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Are regular light bulbs or fluorescent bulbs worse for the environment?
On the one hand, fluorescent bulbs contain toxic materials that can be released when the bulb is dumped. On the other hand, fluorescent bulbs last so much longer than do regular, or incandescent, bulbs that this problem is minimised. More importanlty, fluorescent bulbs use only about one-fifth the electricity of incandescent bulbs, thus helping us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and therefore slow down global warming. Since global warming is by far the greatest environmental danger we face, fluorescent bulbs must be better for the environment.
What do light bulbs do?
They use less energy to produce light, and thus save energy and help to save the environment through conserving electricity. The energy efficient light bulb applies fluorescent lighting technology to replace incandescent lighting technology. In the latter, a filament is heated past red hot to white hot to emit useful light. This creates a lot of heat, and is inefficient. The fluorescent tube screws into a socket just like the incandescent lamp, but has electronic circuitry built in to supply the elevated voltages necessary to operate the coiled fluorescent tube. Inside that tube is a gas mixture that is ionized by the voltage, and the ionized gas emits useful light. This process is much more energy efficient than incandescent technology.
Can faulty electrical wiring cause light bulbs to burn out quicker?
If light bulbs are burning out quickly the light fixture could be getting too much electricity due to faulty wiring. They could also burn out due to a loose wire or screwing the light bulb in too tight.
What is a lumen How does it relate to watts?
A lumen is a unit of luminous flux, which is the amount of light emitted per unit time. A watt is a unit of power (such as electrical power), which is the amount of energy consumed per unit time. Light bulbs have ratings in watts, which measures how much electricity they use, and lumens, which measures how much light they give off. For the same kind of bulb (incandescent, fluorescent, LED, etc.), a bulb with a higher wattage will produce more lumens. However, a 10-watt LED or compact fluorescent bulb may produce more lumens than a 40-watt incandescent bulb.
What are the most efficient light bulbs?
At present there are several types of light bulbs available for indoor domestic use.Arranged by their efficiency from least-to-most they are:Incandescent bulbs (60 watts)The old style light bulb emitting light from a hot filamentFluorescent tubes (30 to 40 watts)Several inch to several foot long tubes emitting light from a vacuum with a trace of Mercury vapour requiring a special fixtureCompact Fluorescent bulbs (15 watts)Roughly incandescent sized small fluorescent tubes designed to screw into standard light bulb fixturesLight Emitting Diode /LED's (5 watts)Small cool running lights using special mini-sockets or designed to fit into conventional sockets.Notes:Power requirements to provide as much light as a 60 watt incandescent bulb indicated in parenthesesBoth types of fluorescent tubes contain mercury and require special handling and disposal requirementsOutdoor lights would also include Mercury and Sodium vapour bulbs as well as high powered incandescent bulbs. These are more efficient than incandescent bulbs but the colour spectrum emitted and other aspects makes indoor use unlikely
