Fiat Lux 1
Introducing the easiest way to save energy in your home – the CFL (compact fluorescent light bulb).
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Fiat Lux 1
Hi, and welcome to Make-It-Green Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for an Earth-Friendly Life.
Today I’m going to begin a discussion of the CFL, or compact fluorescent light bulb.
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It seems like the most simple thing: flip the switch, and poof! Fiat lux. Or, as they say in the King James Version, “Let there be light.” But unlike God, humans need electric energy to turn on the lights. Lots of electric energy. Rising energy costs in many states have prompted us to wonder, where can I cut back? Not only that, but the environmental consequences of electricity production are starting to weigh heavily on our minds. All of us green guys and gals, whether veteran or newly minted, have essentially two choices. Cut back on our usage, or increase the efficiency of the things that we do use. Enter the compact fluorescent light bulb, or CFL for short. This gadget, which in the words of Nevada Power, “Looks funny, saves money,” is the cool new emblem of efficiency.
Where Light Comes From
The traditional incandescent light bulb –with the little squiggly wire–used to be the very symbol of a bright idea. It works on the same principle of medieval torturous red-hot pokers, my electric stove, and the sun; that is, hot things sometimes get hot enough to emit visible light. Most of us think of infrared light when we think of radiating heat, because it’s one of the most common wavelengths of light humans encounter every day. However, incandescence, or solids emitting energy in the form of light, can happen at all wavelengths–the entire spectrum of light. A long time ago, a very smart scientist named Max Planck figured out that objects tend emit light at wavelengths corresponding to their temperatures. In fact, astronomers even use this principle to figure out how hot stars and other celestial objects are. If the objects we humans encounter everyday were so hot as to emit more energetic light like ultraviolet light, we’d be in big trouble. So it’s a good thing that light bulbs only emit visible light and infrared light, which are lower in energy and don’t harm us.
How Traditional Light Bulbs Work
So why does an old-style light bulb light up? When electric current passes through the squiggly tungsten filament, it encounters a lot of resistance from the metal. That energy has to go somewhere, so it ends up heating the filament. Once the filament is hot enough (which takes a fraction of a second), the bulb lights up. Pretty simple. However, that wasted energy spent trying to overcome the resistance in the filament not only burns your hand, it wastes your money and resources. You might be asking yourself, why did we put up with this inefficiency for so many years? Well, when you’ve been making light with hot things since the Bronze Age, it’s a little hard to change your ways. But change you can!
How Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs Work
The compact florescent light bulb is a new kind of light for a new generation, one that operates on completely different physical principles. This new light works more like your old-school cathode ray tube television than a traditional light bulb. Since I’m from Las Vegas, I have to add that this is the same physical principle that lights up most of my hometown each night. Gases trapped in the swirly tubes, like argon and neon, are subjected to an electric current, just like old-school light bulb’s tungsten filament. However, unlike the tungsten, the gases’ electrons are excited by the electric current and release light when they calm down again. The gases in your CFLs (and the lights at your work, most likely) emit ultraviolet light, which bumps into the white phosphor coating on the glass bulb, causing the coating to emit visible light. Voila, lights! No waste heat, and no wasted money either.
Save Money and Power with CFLs
CFLs cost more to buy in the beginning, but can last over ten times as long at a standard bulb. In addition, since very little waste heat is produced, they’re safer in your home. Lastly, they produce the same amount of light (measured in a unit called lumens) for a lot less power. A CFL can produce the same amount of lumens as a 60-watt light bulb for about 15 watts. That’s what I call cheap! So hike down to your nearest light bulb retailer, invest a few bucks, and make your light bulbs into green light bulbs.
This is Make-it-Green Girl, hoping all of you will soon be basking in a few extra lumens and a few extra dollars. Thanks for listening.
You can find a transcript of this show at QuickAndDirtyTips.com. Send your questions and comments to greengirl@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email or leave a voicemail at 206-600-3051. Don’t forget to tune in next week, for Fiat Lux Part II – CFL Safety.
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