There are millions of general service fluorescent tubes in the market place today, until recently they were considered essentially the most energy-efficient lighting solution available. The side effects to the for of lights is that every tube has a little mercury vapour, a toxic heavy metal and rock. This will provide not just a health risk if the tubes are broken, but could also accumulate in landfills before entering the lake table or causing further pollution.
Fluorescent lamps use electricity to excite mercury vapour within the glass tube and try to demand a ballast to control the flow of power with the lamp. A starter is incorporated in the circuit to heat the contact ends with the tube that ionizes the mercury vapour creating UV light. The interior of the tube is coated using a phosphor material that glows when encountered with the UV light created by the mercury in the fluorescent tube.
Recent developments in SMD (Surface Mount Diode) LED technology have recently resulted in LED based fluorescent tubes have become a real possibility. LEDs can be a extremely effective form of lighting product comprising small chips of conductive material that release light every time a current is applied for them. They contain no filaments which enable it to produce approximately 25 times more light per watt than conventional lamps.
LEDs require far less energy of their manufacture than fluorescent tubes, and only 3% of the energy they’re going to consume over their life span is consumed inside their manufacture, and they are generally also manufactured from non toxic materials. The tubes are made from polycarbonate, a cloth that is better made and sturdy than glass, so accidents will not likely require special cleanup procedures.
While LED technology is higher priced than existing fluorescents at face value, they’re going to last up to 10 x as long, while consuming 65% less energy. In many general purpose lighting applications they additional tariff of the LED technology will more than buy itself within the first Eighteen months.
The sole drawback will be the tighter beam angle of the LEDs, while some tubes are manufactured from a polycarbonate light diffusing material, others have a narrow focus which can stop suited to replacing existing tubes. Many fluorescent fixtures are made with reflectors that really help to distribute the light from the tubes evenly in their intended environment. This is a problem much like what was faced when compact fluorescents began replacing incandescent lamps, this is a problem that may soon be overcome and allow faster adoption on this emerging lighting technology.
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