The Infinite Lightbulb

June 22nd, 2007 Alex

The invention of the lightbulb was such a great breakthrough, that we have been using pretty much the same design of the original light bulb. An interesting fact is that Thomas Edison didn’t really invent the first electric light bulb, but instead invented the first commercially practical incandescent light. In 1802, Humpry Davy invented the first incandescent light and Sir Joseph Wilson Swan produced the first experiemental light bulb in 1860 and successfully demonstrated the first incandescent light bulb in 1878. The problem with the incandescent light bulb however, is that it is very inefficient as they actually waste 95% of the energy producing heat instead of light. The lifespan of the light bulb is also relatively short as the electrodes in a light bulb eventually wear out after use. An independently owned high-tech company in Britain called Ceravision has designed a lamp that eliminates the need for electrodes and uses microwaves to produce light. The same microwaves used in a microwave oven are used to create an electrical field from a piece of aluminum oxide. Details of the technology are here.  This lamp is cheap to make, energy efficiency greater than 50% as opposed to 5% for traditional light bulbs, has no mercury, and can last for decades.

via Treehugger

Entry Filed under: Green Tech