"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
OK then. Let's take a look at what goes into one of these lamps, and then
you can tell us if you don't agree.

A glass envelope. The tungsten lamp has one of these, and so do some of
the CFLs, so nothing different there. Both have a brass or steel base, and
a couple of connection points in lead free solder. The incandescent has a
tungsten filament, supported on some steel wires. The CFL has tungsten
electrodes / filaments within the discharge tube, and some connecting
wires, so we'll call that quits between them. The incandescent has a
filling of an inert and fundamentally safe gas. And that's where it starts
to get different.

The discharge tube. This is a complicated structure made from glass formed
into a tube. It may have a 'simple' or 'convoluted' form, both of which
require considerable manufacturing process, and use of intense heat
energy. The inside of the tube has to be coated with a combination of
phosphors that have to be chemically extracted and purified or synthesized
by a different company, and shipped to the discharge tube manufacturer,
where they have to be mixed, liquified, and baked on. The tube has to then
be filled with a toxic mercury compound that had to be extracted, purified
and shipped to the discharge tube manufacturer.

The drive electronics. Diodes. These had to be manufactured using purified
silicon which had to be mined and extracted from the ore and then doped
with toxic chemicals such as antimony or arsenic. The diode thus created
then had to have steel wires bonded to it, and then be encapsulated in
plastic. The steel wire had to be manufactured and shipped to the
semiconductor manufacturer. The plastic had to be manufactured from oil
that had to be extracted, refined, and shipped to the plastic
manufacturer. The steel wires had to be hot dipped in solder, which had to
be manufactured from tin and copper, both of which had to be mined and
extracted and purified, before being shipped to the solder manufacturer,
who then had to ship his product to the semiconductor manufacturer. Ditto
all of the above for the switching element (FET or whatever)

Resistors. These had to be made from depositing refined carbon, which had
to be manufactured and shipped to the resistor manufacturer, onto a
ceramic substrate that had to made from clay, which had to be extracted,
and then fired to make it hard, before shipping to the resistor
manufacturer. The resistor element then had to have brass cups and steel
wires (remember them?) bonded to it, before the whole lot was encased in a
hard enamel, and then had value stripes painted on.

Capacitors. The aluminium electrolytic manufacturer had to have aluminium
foil, aluminium sheet, paper soaked in boric acid, steel wire, a rubber
bung and a plastic sleeve with printing on, and solder to make his
product. The film capacitors had to be made with aluminium foil, plastic
film, steel wires, plastic or hard enamel dip, solder, and a printing
process.

Inductors. The inductor manufacturer had to use powdered iron, copper
wire, which had to be manufactured from copper ore mined and refined and
processed into wire then covered with a plastic coating, before being
shipped to the inductor manufacturer, plastic insulation film, copper
strip, plastic insulation sleeve, steel wire pins and solder to
manufacture his product.

PCB. The PCB material had to be manufactured from glass fibre and coated
with copper and photoresistive chemicals, before being shipped to the
board manufacturer, who then had to put it through a photographic process,
before subjecting it to a cocktail of caustic etching chemicals, which
have to be disposed of when worn out, then cutting the board up into small
pieces, and drilling holes in it. At some point, the etched board is also
cleaned and has a chemical solder resist applied to it, and finally is
roller tinned with solder.

All of these components then have to be shipped to the electronic ballast
manufacturer, who has to assemble them into the printed circuit board,
before subjecting it to a wave or flow soldering process, using solder
that had to be manufactured and shipped to him. The completed boards then
have to be packaged, and shipped to the lamp manufacturer, who then has to
assemble the board into the base he's had made elsewhere and shipped to
him, and then fit the discharge tube, and the external envelope if used.
The end result is a lamp that weighs four times what an incandescent does,
and that has to be packed in a cardboard box that is bulkier and twice as
heavy as that used for an incandescent, so even more manufacturing and
processing of wood pulp used there.

Every one of the factories involved has workers that have to be kept warm,
dry and fed, and have to get from their homes to the factory, and back
again. That requires petrol, diesel, electricity, all of which has to be
mined, extracted, refined, generated and so on. All of these processes
release large quantities of CO2 and other carbon compounds and
particulates into the atmosphere. All of the component parts require
multiple shipping operations to the various sub-manufacturers, and this
involves ships with diesel engines, jet aero engines, and diesel truck
engines, all of which throw out CO2 and other assorted nasties.

Given all of this, I cannot understand how anyone can believe that CFLs as
a substitute for incandescents, are better in terms of energy budget and
manufacturing / shipping pollutant generation than the humble light bulbs
we already have. It's all very well saying that all of this is offset by
the reduced energy consumption throughout it's supposedly long life, but
that's an awfully hard one to swallow.

Brilliant.

Bill