QUE LÂMPADAS VOCÊ USA EM SUA CASA?
O problema das lâmpadas fluorescentes compactas - CFL: Compact Fluoresncet Light - ao contrário das incandescentes, é que, além de emitirem uma luz nociva e inflamatória, devido ao espectro que produzem (luz fria), possuem mercúrio em seu interior; se elas se quebram ou vazam, o vapor de mercúrio invade o local e é extremamente tóxico. No entanto, a lavagem cerebral é tão grande, que, além de restringirem o uso das incandescentes e nos obrigarem ao uso das CFLs, estão chegando ao absurdo de banir a antiga representação da luz pela lâmpada convencional, sendo substituída pela feiosa lâmpada fluorescente compacta!
Aqui no Brasil nunca recebemos treinamento para isso, mas o recomendado é evacuar o local por pelo menos 15 minutos, caso uma lâmpada fluorescente quebre, pois o mercúrio é altamente tóxico. Além disso, a maioria de nós simplesmente coloca as lâmpadas queimadas no lixo... posso imaginar quantas delas chegam intactas a algum lugar, ou seja, intoxicam quem manipula e poluem o ambiente - em resumo o mal retorna para nós mesmos.
Uma outra preocupção é com a produção dessas lâmpadas, em alguns lugares a coisa é feita sem qualquer cuidado, e tanto os empregados como os ambientes ficam bastante contaminados...
É esse mesmo mercúrio das lâmpadas que havia nos antigos termômetros, que, paradoxalmente estão proibidos nos mesmos lugares onde obrigam o uso das lâmpadas fluorecentes à base de... mercúrio! É também o mesmo mercúrio colocado nas obturações de amálgama em nossa boca, e na grossa maioria das vacinas que obrigam nossas crianças a tomarem. No caso das obturações há controvérsias - exceto para os próprios dentistas, que manipulam centenas dessas pequenas peças (que é quando ocorre a emissão dos gases), sofrendo do efeito cumulativo do metal tóxico no seu sistema nervoso. No caso das vacinas o caso é bem mais sério, sendo que diversas doenças que estão sendo cada vez mais frequentes já estão sendo atribuídas à contaminação por mercúrio. Uma busca na internet trará diversos links falando sobre o assunto.
Saiba AQUI sobre a legislação no Brasil, datas limites e consequências para os brasileiros.
No caso do uso das lâmpadas incandescentes, seria importante usar uma luz forte - para trazer algum benefício à saúde, precisa ser de pelo menos 250 watts. Menos não faz qualquer mal, apenas não acrescenta nada de especial à saúde. Na verdade, a única coisa que deveríamos fazer no escuro é dormir! Estar debaixo de luz fria (CFLs), é a mesma coisa ou pior que estar no escuro. Quando penso o tanto de tempo que passamos sob essas luzes em ambientes de trabalho, diante da TV e em frente ao computador...
De modo que a opção é bem clara: se a gente economiza na conta de luz, também está economizando na saúde... as decisões políticas, infelizmente, estão ocupadas em onde ganhar mais e "poupar energia" (?), em vez de se ocuparem em como produzir mais energia sem danos ao ambiente! Alternativas sem mercúrio existem, além das incandescentes temos as halógenas e as LEDs. Portanto, é possível, mas provavelmente não dá lucro...
TOXIC LIGHT - THE DARK SIDE OF ENERGY SAVING BULBS
25 minutos - dublado em Inglês
A look at how dangerous the new energy-saving light bulbs are. The EU
has banned many incandescent bulbs in favor of Compact Florescent Lights
(CFLs). CFLs emit serious toxins while being used. All Florescent
lights contain Mercury. There is enough Mercury to pose a serious health
risk in the event of a CLF breakage. People are being told to run out
of the building for 15 minutes, open windows and turn off the heat.
Additionally the bulbs do not last as long as advertised and they take a
long time to warm up, decreasing in brightness over time. The light
they emit is not a full spectrum steady light. Few Bulbs actually get
recycled and they need to be treated as hazardous materials when
discarding them.
