[LINK] Tony pulls it off!

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Marghanita writes, 

> The problem is that an incentive is needed
> to move away from high CO2 producing energy
> sources

And energy *uses* of course.

> to more CO2 efficient processes and
> increasing the CO2 sinks.. Unfortunately, 
> the choices for electricity sources is not
> so simple. 


Well, we do & soon will have significant and certainly widening choices 
regarding energy savings. Here's one example, the NYTimes today reports:


LED Bulbs Save Substantial Energy, a Study Finds 

ERIC. A. TAUB  Published: November 29, 2009

 
Does the latest generation of energy-saving light bulbs save energy? 

A comprehensive study conducted by Osram, the German lighting company, 
provides evidence that they do. 

A standard incandescent bulb over its life will use almost five times the 
energy of an LED bulb, a German study concluded. 

While that may seem self-evident, until the release of the report on 
Monday the answer remained unclear. 

That is because no one knew if the production of LED lamps required more 
energy than needed for standard incandescent bulbs. 

While it is indisputable that LEDs use a fraction of the electricity of a 
regular bulb to create the same amount of light, if more energy were used 
in the manufacturing and distribution process, then the lighting industry 
could be traveling down a technological dead end.

The study results show that over the entire life of the bulb — from 
manufacturing to disposal — the energy used for incandescent bulbs is 
almost five times that used for compact fluorescents and LED lamps.

The energy used during the manufacturing phase of all lamps is 
insignificant — less than 2 percent of the total. 

Given that both compact fluorescents and LEDs use about 20 percent of the 
electricity needed to create the same amount of light as a standard 
incandescent, both lighting technologies put incandescents to shame.

“We welcome these kinds of studies,” said Kaj den Daas, chief executive 
of Philips Lighting North America. The Osram study “provides facts where 
we often have only emotional evidence.” 

Philips recently became the first entrant in the (US) Energy Department’s 
L Prize, a race to develop the first practical 60-watt LED equivalent to 
a standard light bulb.

To calculate what is know as a Life Cycle Assessment of LED lamps, Osram 
compared nearly every aspect of the manufacturing process, including the 
energy used in manufacturing the lamps in Asia and Europe, packaging 
them, and transporting them to Germany where they would be sold. 

It also looked at the emissions created in each stage, and calculated the 
effect of six different global warming indexes. 

Those included the amount of greenhouse gas emissions created by each 
process, the acid rain potential, eutrophication (excessive algae), 
photochemical ozone creation, the release of harmful chemical compounds, 
and the resultant scarcity of gas, coal, and oil.

The methodology followed the procedures set down in ISO 14040/44, an 
industry standard. The results were certified by three university 
professors in Denmark and Germany as adhering to the standard.

“The difference in energy use between incandescents, compact fluorescents 
and LEDs is definitely significant,” said Dr. Matthias Finkbeiner of 
Berlin’s Technical University and chairman of the study’s review 
committee. 

“The results are very stable.”

Dr. Wessler expects the results to shift even more in favor of LEDs, as 
newer generations of that technology become even more efficient, 
requiring less energy to produce the same amount of light. 

“Everything I’ve seen strengthens the assumption that LED efficiency will 
increase,” she said. “There has not been much improvement in incandescent 
efficiency in the last 10 years.” 

--

Cheers,
Stephen

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