embrace lumens Update on the Rare Earth Element SituationAccording to The New York Times, supply is finally beginning to catch up with demand in the rare earth element market.

A few months ago, I posted about the Chinese government’s export restrictions on rare earth elements. The bad news for the lighting industry was that China’s nationwide production cap was causing the price of fluorescent light bulbs to rapidly increase. (Rare earth elements are a crucial component to the process of creating a fluorescent light bulb).

However, it seems that international prices for rare earth elements have fallen since August and are continuing to decline! The timeline for the impact on the lighting industry is unclear at this point. For more information, read this article.

laser process 300x199 Are Laser Light Bulbs in Our Future?What do you get when you combine red, blue, green, and yellow diode lasers?

Apparently, pretty fantastic-looking warm white light. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories recently produced a white light made from lasers and tested it out on a bowl of fruit. The results were incredibly surprising.

Lighting experts have assumed in the past that diode lasers would be a poor source for creating white light. Lasers emit single, narrow wavelengths (very different from the sun’s broad spectral bands). Researcher Jeff Tsao explained,

Before these tests, our research in this direction was stopped before it could get started. The typical response was, ‘Are you kidding? The color rendering quality of white light produced by diode lasers would be terrible.’ So finally it seemed like, in order to go further, one really had to answer this very basic question first. Continue reading »

seared albacore tuna The Truth About CFLs and Mercury

There is more mercury in one bite of albacore tuna than there is in one CFL.

Yes, CFLs contain mercury. So do laptop computers, TVs, telephones, and tuna fish sandwiches.

On average, CFLs contain 4 milligrams of mercury each (that amount would almost cover the tip of a ballpoint pen). LCD projector TVs, by comparison, contain 500-100 milligrams of mercury. One bite of albacore tuna contains more mercury than a CFL.

Many people think about mercury emissions in a very simplistic manner. (Sure, the mercury in a CFL may be a trace amount, but incandescent light bulbs don’t contain any – which makes incandescent light bulbs better for the environment, right?) Continue reading »

A few months ago, I posted a video about an engineer in Brazil who created “light bulbs” by installing clear plastic 2-liter bottles into the ceilings of buildings and capitalizing on the sun to light businesses and homes.

A friend on Twitter (thanks, Andrew!) recently sent over a similar video about “solar bottle lights” used in the Philippines.  If you didn’t see the first one, or if you are interested in green technology solutions, check it out:

CFL vs. LED vs. Incandescent A Regular Person Review of an LED
From left to right: A CFL, an LED, & an Incandescent Light Bulb. Credit: Candace Lombardi/CNET

Journalist Candace Lombardi recently compared three Philips-brand light bulbs side by side. She said she’s often asked for a “regular person review” of LEDs versus CFLs versus incandescents without the jargon of lumens, kelvins, wattage, etc.

It’s a great article – Lombardi goes so far as to try smashing the Philips LED to the ground. When the LED survives with no damage, she concludes that Philips wasn’t kidding around about their 22.8 year life estimate for the product.

The Philips AmbientLED is the equivalent of a 75-watt incandescent and gives off a warm light (in a 2700K color temperature, for all the lighting professionals out there). See Lombardi’s photo to the right, and check out the article on CNET!

Baiyun Obo Mine Will the Future of Fluorescent Lighting Be Shaky?

A mine in Baiyun Obo, which produces half the world's rare earth elements. Photo courtesy of Treehugger.

Remember our post on why fluorescent light bulbs are becoming more expensive?

Well, the Chinese government is beginning to enforce those export restrictions on rare earth elements. According to an article in Times LIVE, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will now punish rare earth producers that fail to stick to the nationwide production cap.

Enterprises exceeding quotas will have licenses cancelled, and will also face government action if they are caught buying ore from mines that violate government guidelines.

It is unclear whether the production cap for 2011 of 93,800 tonnes has already been met, but a number of plants have closed down.

What does this mean for fluorescent lighting? For a fluorescent light bulb to create light, there must be a phosphor coating inside its glass envelope. While phosphor is not a rare earth element, rare earth elements are a crucial component to the process of creating the light-producing tri-phosphors inside the lamps.

The production cap is meant to crack down on illegal production of rare earth elements. However, since China produces about 97 percent of the global supply, the policy is affecting the production of countless products in the green tech industry that count on rare earth minerals.

L Prize Winner 300x204 Philips Lighting, L Prize Winner! The U.S. Department of Energy made an exciting announcement this morning: Philips Lighting North America won the Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize (L Prize) competition!

The DOE launched the L Prize competition three years ago as an initiative to push lighting manufacturers to create incredibly energy-efficient and high-performance replacements for conventional light bulbs. Philips submitted their entry to the 60-watt replacement bulb category back in 2009, and that entry has been undergoing eighteen months of rigorous product testing to ensure it meets the DOE’s high standards.

The winning entry consumes just 10 watts of energy, lasts more than 25,000 hours, and delivers excellent light output equivalent to that of a 60 watt incandescent light bulb. The product could arrive in stores as early as 2012!

Philips will receive a $10 million cash prize as well as other partner incentives. For more information, read the Philips press release. What do you think of the replacement bulb (photo above)?

heatball Heatballs Nixed in Germany

"Heat Ball" Logo

After the European Union phased out traditional incandescent light bulbs last year, a Germany company responded with an interesting product for the lighting marketplace: A “heatball.”

The problem was, a “heatball” was an incandescent light bulb in a not-so-secretive disguise. Since incandescent light bulbs emit 95 percent of their energy as heat and just 5 percent as light, the company re-branded the product to sidestep the new legislation.

A court ruled Tuesday that the company must withdraw their product.

The company website is still up; and although it’s in German, Google does a fairly good job of translating it to English.

What do you think: Should the “heatball” have been outlawed?

CFLs Why Are CFLs Becoming More Expensive?The Chinese government has recently been restricting exports of rare earth elements, and the policy changes are affecting the global markets for everything from compact fluorescent light bulbs to iPhones.

China controls 97% of the world’s supply of rare earth metals – 17 elements that are vital to the electronics, defense, and renewable energy industries.

Due to China’s export caps, the cost to manufacture fluorescent light bulbs is skyrocketing.  (Standard compact fluorescent light bulbs require a phosphor coating inside their glass envelopes to create light, and phosphor is made from rare earth elements).

Earlier this month, China eased some of the export curbs, but the European Union and the United States were not satisfied that the change would be enough to restore stable supplies.  The higher cost of rare earth elements will affect the cost of all fluorescent light bulbs, CFLs included.

doe ad chicken Political Pulls with Energy Efficient Lighting

Department of Energy photo from the national consumer education campaign

The efficiency standards for light bulbs set into place by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) have been a topic of debate in the political arena recently.

First, the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act, H.R. 2417, sought to repeal the portion of EISA 2007 requiring incandescent light bulbs to become 25 to 30 percent more efficient.  The BULB Act did not pass in the House of Representatives.

Last Friday, the House approved an amendment that denies funding to implement the federal light bulb efficiency standards.

On Tuesday, the Department of Energy launched a new advertising campaign touting the benefits of efficient light bulbs.  It seems to be a timely response to Friday’s amendment.

The DOE’s public service announcements include print and television ads.  Here’s one of the videos to be aired: Continue reading »
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