BULB FICTION
1 hora e 35 minutos, am alemão - resumo em Inglês abaixo
It's a very good movie about the energy saving bulbs.The EU policies
concerning light bulbs are simply outrageous. They save a few million
euros with the new bulbs (the total energy difference is actually pretty
small) every year, but the consequences for human health and the
environmental impact are devastating. All the mercury that inevitably
gets into the environment will kill thousands of animals and destroy
whole ecosystems. At the same time thousands of people have already been
seriously harmed by the mercury that they are exposed to when one of
these bulbs breaks in your house, not to mention all the people who are
involved in the manufacturing process. The indirect consequences from
not getting enough intense light, that the old bulbs produce, are
probably even more pronounced.
The Film BULB FICTION Summary - direction Christoph Mayr (Austria)
In 2007 Greenpeace let destroy in front of the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin 10,000 incandescent bulbs with a road roller. With CFLs, this action would not have been possible. The mercury contained in 10,000 CFLs is enough to contaminate 50 million liters of drinking water - apart from the acute health hazard for the activists and spectators.
The reason why Greenpeace together with the lamp industry in Brussels made considerable pressure to ban the bulb is one of the questions that are followed in BULB FICTION, the investigative documentary by Christoph Mayr.
From September 2009 on, incandescent lamps of 100W and also all frosted incandescent lamps are banned. From September 2011 on, 60W bulbs disappeared and from September 1, 2012, in the countries of the European Union, no single incandescent lamp will be available. High voltage halogen lamps have a grace period and are banned from automn 2016.
How did we get here?
The industry needs turnover, NGOs must prove their donors that they can push through their desires. The majority of the politicians look where the wind blows, for otherwise rarely an opportunity arises to be celebrated as a climate protector without interfering with the industry or otherwise with a powerful lobby.
Almost all who deal intensely with the subject of light and its effect on people, health professonials, lighting designers, construction biologists (who care about the biological impact of a building) are against the ban on incandescent lamps. Since they belong to any of the big lobbies, their protests are unheeded.
In BULB FICTION they have their say.
Immediate cause of the film
Already in 2007, the cameraman and lighting designer Moritz Gieselmann accidently heard from an employee of the lamp manufactory Osram that incandescent bulbs would be banned, which he holded for a bizarre rumor - who could come up with idea to such old-established and popular product? The simplicity and elegance of the bulb is unsurpassed to this day: A fitting of tin, a glowing tungsten wire, a glass bulb filled with inert gas or vacuum created - that's it. When in 2008 the impending ban on incandescent bulbs appears in the media, Gieselmann begins researching, and what he finds there makes that his skepticism about the compact fluorescent lamp is increasing. The information in the media is incomplete, and thus arises the idea of making a documentary on the subject. The writer and director Christopher Mayr, initially skeptical about a topic supposed to be dry, soon set him alight with enthusiasm. He finds in Thomas Bogner a dedicated producer, and in the fall of 2011, in parallel with the disappearance of the 60W incandescent lamp, BULB FICTION hit theaters.
By Regulation (EC) 244/2009 of the EU, the ban on incandescent bulbs and therefore the necessity of saving became official. Christoph Mayr wants to talk to the EU energy commissioner at the time, Andris Piebalgs. By pointing out not to be in charge of the department of energy, he refuses. Günter Oettinger, his successor also refuses. The reason? He was appointed as commissioner only after the coming into force of the Regulation. The relevant top official of the EU, Andras Toth, is prohibited by its authority to step in front of the camera.
Only Marlene Holzner, spokeswoman for the EU Energy Commission can answer the questions by Christoph Mayr. Because she has not worked up sufficiently the topic, she let her accompany by Andras Toth as adviser - filming is not allowed.
Harmful effects on health
That CFLs contain mercury, the EU do know it. The fact that mercury is toxic, too. Not for nothing were banned mercury thermometers. In the fall of 2008 in Austria and Germany, mercury thermometers were exchanged for free.
