Transportation & Energy...

So we all know that old fashion incandescent bulbs are wasteful. What we might not realize is how they are wasteful. Have you ever looked into a toaster? You will see little glowing red lines, these glowing heaters work on the same principle that electric stoves do. Push electricity through a metal wire, the wire heats up, and you get toast. You can see the wires in the toaster because if you heat them up enough they glow a dull red.

Incandescent bulbs work on this same principle. The little tungsten wire in the bulb heats up so much that it doesn’t just glow red, but a vibrant white. The problem being that most of the energy you put into an incandescent bulb goes towards producing heat (something like 80%) and only a little bit ends up as light. Incandescent bulbs are basically really bright toasters. CFL’s on the other hand make more light with less because they use a different method to produce light. They use a florescent gas that glows bright (and cool) when electricity is passed through it. That is why CFL’s don’t heat up, and use so much less energy.