By: Katie Koenig
As Emerson students, one of the quintessential experiences of living on campus is complaining about the overhead lights in every dorm. They’re bright, can’t be dimmed, and are harsh on the eyes. When bringing or buying your own lamps for the dorms or for your off-campus apartment, the major consideration is the light itself. Do you want yellow or white lights? Do you want to pay extra for different brightness settings? Even on a more basic level, figuring out what bulb wattage the lamp can be confusing
However, there are a few reasons to care about lighting beyond the coloring, and the cheapest and most energy efficient option is also the most sustainable and convenient one—buying light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs. Plenty of people say to purchase them because they’re better for the environment, but there are a multitude of factors as to why that’s true.
Although a seemingly basic and dry topic, I’ll go into the exciting world of what makes LEDs unique, how different types of bulbs function, and the differences between them.
Innovations
Incandescents
I’ll start with the most traditional type of bulb: incandescents. They work by running electricity through metal filaments—small wires—in the bulb until the metal becomes white hot and starts emitting light. Of course, this is an incredibly inefficient process as 90% of the energy run through an incandescent bulb is emitted as heat, not light.1
Fluorescents
Another type of bulb is the fluorescent bulb, although nowadays you’re most likely to find something labeled CFL instead, or compact fluorescent lighting.2 CFLs are a type of fluorescent bulb that is smaller and, as the name suggests, more compact than traditional fluorescent lights.2 For this type of bulb, electricity runs between electrodes at each end of a tube filled with mercury and argon gasses. This produces UV light that’s transformed into the visible spectrum when it hits the phosphor coating the inside of the tubes.1
It does require a significant amount of energy to turn on, more so than turning on an incandescent bulb, even, to begin activating the gasses within the tube.2 However, afterwards, they require 70% less energy to keep running than incandescent bulbs.3 Because of the starting process, there is something called a ballast at the base of the bulb that helps activate the gasses, but it can take anywhere from half a minute to three minutes to get to full brightness.3
LEDs
Finally, there are LEDs, or light emitting diodes.1 These are much more eco-friendly due to their energy efficiency, longer lifespan, and nontoxicity. LEDs run an electric current through a microchip and illuminate a light source—the LED itself.1 They produce bright white light, but are easily colored depending on the material used. Not only do they come in a wide range of colors unavailable for other types of bulbs, they’re more flexible in structure so they can come in a variety of shapes and sizes.1
In addition to the wider variety of colors and shapes, LED bulbs are much more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs and CFLs, as they produce light around 80% more efficiently than either. Plus, they don’t burn out like the other bulbs I’ve covered. Instead, they experience what’s called ‘lumen depreciation,’ meaning that they just dim over time, and a single bulb’s lifespan comes to an end when it reaches a 30% decrease in light production.1 Although that seems like very little lumen depreciation, their lifespans are much longer still, on average twenty times longer than incandescent bulbs, and as such need to be replaced less frequently.4
LEDs are also directional, whereas other bulbs merely shine light in all directions, making LEDs more efficient in lighting a specific area—for example, to the front of the bulb rather than the back where it’s covered by the base of the bulb—and thus more energy efficient.1
They also avoid toxic materials in production, unlike CFLs which require mercury to work. LEDs can therefore can be more safely disposed of with less specialist services.4
Overall, they’re more energy efficient and flexible than other types of bulbs. In order to extend their use, and to extend the use of any bulb so as to spend less and reduce your own emissions in the production and disposal of potentially toxic bulbs (like CFLs), there are a number of methods. Being careful of overheating and poor climate conditions is the main one. Covering the bulbs outdoors helps them last longer, while having the bulbs be in an open lamp shade indoors allows them to expel excess heat. Also, buy bulbs that specifically fit the purpose that you need them for, like buying specifically dimmable bulbs for dimming switches, since not all bulbs are made for that and are ill fitting for such purposes.3
Policies
In the U.S., regulations surrounding energy efficiency in bulbs began in 2007 when then President Bush signed a law that stated that, starting in 2012, all new bulbs in production had to use 28% less energy than existing designs. A second phase of that bill was delayed during former President Trump’s administration, one of many environmentally focused bills that were repealed or delayed during his presidency.5
The Biden administration has instituted new rules on bulbs that went into effect August 1st of this year, which state that all newly produced bulbs must emit at least 45 lumens per watt.6 Simply put, this is an energy efficiency standard for bulbs’ ability to produce more light with less electricity that almost all incandescent bulbs fail to reach. There are some exceptions for some uses of incandescents, like those that go inside ovens, but overall this law essentially bans new incandescent bulb manufacturing. CFLs currently meet this efficiency standard, but there are talks of instituting stricter efficiency bans that would put them off the market as well.5
Still, the DOE expects national utility bills to go down by three billion dollars per year. Carbon emissions are also projected to decrease by 222 million metric tons over the next 30 years because of increasing energy efficiency standards.6
Of course, incandescents that are currently in use aren’t penalized whatsoever. These policies apply to the manufacturing of new bulbs.
Learn More
One TEDx video titled “LED Lighting and Efficiency” details the specifics of energy savings with LEDs from 10:17 to 13:19, and the whole video summarizes the current energy issue well, going into that qualities of oil, fracking, and solar energy in addition to solutions for more energy efficient and eco-friendly lighting and power.
Even more interesting is the hour long documentary by Sriram Murali called “Saving the Dark” on Youtube. It highlights interviews from a wide range of specialists concerned about light pollution around the world, especially in major cities, and goes into detail about the environmental impacts improper lighting has on the world beyond energy-saving LEDs. Although it diverges greatly from the topic of this post, it’s a fascinating dive into the real-world impacts of lighting policies and bulb technology from migratory patterns of birds, baby sea turtles, and the view of the night sky.
Resources
- “Learn About LED Lighting” by Energy Star
- “Fluorescent lamp” by Britannica
- “Learn about CFLs” by Energy Star
- “How Does LED Lighting Help the Environment?” by UK Energy Lighting
- “Biden Administration Implements New Cost-Saving Energy Efficiency Standards for Light Bulbs” by the U.S. Department of Energy
- “New Energy Efficiency Rules Ban Incandescent Light Bulbs: What to Know” by NYT