That mercury in bulbs can be extremely toxic is shown for in the film BULB FICTION with the case of the four-year-old Max from Linden, an idyllic village in Upper Bavaria. One night, a working CFL began to leak. Max inhaled the gaseous mercury the whole night after which he gradually loses all his hair, even eyelashes and eyebrows, followed by tremor episodes and depression. Dr. Mutter aus Konstanz, who has made his name as specialist in mercury related diseases, diagnosed a mercury pollution, which, in combination with other burdens, is responsible for these symptoms.
Gary Zörner from LAFU Institute, which has long dealt with environmental toxins, indicates: "Every tiny bit of mercury makes a little more dull" - because mercury accumulates in the brain and destroys nerve cells, even if no limit is exceeded.
Investigation of mercury in CFLs and health problems in a recycling factory
The limit of mercury in CFLs is a chapter in itself: it exists indeed: 5mg per lamp, but is not controled. Christoph Seidel, spokesman of Megaman, who claims to be Europe's largest manufacturer of bulbs, says that one must trust the manufacturers, and in general they would control each other ...
VITO, the Belgian institute that has evaluated CFLs on behalf of the EU, has investigated the mercury content of a sample of 5 (five) pieces. Even here, no one wants to talk with Christoph Mayr.
For Dr. Georg Steinhauser, radiation physicist at the Technical University of Vienna, is such limited sample size simply ridiculous and not serious. He determined to BULB FICTION the mercury content of a compact fluorescent lamp and criticized at the same time the official measurement method of the EU, which measures only the mercury adhering at the glass, but not the gaseous mercury, which escapes from dismantling the lamp: "It's like when I wanted to determine the amount of helium in a teared balloon on the basis of the helium adhering to the shell."
VITO, which otherwise produced very optimistic results for the proponents of the ban on incandescent bulbs, estimates that 80% of the mercury from spent bulbs comes in the environment. If Europe is once lit with compact fluorescent lamps everywhere, every day at least a million of these little poison containers must be disposed of. Multiply each lamp with 5 mg mercury and you will obtain 146 tons of mercury, which is spread everywhere in Europe.
But one fifth of the burned-out bulbs, which have reached intact the recycling plants, can still do damage. Christoph Mayr was making his film in the "Electrical Waste Recycling Group" in Huddersfield, England. The company was in June 2010 sentenced to a fine of 145,000 pounds because 20 people, including a pregnant woman, were contaminated over a longer period due to the ventilation of the mercury vapor. A former employee of the company says in the film, one year after the events, that he still suffers from poor concentration, memory problems and depression.
Restriction of the life time of lamps
Christoph Mayr does not let up, BULB FICTION leaves no question about saving light bulbs and incandescent lamps unanswered. In Berlin, he speaks with Helmut Höge from TAZ, who has dealt extensively with Phoebus, the light bulbs cartel, founded in the 1920s. Phoebus was the first global cartel. He not only ensured the profit margins and the market share of the participating companies, including Osram, Philips and General Electric, he also was responsible that the life time of incandescent lamps, which at the end of the 19th Century under Thomas Edison was still 1500 hours, was reduced by 1935 at 1000 hours. For member companies, which produced lamps with a too long life time, there was an elaborate system of fines.
In the early 1990s, Dieter Binninger, inventor and industrialist from Berlin, invented a light bulb that, with the same load as the conventional 1000-hour lamp, lasted 150,000 hours. Just days after he had submitted a bid to the Trust (Treuhandanstalt) for an East German lamp factory at the time, he died in 1991 in a plane crash. The cartel researcher Rudolf Mirow wrote in 1992 to Birgit Breuel, the head of the Trust: "It is suspected that this cartel has now shared the market of the new German federal states (Bundesländer) between them ..." In 1993, Mirow died in a car accident in Indonesia.
