Life Cycle Assessment of Compact Fluorescent and Incandescent Lamps: Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The estimates indicate that the energy consumption by lighting is 20-45% of a commercial building’s and 3-10% of an industrial plant’s total energy consumption. It is more reasonable to use energy efficient lamps such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), consuming only 20% electricity for the same light output compared with incandescent lamp. The aim of this work is to compare the CFL and incandescent lamp in the field of life cycle assessment (LCA). The methodological framework of all the LCA techniques is based on the ISO standards 14040-14043. The life cycle analysis is performed using the Gabi4 software in order to compare environmental impacts of the 15 W CFL and 60 W incandescent lamps providing similar amount of light (800-850 lumens). The functional unit is selected according to the operation time of 10.000 hours. All the materials, energy use and pollutant emissions to the environment from each process were analyzed. The environmental impact was estimated for the 6 environmental impact categories: potentials of Abiotic Depletion, Acidification, Eutrophication, Global Warming, Ozone Layer Depletion, Photochemical Ozone Creation. The results showed that during the operation period of 10,000 hours of each kind of lamp, the negative impact on the environment of the product is highest in the use phase due to electricity use. According to the analyzed environmental impact categories and from an environmental point of view the CFL is more appropriate source of light than incandescent bulb mainly because of their more efficient use of electricity and due to longer exploitation time.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.61.3.2425