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LEDs are not environmentally friendly enough

25.09.2012

LED light bulbs have practically won the battle against incandescent and daylight bulbs. Most experts agree that the energy savings and absence of toxic materials in LEDs help protect the environment. A new study by scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) shows that the light emitting diode is more environmentally friendly than compact fluorescent and incandescent lamps. However, there are also some problems.

During the experiments, incandescent lamps consumed 60 watts of electricity, while LED lamps - only 12,5 watts, with approximately the same amount of light. Fluorescent lamps also turned out to be very economical - 15 watts. If mankind would abandon incandescent lamps in favor of LEDs or compact fluorescent lamps, then the negative environmental impact associated with the combustion of fossil fuels would decrease by 3-10 times.

However, scientists have not only focused on the obvious benefits of LEDs (energy savings). They defined the "ecological chain": the impact of different light sources on the environment throughout the life of the light bulb, i.e. from the extraction of raw materials for it, to the disposal of the used device. It turns out that if fluorescent and LED lamps are similar in terms of energy consumption, then in terms of overall environmental performance, LEDs definitely win.

By most criteria, compact fluorescent lamps do no more harm to the environment than an LED lamp. But the main difficulty is the disposal of fluorescent lamps, which contain toxic substances.

LEDs also have a serious environmental disadvantage: an aluminum heatsink that cools the components of the LED light bulb. The fact is that the process of mining, refining and processing aluminum is very energy intensive and creates several by-products, such as sulfuric acid. This creates an additional burden on the environment, reducing the "environmental quality" of LED light sources.

Scientists believe that more efficient LEDs with much less massive heatsinks will be developed in the next five years.

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