ENERGY SAVING THROUGH CFL (COMPACT FLUORESCENT LAMPS) USE

The use of compact fluorescent lamps to minimize electrical losses in distribution utilities.

 

Compact Fluorescent Lamps or popularly known as CFL, as the name implies is a type of fluorescent lamps carefully designed to take the role of an incandescent lamps. Compact Fluorescent Lamps are specially made with fittings that would readily replace the existing incandescent lamps. Like any other typical fluorescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamp also contains mercury and also utilizes a compact electronic ballast to operate.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps was first introduced as a screw type lamp by Philips in 1980 with its integral magnetic ballast. Compact Fluorescent Lamps is categorized into two types: integrated and non-integrated. Integrated Compact Fluorescent Lamps simply means that the tube and the ballast of the lamp are taken as a single unit. On the other hand, non-integrated compact fluorescent lamps are those lamps that have the ballast separately installed from the lamp bulb.

 

The rated life of a compact fluorescent lamps ranges from 8 to 15 times that of incandescent.Compact fluorescent lamps typically have a rated lifespan of 6,000 to 15,000 hours, whereas incandescent lamps are usually manufactured to have a lifespan of 750 hours or 1,000 hours.(Wikipedia)

 

The lifetime of any lamp depends on many factors, including operating voltage, manufacturing defects, exposure to voltage spikes, mechanical shock, frequency of cycling on and off, lamp orientation, and ambient operating temperature, among other factors. The life of Compact Fluorescent Lamps is significantly shorter if it is turned on and off frequently. In the case of a 5-minute on/off cycle the lifespan of Compact Fluorescent Lamps can be reduced to "close to that of incandescent light bulbs". The U.S. Energy Star program suggests that fluorescent lamps be left on when leaving a room for less than 15 minutes to mitigate this problem.(Wikipedia)

 

Compact fluorescent lamps produce less light later in their lives than when they are new. The light output decay is exponential; with the fastest losses being soon after the lamp is first used. By the end of their lives, compact fluorescent lamps can be expected to produce 70–80% of their original light output. (Wikipedia)

 

Compact Fluorescent Lamps became popular due to its extremely high energy efficiency as compared to a regular incandescent lamp. Compared to incandescent lamps, initial cost for compact fluorescent lamps is relatively higher. However, compact fluorescent lamps can save over five times its purchase price in electrical energy costs over the lamp’s lifetime. In terms of energy saving, compact fluorescent lamps only utilizes up to one-fifth of electric power in contrast to incandescent lamps. With the same amount of illumination, the use of compact fluorescent lamps saves the use of extra energy when using the equivalent incandescent lamps.

 

A similar wattage rating of an incandescent lamps and compact fluorescent lamps produces significant difference when it comes to performance. Incandescent lamps uses only a small amount of electricity that is converted to light with the majority is said to be converted to heat. On the other hand, compact fluorescent lamps produce less heat and maximize the use of electric power to produce light.

 

The uses of compact fluorescent lamps for lighting purposes are greatly encouraged by distribution utilities. Actually, projects for replacing incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps for free are initiated by some governments worldwide to promote the conservation of energy. With a reduced energy demand, distribution utilities can delay putting up additional capacity therefore can also delay the use of their capital expenditures.In addition, reduced energy demand can delay putting up additional generation capacity which later can be harmful to the environment.