carbon di oxide emission of filament bulbs

ananthu

One thing I am not able to understand.

Governments advocate the slow phasing out of the filament lamps and replacing them with CFLs.The reason repeatedly cited for this is that the filament lamps contribute to the global warming by way of emitting carbon-di-oxide.

But, interestingly, it is also clarified that it is not these bulbs which are directly emitting the gas into the atmosphere, but the power plants which work on carbon-burning process emit the gas for producing the electricity consumed by these bulbs.

What I can not understand is that even if all the people of the world stop using these bulbs and start using some other Eco-friendly bulbs, how this will help these power plants to reduce the carbon-di-oxide emission, unless this will result in the reduction of the quantity of the power produced itself, by the plants sufficiently. Because, people will continue to use electricity by way of other devices such as air conditioners, fridges, heaters etc. and the electricity requirement is never going to come down.

Can any body enlighten on this line?

Nugatory

In a (probably doomed) effort to save this thread from locking, I suggest that you might find it interesting to look at the ratio of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to power consumption for various national economies.

ananthu

Sorry. I couldn't catch what you wanted to convey.

Nugatory

If you look at this data, you will find some evidence that suggests that increases in efficiency are not always offset by increases in consumption.

(This conversation is more about politics and economics than about physics).

DaveC426913

We use a lot of bulbs. The claim is that an 11W CFL bulb puts ot as much light as a 60W incandescent. That's pretty good.

They are making A/C units and refrigerators low-consumption as well.

It's just that people make a choice about what bulbs they buy.

ananthu

May be it is because, when people use the filament bulbs, a lot of energy consumed goes into air as heat. But, it is not the case with the CFLs. So, can we say that the burning of the filament bulbs contributes to the increase in the air temperature, thereby contributes to the global warming? I don't know whether the statistics will support such a claim. But, one advantage I find in using the CFLs is that it reduces your electricity bill to certain extent.

On the other side, does not an AC unit produce cooling inside your house by pushing the inside heat outside? I suspect it could also equally contribute to the increase in the average atmospheric temperature.

On these lines experts' opinions will be helpful to a common man.

Drakkith

The bulbs reduce your power consumption, which reduces the load on the power plants, which reduces the fuel they have to burn, which reduces the amount of CO2 they put into the atmosphere. It has nothing to do with the bulbs heating the air itself.

DaveC426913

Concurrence.