The environmental impact of compact fluorescent lamps and incandescent lamps for Australian conditions

Abstract

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have become one of the most effective energy conserving light sources for consumer use because they consume about 20% of the energy used by incandescent lamps for the same light output. This reduction in energy consumption would also be expected to have beneficial impacts in health and other environmental areas. This paper confirms that expected benefits do in fact occur but also assesses the performance of both types of lamps for their use of material, power factors and harmonic current demand.