Some light on the bulbs debate

THE idea of replacing the outdated century-old ‘Edisonion’ incandescent light bulbs and help reduce global warming is a powerful one. The light bulb produces more heat than it does light, and hence it is energy inefficient as a light device. Replacing it with other devices which produce the same light using less energy, potentially lowers total energy demand, which in India is mostly met from greenhouse gas-producing thermal power plants. Hence by replacing the old light bulb, you can do your bit for cooling the earth. So far so good, and countries like Australia and Canada have progressed down that route already.

The question less debated however is, what should that replacement be? Compact Florescent Lights or CFLs are commonly suggested. Made like florescent tubes, they produce four times more light than ‘bulbs’. Hence a 11w CFL produces as much light as a 60w bulb. Left unsaid, however, is the fact that each CFL contains 4 to 10 milligrams of mercury, a deadly neurotoxin. When CFLs break or are discarded, they release mercury into the air. The amount is not small, since even 1 gm of mercury is enough to contaminate a lake so much so that its fish is unfit for eating. Though exposure from a single CFL may not cause any perceptible individual harm, in numbers they can be deadly, especially to pregnant mothers and children. Countries now promoting CFLs have strict collection and recycling laws for discarded lamps. Unfortunately in India such tubes are dumped, smashed and left in landfills, releasing mercury into the environment.

If CFLs are to be introduced en masse, it will mean that our current consumption of mercury annually in the lighting sector will multiply by more than ten times. In the absence of collection and recycling systems, all of this will be dumped into our air and groundwater. Mercury toxicity cannot be brushed aside. Compounds like methyl mercury are the deadliest poisons known to life, which travel globally and get deposited in our foodchain. Mercury passes the placental and blood-brain barrier, passing on from mother to child and can cause overall reductions in IQ of exposed populations.

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While climate change is very serious business, we must consider all aspects when we take action for its mitigation and not produce an ‘environment bad’, when trying to do good. The best possible alternatives must be considered. For example, state of the art light emitting diodes (LEDs) hold much more promise than CFLs. They have a 10-year-life, 50 times longer as compared to bulbs and use 40 per cent lower energy than CFLs.

Some experts are in fact suggesting that it may be wiser to wait for a year and replace ‘bulbs’ with light emitting diodes (LEDs) rather than with CFLs today. The point is that there are no magic bullets, and none must be presented as such. It is however most important that everyone is aware of they choices before them before being asked to switch to another system.