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Sunday, October 26, 2008
Article: Recycling CFL Bulbs
Information on where to recycle Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs and EPA suggestions for cleanup procedures when they break. Click here to read the article.
That's good, practical information. As much as I'm for energy efficiency, I wish they wouldn't mandate the end of incandescent bulbs. They are superior to CFLs in some applications (such as rooms where the lights are not left on for long, like the bathroom or bedroom). They also utilize power converters that inject harmonic distortion into the power system—an issue that I understand has been improved in newer CFLs but which will become more serious as they are applied on a wide scale. Anyway, policy makers will do what they want and people on "Main Street" need practical information like the article you linked to!
It's been a while since physics... what is the effect of introducing harmonic distortion into the power system? Does the power converter in the CFL allow some sort of feedback to the overall power grid?
Harmonics are the way that we power engineers describe the non-sinusoidal component of a periodic waveform. It comes from taking the Fourier transform of the current drawn by a load. Harmonics are undesirable because they increase the current magnitude without increasing the actual power delivered, thus increasing system losses. Harmonics can also cause interference in other equipment connected to the grid since their voltage supply will not be purely sinusoidal.
Paul - That's very interesting. I guess every industry gets bumped and bruised when a new technology is introduced. Somehow the resolution process never seems to be immediate but I am glad to hear that there have been some improvements in newer models that are expected to mitigate the problem somewhat.
6 comments:
That's good, practical information. As much as I'm for energy efficiency, I wish they wouldn't mandate the end of incandescent bulbs. They are superior to CFLs in some applications (such as rooms where the lights are not left on for long, like the bathroom or bedroom). They also utilize power converters that inject harmonic distortion into the power system—an issue that I understand has been improved in newer CFLs but which will become more serious as they are applied on a wide scale. Anyway, policy makers will do what they want and people on "Main Street" need practical information like the article you linked to!
It's been a while since physics... what is the effect of introducing harmonic distortion into the power system? Does the power converter in the CFL allow some sort of feedback to the overall power grid?
Harmonics are the way that we power engineers describe the non-sinusoidal component of a periodic waveform. It comes from taking the Fourier transform of the current drawn by a load. Harmonics are undesirable because they increase the current magnitude without increasing the actual power delivered, thus increasing system losses. Harmonics can also cause interference in other equipment connected to the grid since their voltage supply will not be purely sinusoidal.
Thanks for the useful info, I love that you find out things like this and then share them.
You're welcome, Katie.
Paul - That's very interesting. I guess every industry gets bumped and bruised when a new technology is introduced. Somehow the resolution process never seems to be immediate but I am glad to hear that there have been some improvements in newer models that are expected to mitigate the problem somewhat.
Paul, does the harmonic distortion occur the entire time a CFL bulb is illuminated or is it only a momentary distortion when the switch is flipped?
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