 70% of the world's passenger vehicles. Of the about 12 billion incandescent lights on the planet, a third are in the U.S. Or, in oil-equivalent terms, U.S. lighting uses the equivalent of 50% of the energy used by all cars on American roads. So, isn't it time to do something about that?

The incandescent light bulb was patented by Thomas Edison in 1880. So, it's been around for some 128 years ago. Now, it looks like it won't be around for much longer. Cuba was first to ban the bulbs. In January 2007, Democratic Assemblyman Lloyd Levine introduced a bill, aptly titled the "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act", proposing a ban in California by 2012. In February 2007, Australia announced that incandescent light bulbs would be phased out by 2010, in April 2007, Canada announced a ban on the sale of incandescent light bulbs by 2012, and in December 2007, Ireland announced a ban on the sale of incandescent light-bulbs by the year 2009.

Some argued against replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), as the latter contain mercury, a neurotoxin, while there aren't effective policies in place to recycle them. Also, they pointed out that the flickering effect of CFLs can make people feel dizzy and uncomfortable, cause headaches and can even lead to seizures. Reports [point out that some people are unable to work in offices or use elevators because of the flicker of fluorescent lights.

But instead of replacing all incandescent light bulbs with CFLs, we should consider light emitting diodes (LEDs) instead. LEDs have been around for decades, illuminating the on/off light in appliances. Now, these little LEDs have developed into lights that can and will replace incandescent light bulbs all around the world.

Firstly, LEDs do not come with the health and safety risks, and disposal problems of CFLs. LEDs don't flicker, but spread continuous light. Also, LEDs don't contain mercury.

Furthermore, LEDs are superior regarding power consumption. LEDs consume even less energy than fluorescents. Incandescent bulbs yield some 15 lumens per watt, compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) about 80 per watt, or more than five times as much. LEDs have already achieved 100 lumens per watt, while 200 lumens per watt seems possible in the near future.

Then, there's reliability. CFLs can malfunction quickly in environments where they get shocked, which makes them inferior in applications such as traffic lights. LEDs can be switched on and off at will, as opposed to the starts and stops that are common with fluorescents. Also, you shouldn't switch fluorescents off too quickly after you've switched them on, or you'll decrease their lifetime. By contrast, LEDs are robust and can last for ages. An incandescent ligh bulb will last 1,000 hours before burning out. CFLs achieve 10,000 hours. LEDs last 50,000, and soon 100,000 hours. This point alone is enough to give LEDs a huge advantage by lowering the cost, time and effort that goes into replacing light bulbs. Maintenance issues weigh in especially in outdoor and industrial environments, as well as critical applications such as hospitals and security.

Size - LEDs are smaller, so you can easily put them in all kinds of fittings, such as downlights. Their small size also allows them to be more easily pointed in a specific direction, as in spotlights and in medical and dental care applications. Due to their small size and low power consumption, LEDs also create less heat and there's less risk of them starting a fire.

Dimming - It's easier to dim LEDs than CFLs, which results in another advantage: lights can be made that contain multiple LEDs, so that you can change the color, by turning up/down either the red, green or a blue LEDs. Headlights, traffic lights or room lights containing multiple LEDs can be spectrally tuned to set moods, match differences in day & night, etc. They can easily highlight specific spots and adjust their intensity as it gets darker in that spot, thus providing more comfort, security and safety.



The above list of advantages of LEDs over incandescent light bulbs should convince people that there are better alternatives than incandescent light bulbs. It supports the calls for a ban on incandescent light bulbs.

"Ban incandescent light bulbs. Set a date for a national ban. Actively promote a global ban." That's one of the points in my article Ten Recommendations to deal with global warming, published at Gather April 08, 2007. Perhaps it's time to rewrite my list of top Ten Recommendations, but I still haven't changed my mind regarding a ban on incandescent light bulbs. Philosophically, I prefer a FeeBate policy that would add a huge tax to incandescent light bulbs, with the proceeds used for rebates on alternatives. But the problem is that incandescent light bulbs are so cheap that people keep on buying them, even if you added a 100% tax or more. Fees and rebates don't work well with cheap items, they proportionally add a larger administrative burden. So, I'm still in favor of a ban, but I always like to discuss things and I'm open to ideas and suggestions.

Further reading and references:
The LED Illumination Revolution, by Mark Mills in Forbes.
Ten Recommendations to deal with global warming - by Sam Carana
LED - by Wikipedia