Light differences between CFLs and incandescent bulbs
BULB FICTION also discusses the biological and medical aspects of light. Between the light from incandescent and fluorescent lamps, there are significant differences. Incandescent bulbs are known as thermal radiators: A tungsten filament is heated until it emits light, analogous to the sun and fire. In the natural light sources, light and heat are inextricably linked, so it is with the incandescent bulb. But when the lighting industry in the 1930s was looking for a technical-physical definition of light, it reduced the term "light" on the visually perceptible fraction of the radiation of the sun. That infrared, the invisible part of this radiation, has an effect on our organism, was not disputed. What side effects can have the absence of infrared light, is still largely unexplored. Professor Richard Funk is Director of the Anatomical Institute at the University of Dresden. In 2009 he published a study in which he puts forward the hypothesis that the blue light components can contribute to the formation of macular degeneration, if this light is not accompanied by infrared light reaching the eye. In experiments, he demonstrates that blue light can damage retinal cells, however, infrared light stimulates cells to repair itself.
The light of fluorescent lamps is missing not only the infrared, they have 3 or 5 energy peaks in the visible range. In between, there is darkness, as the physician, Dr. Alexander Wunsch, who has dealt extensively with the health aspects of light, has demonstrated. The result is a poor color rendition - objects can reflect only the light with which they are illuminated. If certain colors are lacking in the light, surfaces appear in these colors as pale and washed out.
Wolfgang Maes, building biologist from Neuss, tested CFLs on behalf of Ökotest, with startling results: The values of the electromagnetic pollution are up to 15 times higher than allowed by the TCO standard for displays.
Political responsability
In Brussels, Christoph Mayr speaks with Holger Krahmer, a German MEP from Leipzig, who spoke out as the first European politician against the ban of the light bulbs. For him it is democratically politically incomprehensible as it may be possible that the policy decides which products may be used by citizens and which may not. This ban reminds him of the dictatorial planned economy of the GDR.
Max Otte, financial journalist and professor of economics: "This Europe is a Europe of companies that have long since taken over the government!"
Meanwhile, Sigmar Gabriel, German Environment Minister, supposed to be a driving force behind the ban on incandescent bulbs, distributed in the last federal election campaign thousands of compact fluorescent lamps from Osram.
Unswervingly Christoph Mayr pursues all references, all details about our theme with the largest precision. How to find the nearest collection point for electronic waste? Not always as easy as one might imagine. Is here done everything to not let escape the toxic mercury into the environment? Do the mentioned life time on the packaging of CFLs agree with the facts? Is the story of the so-called mercury paradox correct which must prove that mercury-free bulbs are actually responsible for more mercury into the environment than the mercury-containing compact fluorescent lamps? What is the Heat Replacement Effect? What mean the CFLs to people in emerging countries?
While Michael Moore in his films is moved from his own emotions to polemical exaggeration, Christoph Mayr remains factual in BULB FICTION, but as a stubborn Tyrolean he gives not up until all the facts are on the table.
Heatball
At the end of BULB FICTION the makers of Heatball present their action: turning the reasoning around that lamps deliver 95% of the energy as a high heat radiation. They sell bulbs like small heaters that give incidentally some light: "Heatball is also a resistance against the disproportionality of measures to protect our environment. How can you seriously believe that we save the world's climate only by using energy saving light bulbs, while allowing the rain forests to wait in vain for decades for their protection."
The European-German bureaucracy is overcharged by this performance art from engaged citizens. They react through the promulgation of measures, financial penalties and the seizure of the Heatballs.
BULB Fiction is a film for committed citizens who are not satisfied with the restrained rage against the prevailing conditions, but want to be informed to form by themselves a well-founded opinion.
Fonte: AQUI
Fonte: AQUI
E QUE TAL UMA LÂMPADA QUE NÃO QUEIMA NUNCA?
Benito Muros diz que, junto a um grupo de engenheiros internacionais, desenvolveu a tecnologia e a fórmula para fabricar uma linha de iluminação aplicada à tecnologia LED que dura toda a vida, isto é, lâmpadas que a um custo de 37 euros (100 reais) e com 25 anos de garantia não queimam nunca.
A lâmpada criada pela OEP Electrics responde à necessidade atual de um compromisso com o meio ambiente. Ao durar tanto tempo, não gera resíduos ao mesmo tempo em que permite uma poupança energética de até 92% e emite até 70% a menos de CO2.
