Light bulbs

I’d like to start by clearing up a common misconception. The first incandescent light bulb was NOT created created by Thomas Edison. I’ll let you catch your breath. The first time someone created artificial light by passing a current through a filament was all the way back in 1802. Edison then, after several attempts by other scientists over 75 years, created a commercially viable version of the incandescent light bulb by passing an electrical current through a carbonized bamboo filament. Edison is often credited with the invention because his version was able to outstrip the earlier versions because of a combination of three factors: an effective incandescent material, a higher vacuum than others were able to achieve and a high resistance that made power distribution from a centralized source economically viable. There have of course been many improvements to this design but the main problem, from a energy conservation standpoint, has remained the same; Of all the energy that flows into an incandescent light bulb, the 90 percent is transformed into heat rather than light.

Compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) and LED lights have been created in the last century, both to try and create a supplemental product that does not make consumers pay for heat instead of light. A fluorescent bulb is tube with low pressure mercury-vapor gas-discharge lamp that uses fluorescence (visible radiation due to incident radiation) to produce visible light. An electric current in the gas excites mercury vapor which produces short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor coating on the inside of the bulb to glow. LED lights use a similar mechanism to incandescents to produce lights but in a slightly different more efficient way. To compare, the equivalent wattage a  However, both these products have struggled to reach the success that incandescents have. These inefficient light bulbs are still widely used over more efficient options (fluorescent and LED) today due to many advantages such as:

• Wide, low-cost availability
• Easy incorporation into electrical systems
• Adaptable for small systems
• Low voltage operation, such as in battery powered devices
• Wide shape and size availability

When CFL bulbs were first introduced in the ’70s, they were expected to signal the end of the traditional incandescent light bulb. After all, they are much more energy-efficient. Infact, CFL bulbs have risen to promise in the last two decades. But due to their higher cost, longer time to achieve full brightness and the environmental concerns over bulbs (the mercury in the tubes), CFL bulbs have not yet made incandescent light bulbs obsolete.legislation in many countries including the United States have mandated phasing out the incandescent bulb for more energy efficient options such as CFLs and LED lamps, However, there has been much resistance to these policies namely due to the low cost of incandescent bulbs, the instant availability of light and concerns of mercury contamination with CFLs.

Curbing bottled water usage

We all need water. Simple, go more than 3 days without it and you will die. There is no question in our minds as to “if” we will drink water, the questions is “how?”. This decision has further implications that will inevitably have consequences on our carbon footprint. The Pacific Institute estimated, in 2006 that:

• Producing the bottles for American consumption required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy for transportation
• Bottling water produced upwards of 2.5 millions tons of Carbon Dioxide emissions
• It took three liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water
• Americans bought 31.2 billion liters of water in 2006

The plastic that is used in bottles, ranging from little 8-ounce to multi-gallon water cooler jugs, is called Polyethylene Terephthalate. This plastic is only produced by using fossil fuels – petroleum and natural gas. The Pacific Institute found that there were nearly 900,000 tons of plastic used in water bottles in 2006 alone! According to the plastics manufacturing industry, it takes around 3.4 megajoules of energy to make a typical one-liter plastic bottle, cap, and packaging. Making enough plastic to bottle 31.2 billion liters of water would require more than 106 billion megajoules of energy. Because a barrel of oil contains around 6 thousand megajoules, the Pacific Institute estimates that the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil were needed to package the 31.2 billion liters of water used in plastic bottles sold in 2006. There is plenty of science to dissuade people from using plastic bottles. Yet, the International Water Bottle Association (IWBA) reports growing sales of bottled water. In a recent report the IWBA stated “Sales of bottled water in 2014 are expected to grow to $13 billion, an increase of 6.1 percent from 2013”.
For many, the decision to go with bottled water over tap water comes down to the misconception that bottled water is more pure and therefore more healthy . All water is healthy, as long as there are not high levels of contaminants. Cities make sure there is no level of contaminants in tap water that is unhealthy. Tap water however, has been reported to have higher levels of dissolved solids than bottled water. Most scientist agree though, that this is not unhealthy. Some people will even strive to drink water with more dissolved solids in it (mineral water) for the intended purpose of ingesting more of these minerals. This may actually be healthier than both tap and bottled water. Some city governments add Fluoride to their tap water, to meet The American Dental Association’s recommendation of (.7 to 1.2ppm). So, those who do not drink tap water may at greater risk for dental issues. Another reason for an individual to go with bottled water over the tap is taste. In this case those who say “bottled water tastes better than tap” are warranted in their reasoning. Often cities will add Chlorine to disinfect their tap water, this will leave an after taste. In fact most of the tap water I’ve had in different regions of the country do have their own after taste, Some even taste pretty bad. This is due to the different levels of certain minerals in an area. A tap water that has a distinguished taste is just as healthy as one without.

My recommendation to anyone wanting to be more conscious of their own carbon footprint and the water they drink is to stop buying and consuming water from plastic bottles. Consumers still looking for that “crisp straight from a bottle” tasting in their water should look at water purification technologies, such a Brita filter.