Fluorescent lamps

A lot of things is spoken about the economy in our bills provided by fluorescent lamps. They dissipate, in comparation with tungsten ones (incandescents), 80% less; so, tendency is to think that they're friend of nature or more ambientally correct.

But, is it really true? Let's see some points.

• Incandescent lamp's fabrication process is much more simplified. Also, the quantity of materials is less. Fluorescents have electronic circuits that require a lot of energy for being constructed, beyond energy and materials for the fabrication of each component.
• Fluorescents have heavy metals (i.e. mercury) on their composition. Now-a-days, as the seletive collection isn't done (more spend of energy if it was) for this type of lamps (although there's already a process of descontamination of the pipe), they're still going to public garbage basket (sorry, I don't know the name of the place where all the city trash goes), contaminating rivers and people that there (unfortunablly) live and/or eat. Just for curiosity, the quantity of mercury in a fluorescent lamp can make not appropriate for human consumption 20k liters of water.
• Fluorescents have a very small power factor (compacts have 0,5). It means that a large room, that uses fluorescents for lighting, must have a capacitor system (more energy and materials for the fabrication), to correct the factor.
• In the other hand, incandescents heats a lot!!! In the truth, they just light because of the heat: the conductor inside the lamp becomes incandescent when it exceeds certain temperature (very high). The use of incandescent also overloads the refrigeration system, and makes the workers feel agitated.
• But its power factor is practically 1. In other words, to correct the power factor of a industry, you'd need less capacitors, because the incandescents would help the correction.
• Fluorescents have longer life than incandescents. But it's reduced as you use the switcher, in the same period of time. OSRAM says if you leave the room and will be back in about 15 minutes, it's better not to turn off the light.
• Fluorescents that use reactor (necessary for its functioning, that requires more energy and materials to be made) electromagnetic works with 60 Hz (here in Brazil), which causes visual discomfort. The newest ones work with about 35 KHz, that reduces this effect, but they generate harmonics, so you should install filters (more energy and materials to be made).
• The cost of the instalation, however, is cheaper, when you use fluorescents. Because fluorescents uses 4 times less current to generate the same light flow.

The problem is that today the news shows that just because fluorescent lamps consomes less than incandescent (for the same light flow, that is, better efficiency), they're a friend of nature. But how about other factors that I told above? It's a snow ball... They consume less, all right, but in terms of ecology, there's a much bigger impact.

It's obvious the overload that is saved from the electrical system of a country. Imagine what would happen if all fluorescents (20W) become incandescent (100W).

I'm not speaking against fluorescents (exactly because I only use fluorescents, as everyone I know does). I'm just showing the consequences.