Para realizar sua pesquisa, Muros viajou até o parque de bombeiros de Livermore (Califórnia), lugar no qual há uma lâmpada que permanece acesa de forma ininterrupta há mais de 111 anos. Ali contatou com descendentes e conhecidos dos criadores da lâmpada, já que não existia documentação a respeito. Com esta informação conseguiu as bases para começar sua pesquisa, cujo achado supõe um novo conceito de modelo empresarial baseado na não obsolescência programada (nome dado à curta vida de um bem ou produto que é projetado de forma que dure apenas por um período reduzido).
Mas, ao que parece, a indústria de produtos elétricos não está muito contente com a descoberta...
Para realizar sua pesquisa, Muros viajou até o parque de bombeiros de Livermore (Califórnia), lugar no qual há uma lâmpada que permanece acesa de forma ininterrupta há mais de 111 anos. Ali contatou com descendentes e conhecidos dos criadores da lâmpada, já que não existia documentação a respeito. Com esta informação conseguiu as bases para começar sua pesquisa, cujo achado supõe um novo conceito de modelo empresarial baseado na não obsolescência programada (nome dado à curta vida de um bem ou produto que é projetado de forma que dure apenas por um período reduzido).
Mas, ao que parece, a indústria de produtos elétricos não está muito contente com a descoberta...
Fonte: AQUI.
INCANDESCENT X FLUORESCENT
Most of the debate surrounding fluorescent and incandescent lighting has focused on efficiency, cost and environmental effects. Another conversation that has entered the fray involves the spectrum of light that each source produces and which spectrum more closely imitates visible light produced by the sun.
Facts
The spectrum of visible light is a minuscule portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The human eye can discern wavelengths between 400 and 700 nanometers, which it interprets as a range of colors comprised of violet, blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange and red. Light sources do not exhibit a single wavelength but a combination of multiple wavelengths which depend on the nature of the light source. Visible light primarily derives from artificial sources, such as fluorescent and incandescent lights.
Incandescent
An incandescent light produces light when it is heated by electrical energy, so this light source expends more energy on heat than fluorescent lights. The spectrum of colors produced by incandescent lights is continuous, more similar to that which is produced by the sun, and incandescent lights transmit more red wavelengths than fluorescent light.
Fluorescent
In fluorescent lights, light is created by an electrical current traveling through a charged gas. Because fluorescent lights are not dependent on a lamp filament being heated, the light source itself produces much less heat. Fluorescent lights transmit more blue wavelengths than incandescent light, so they have a slightly different tinge.
Continuous Light
Though the intensity of an incandescent light is not the same across the entire visible spectrum (400 to 700 nm), its transition between wavelengths is smooth with no sudden spikes in intensity. Thus, incandescent lights are a continuous source of light like the sun or a campfire, which is why they may appear to more closely mimic natural light.
Noncontinuous
A fluorescent light, however, has sudden spikes in intensity between wavelengths on the visible spectrum because it produces light differently than an incandescent light. The inside of a fluorescent light tube is coated with a substance that transmits light from a charged gas in such a way that renders its appearance more similar to that of a continuous light source. Though a fluorescent light source produces light that is less similar to natural light than that of an incandescent light, it consumes less electricity to produce the same amount of light.
Fonte: AQUI
INCANDESCENT X FLUORESCENT
Most of the debate surrounding fluorescent and incandescent lighting has focused on efficiency, cost and environmental effects. Another conversation that has entered the fray involves the spectrum of light that each source produces and which spectrum more closely imitates visible light produced by the sun.
Facts
The spectrum of visible light is a minuscule portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The human eye can discern wavelengths between 400 and 700 nanometers, which it interprets as a range of colors comprised of violet, blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange and red. Light sources do not exhibit a single wavelength but a combination of multiple wavelengths which depend on the nature of the light source. Visible light primarily derives from artificial sources, such as fluorescent and incandescent lights.
