Alternative Replacement Lights for Fluorescent Fixtures

Energy efficient light bulbs are important in the fight against global warming.

Advances in light technology have led to alternative bulbs that are nearly as efficient as fluorescents yet don't rely as heavily on toxic materials. A fluorescent bulb, a popular alternative to the very inefficient incandescent bulb, emits nearly all of its energy as light, but contains mercury, which is a toxic element. Experimentation with hybrid technologies, conductors, and alternate gases has given rise to bulbs as economical and convenient as fluorescents, yet not as environmentally wasteful or harmful.

Light Emitting Diode

A light emitting diode is a semiconductor that can be made to fit a fluorescent light fixture to produce light. LEDs look like bulbs, but because they actually are the light-producing device, there is no filament. Though LEDs are not as energy efficient as a mercury fluorescent bulb, they are twice as much so as incandescent bulbs. Still relatively new in 2010, LED efficiency is expected to improve with time. As it is the semiconductors have a very long life span--30,000 to 50,000 hours. Light Emitting Diodes are the only non-incandescent light source to not rely on mercury.

Ceramic Metal Halide

Ceramic metal halide bulbs, so known for their incorporation of ceramics into the basic metal halide template, are an alternative light bulb that fits into fluorescent fixtures. A metal halide lamp generates electricity by passing an arc through a series of gasses. The heat generated by the reaction of the arc to the gasses burns the gas to create light. Ceramic metal halide lamps are well known for their energy efficiency and efficacy, the latter being a bulb's ability to convert electricity into brightness.

Hybrid Lighting Technology

Hybrid lighting technology uses the basic template of the incandescent light bulb, but with increased energy efficiency. By combining the ideas of both the halogen and incandescent lighting systems, hybrid bulbs recycle their own energy by turning generated heat into light. Bulbs are mercury and lead free, and run primarily on quartz. Hybrid bulbs have received a fair amount of high-profile press, from The New York Times to National Public Radio, because of their extreme energy-saving capability.

References

• I Green Build: Fluorescent Light Bulbs
• Green Electrical Supply: Ceramic Metal Halide Lamps
• Hybrid Lighting