The Energy Transformation in an Incandescent Globe

With the ever-growing need for more efficient energy means, the time has come to act upon our sustainability ideals. In today’s society, it is almost impossible to by the old incandescent bulbs, however, there are other energy saving types that need comparison as well- and the incandescent still need to be considered. In this report, with the aid of diagrams and visual aids- the three main types of lighting will be compared and explained.

This first diagram is an incandescent globe. It comes in sizes of 40, 60, 100 and 150 Watts. However, even though there is a larger energy input there is a rather small energy output in the form of light. Most of it is converted into heat. Thus, this form of light is inefficient and impacts the usage greatly. One who uses a bulb such as this would charge a large rate- resulting in large power bills for relatively nothing. The advantage of this type of light bulb is the shape. It has come to mean a lot to people who have grown up with this type of light bulb (before the more efficient types were even invented). Besides these minor advantages, there is not much of an advantage towards this particular type of light globe. They can be used for agricultural uses such as providing heat for young chickens or for goslings, but other than that the rest is all disadvantages. One of the disadvantages of incandescent globes is that there is more heat emissions than light. This is called ‘wasted energy’ as there is no real use for this light other than the aforementioned.

The energy transformation in an incandescent globe is complicated, but not so much so that it is hard to understand. The energy is transferred from the wire into the filament- causing it to heat up. When the filament is heated, it produces...

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...ent is hindered by some of the features mentioned. The CFL (compact fluorescent) is fragile and contains 5mg of mercury, which is potentially hazardous to the environment. In almost all of these columns, there is a negative aspect of the compact fluorescent. Frequent on/off cycling causes the fluorescent’s lifespan to shorten, compared to the incandescent and LEDS- this is a substantial problem. When you are designing a more efficient lighting choice, you want to minimise the consequence caused by deterioration, the same way someone would use a biodegradable shopping bag instead of one that will not degrade for several years. Upon seeing this, one has to rethink their original perspective. When comparing all aspects together, it is clear to see that the LED lights are more efficient form every perspective and last longer and work more efficiently in the long run.