Incandescent
An incandescent light produces light when it is heated by electrical energy, so this light source expends more energy on heat than fluorescent lights. The spectrum of colors produced by incandescent lights is continuous, more similar to that which is produced by the sun, and incandescent lights transmit more red wavelengths than fluorescent light.
Fluorescent
In fluorescent lights, light is created by an electrical current traveling through a charged gas. Because fluorescent lights are not dependent on a lamp filament being heated, the light source itself produces much less heat. Fluorescent lights transmit more blue wavelengths than incandescent light, so they have a slightly different tinge.
Continuous Light
Though the intensity of an incandescent light is not the same across the entire visible spectrum (400 to 700 nm), its transition between wavelengths is smooth with no sudden spikes in intensity. Thus, incandescent lights are a continuous source of light like the sun or a campfire, which is why they may appear to more closely mimic natural light.
Noncontinuous
A fluorescent light, however, has sudden spikes in intensity between wavelengths on the visible spectrum because it produces light differently than an incandescent light. The inside of a fluorescent light tube is coated with a substance that transmits light from a charged gas in such a way that renders its appearance more similar to that of a continuous light source. Though a fluorescent light source produces light that is less similar to natural light than that of an incandescent light, it consumes less electricity to produce the same amount of light.
Fonte: AQUI
ECO-FRIENDLY LIGHT BULBS MAY PUT HEALTH AT RISK
Every time you turn on the lights, you may be putting yourself at risk, according to a disturbing new study.
Energy efficient bulbs are eco-friendly and can save you big bucks, but experts say that some could also have a dark side.
“When there is something in your house, you don’t perceive any danger, you wouldn’t get that close to an x-ray in a doctor’s office,” explained Miriam Rafailovich, Professor of Materials Science at Stony Brook University in New York.
Money saving, compact fluorescent light bulbs emit high levels of ultra violet radiation, according to a new study. Research at Long Island’s Stony Brook found that the bulbs emit rays so strong that they can actually burn skin and skin cells.
“The results were that you could actually initiate cell death,” said Marcia Simon, a Professor of Dermatology.
Exposure to the bulbs could lead to premature aging and skin cancer, according to doctors.
“It can also cause skin cancer in the deadliest for, and that’s melanoma,” said Dr. Rebecca Tung.
In every bulb that researchers tested they found that the protective coating around the light creating ‘phosphor’ was cracked, allowing dangerous ultraviolet rays to escape.
Homeowners expressed concern over the effect that the bulbs could have on children.
“That’s very unfortunate because the kids are getting exposed to so many different things at a younger age,” said Vicky Cobb.
As the federal government phases out the old incandescent bulbs in favor of more efficient bulbs like compact fluorescents, CFCs are among the choices of which bulb they use.
“Now that you’re telling me there’s a health risk, I really don’t think it’s fair that they would not sell the other kind of light bulbs,” said Cobb.
The compact fluorescent industry claims that the bulbs are safe, but admitted that they emit ultraviolet rays. The industry released a statement that said “the levels of UV radiation emitted are acceptably low,” and that they are safe under normal use.
Stony Brook researches advised that customers exercise caution and stay two feet away from the bulbs at all times, while storing them in an overhead fixture or lamp.
Fonte: AQUI
DR. RICHARD HANSLER - LOW BLUE LIGHTS
It’s time to get your circadian rhythm back on beat. Exploring health and ancestral living has led It’s Rainmaking Time!® to a greater understanding of the role of light in the body’s cycles, energy patterns, and overall health. Physicist Dr. Richard Hansler – the author of Great Sleep! Reduced Cancer! and Heroes of Cancer Prevention Research – details the effect of artificial light on hormone production and sleeping patterns. In this enlightening segment, Dr. Richard Hansler explains how blue light disrupts the production of melatonin in the pineal gland, making it difficult to fall asleep. We will discuss various lighting solutions and products that support natural melatonin production, the details of Dr. Richard Hansler’s illustrious history as a senior scientist at GE’s Nela Park lighting laboratory and his post-GE career as the founder of Lighting Innovations Institute and co-founder of Low Blue Lights, an online retailer of advanced lighting products.
Listen to the audio: HERE
