CFL vs. Incandescent Dialogue

A Green Light for CFLs? Continued!

Alessandro perused the baked goods section while trying to forget about his fight with his friends and roommates. As he picked out the perfect bagels, he couldn’t help but feel as if he had left things unfinished with his pals during their debate over CFL lightbulbs. Deciding to make things right, he grabbed the cart and set off to find Judy and Carmela. He found Carmela in the freezer section, loading up on vegan chocolate ice cream as she always did when she was upset, and he pulled Judy out of a yelling match that she was having at the deli counter. They paid for their items and Alessandro silently drove them to their favorite spot–a sunny clearing in the woods where they would meditate every Sunday morning. They arrived at the field and Alessandro quickly stopped by the trunk of the car to pull out one of their reusable bags that had only two objects inside of it. He, Judy, and Carmela sat down in the grass to resume their conversation. 

“Now, ladies. This is an important discussion we are having, not only for the good of the TreeHouse, but also for the good of our friendship and our environment. Now let’s settle this once and for all.” He reached into the bag and pulled out one package containing a CFL lightbulb, and one containing incandescents. “Let’s talk lightbulbs. I’ll start. Here is what I know about CFL’s; the federal government is in the process of banning incandescent lights, as they are inefficient and, frankly, just going out of style. I think that we should really switch to using these exclusively in the TreeHouse, especially since the making of incandescents will soon cease all together. To begin, CFL’s are more efficient, using 13-15 watts of energy instead of incandescents, which use 60 watts, meaning they use less power per unit of light generated, conserving energy.”

“What makes you think they are better?” Judy interjected, “they are so much harder to make, so that small difference in energy is essentially just used elsewhere, in the making of the bulb itself, instead of when it is actually in your house.” 

“Good point, Judy, but CFLs last longer, approximately 8,000 hours as opposed to the 1,200 of incandescents, meaning that fewer have to be made, since you can use them for longer. Yearly, you would use about 3285 kilowatts with incandescents, and just 767 kilowatts with CFLs.” Countered Alessandro.

“But they cost more!” pouted Judy.

“Maybe one bulb does, but in the long run, since you would have to buy fewer in a year, using CFL lightbulbs would cost you about four and a half times less than incandescents.”

“But what about the Environment?” Cried out Carmela, “are we just going to ignore the fact that CFLs contain 1-5mg of Mercury, which is a major risk to the environment? It can pollute water, and since they are rarely properly recycled, there is a lot of risk when the bulb gets thrown out. Incandescents are easier to recycle, meaning more people will recycle them, so they would ultimately cause less waste.”

“You have a point, Carmela. The Mercury is dangerous, but, still thinking about the environment, did you know that Incandescents produce about 4500 pounds of Carbon Dioxide emissions per year, whereas CFLs only produce about 1051 pounds per year? Sure, the mercury and tricky recycling could be an issue, but if we’re careful, we can work around that, and the lower energy consumption decreases CO2 emissions, sulfur oxide, and high-level nuclear waste. Which one is really worse?” Carmela took Alessandro’s information with a pensive look, but Judy was not yet convinced.

“Okay, Alessandro, you have a point, but what about the fact that CFLs are temperamental. They may work if it’s too cold, too hot, or too humid, they take time to warm up, they are easily breakable, and they can wear out if you turn the lights on and off too much. I think that sounds like a lot of disadvantages.” Judy said.

“Sure it does, Judy, but you have to look at the advantages too. Everything is going to have a downside. There is no universal “right” answer, so we have to work with what we are given. The CFLs are a good option, and they seem to be the future, so we might as well try them out.” Carmela nodded along with Alessandro.

“I’m pretty much convinced that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, Judy. Maybe you can spend some extra time in the Environmental Science lab and create your very own universally good lightbulb.” Carmela said, as she helped her friends up. They walked together, with their arms linked, back to the car.

“Hm, you’re right. I could be the next Bill Gates.” Judy laughed as she and her friends went home to install their new lightbulbs.