Tm OBSOLESCENT
~CANDESCENT
BY DAVID MALlN ROODMAN
n an age of rapid technological development, Thomas Edison's
resuming incandescent light bulb
has shown remarkable staying power.
Now, however, a green revolution may
be on the verge of making this technological centenarian as old-fashioned a
way of producing light as the
grarnophone is of reproducing music.
The young upstart is the compact
fluorescent lamp (CFL), first introduced in the late 1980s by the Dutch
company Philips, past popularizer of
the cassette and compact disc players. The CFL, which squeezes efficient fluorescent iighting technology into a package comparable to
standard bulbs in size and color
quality, has recently enjoyed a
world-wide sales boom of its own.
Since 1988, sales have grown more in 1996, according to Evan Mills, assisthan 30 percent a year, from about 45 tant director of the Center for Building
miliion to more than triple that today. Science at the Lawrence Berkeley
Even with this success, the estimated Laboratory in Berkeley, California.
To appreciate the inefficiency of an
160 million CFLs sold in 1992 were
easily outshone by the 9 billion incandescent bulb, al1 a person has to
incandescents purchased that year. But do is touch one-but not for too long.
CFLs last so long that each one in use A standard bulb puts out more heat
supplants a succession of 1 0 regular than light, because it expends more
bulbs. Thus while CFLs comprised less than 90 percent of the electrical energy
than 2 percent of the lamps of this size it draws just keeping its tungsten filasold in 1992, they have already taken a ment hot enough to glow.
In contrast, the modern CFL emhealthy 13 percent bite out of the market in terms of hours of lighting capac- bodies several decades of innovation in
efficient fluorescent lighting. It uses
ity sold.
Meanwhile, in the Western Euro- electricity to excite a tube-confined gas,
pean countries where the CFL is stron- which then radiates ultraviolet rays.
gest, sales of regular bulbs have stag- Phosphors on the inner surface of the
nated. This complementary trend tube convert this radiation to visible
should only spread as CFL growth con- light, and much less heat. As a result, a
tinues apace. Annual production of the CFL is four times as efficient as an innew lamps is likely to pass 300 million candescent bulb.
ILLUSTRATIONSBY MlKE TSE
Wherever the new lamp has caught
on, it has saved money for both consumers and utilities by slowing the
growth of expenditures on electric
power plant operation and construction. And by requiring less electricity
from traditional sources-nuclear energy, hydropower, and fossil fuels-it
has helped to alleviate environmental
problems ranging from radioactive
waste generation, thermal pollution,
and damming of river ecosystems to
acid rain and global warming.
Despite these benefits, consumers
will find that CFLs do
not always make perfect substitutes for
conventional bulbs.
Somewhat longer and
thinner, they disperse
their radiance less uniforrnly and are too big
for some fixtures. The
may also seem prohibitively expensive, at $15
t o $ 2 0 per bulbenough to give any buyer
First impressions can mislead, however. Manufacturen
are continuing to improve their
designs, and already CFLs can
substitute for bulbs in most
situations. And even with its
higher purchase price, the new
lamp's longevity and efficiency
are so superior tothose of a conveitional bulb that over its lifetirne, it is actually cheaper. Once bought, a CFL
consuming electricity at eight cents per
kilowatt-hour (an average U.S . rate) for
three hours each day will eventually
save a buyer $35, even accounting for
the lost income from not putting the
money into long-term savings. In Japan, where electricity costs more than
1 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, the same
CFL would save more than $55. Since
the new lamps save more than they
cost, consumers may come to see them
less as expenses than as investrnents.
When the CFL first appeared, its
long-term financial and environmental
advantages were less than obviousand, not surprisingly, it attracted few
customers. Governments in the United
States and Europe began to experiment
with ways to encourage its use, generWORLD e WATCH
PROMISING INITIATIVES
Contd.
CFL Sales by Global Region,
1988-92 (estimated), 1996 (projected)
ally through a mixture of consumer
education and buyer incentives. It is
these ongoing efforts by utility regulators and government agencies, rather
than the appetites of independent consumers, that have powered the CFL
Last year, for example, on the
French Caribbean island of
Guadeloupe, the French electric company and environmental protection
agency collaborated on a large-scale
CFL incentive program. They advertised, arranged a volume purchase with
a producer to bring down the price,
and offered retailers small rebates. They
also helped buyers finance the purchases, so that the money they saved on
electricity would cover the monthly installment payments on the lamps, and
their total bills would still go down
The government expected that available supplies of 100,000 would suffice.
But households scooped up those in a
day and a half and went on to order
258,000 more. No doubt this initial
success will stimulate even more CFL
sales in the future.
The government-owned utility subsidizes every kilowatt-hour of electricity it sells in Guadeloupe, charging customers less than half the cost of
generation from expensive, imported
diese1fuel. By reducing sales of electricity, the utility's one-time $460,000 expenditure will save it $3.5 million
annually, according to Mills-an astronomical rate of return on investment.
Each $16.50 lamp will also save its
buyer $50 on electricity and unneeded
incandescent bu1b;s over a typical lifetime of seven years. A money market
account would have to earn 50 percent
interest annuaily to compete with that.
And consuming less of the island's
diesel-fired electricity will pay an environmental dividend as well, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 17,000 met-
urtralio, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indoneria, Philippines, Malayia
ource: Evan Mills, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
while reducing
pressures on the
ecosystems that
sustain
their
and
have
men
cleai
hope CFLs will dry I
be standard in all cal sc
new homes and a chc
lighting fixtures. the !
R e p l a c e m e n t s expa
should eventually wate
cost $5 or less. whei
When that day Aftei
comes, the effi- tossi
Res+Of Wor'd
ciency revolution macl
in lighting will evapl
have succeeded, press
and the incandes- bagg
long last be able to join cal SI
and other inventions vent
s in quiet retirement.
CI
chen
stanc
BY MEGAN RYAN
prodi
the S;
ment,