News alert: Advice for Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs - Shade the

13th of October 2008 - 12:57 PM

While great for the environment, compact fluorescent globes need to be used properly, and experts recommend shading them or keeping them at least 30 cms away.

New research by the Health Protection Agency has shown that some
energy saving compact fluorescent lights can emit ultraviolet radiation
at levels that, under certain conditions of use, can result in
exposures higher than guideline levels.

"This is precautionary advice and people should not be thinking of
removing these energy saving light bulbs from their homes," says HPA
Chief Executive, Justin McCracken. We are advising people to avoid
using the open light bulbs for prolonged close work until the problem
is sorted out and to use encapsulated bulbs instead. In other
situations where people are not likely to be very close to the bulbs
for any length of time, all types of compact fluorescent light bulbs
are safe to use."

The Agency's view is that open (single envelope) CFLs shown in Fig.
1 should not be used where people are in close proximity - closer than
30 cm or 1 ft - to the bare light bulb for over 1 hour a day. The
Agency advises that for such situations open CFLs should be replaced by
the encapsulated (double envelope) type shown in Fig. 2. Alternatively,
the lamp should be moved so that it is at least 30 cm or 1 ft away.

Fig. 1. Typical designs of open (single envelope) fluorescent light bulbs for which HPA precautionary advice applies. They
should not be used where people are likely to be in very close
proximity (less than 30 cm / 1 ft) to bulbs for prolonged periods (more
than 1 hr a day).

Fig. 2. A typical design of an encapsulated (double envelope)
compact fluorescent light bulb for which precautionary measures are not
needed. Ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by the outer glass container. They can be used anywhere in the home.

Not all open (single envelope) fluorescent light bulbs have
significant UVR emissions but if people are in very close proximity to
some of them, the exposure to bare skin is like being outside in direct
sunlight. For example, Agency scientists found that when very close (2
cm, less than 1 inch) to some open CFLs, the UVR level can be
equivalent to that experienced outside in the UK on a sunny day in the
summer and so some precaution is warranted. When further away (over 30
cm or 1 ft), the UVR level is much lower and less than being outside on
a sunny day in winter, which is not a concern.

Encapsulated (double envelope) compact fluorescent light bulbs
(see Fig. 2), which look similar to traditional domestic light bulbs,
do not emit significant amounts of UVR. The larger long tube "strip
lighting" design fluorescent lights, commonly used in offices,
workplaces and homes for many years, can also be used on ceilings
without any special precautionary measures.

Compact fluorescent bulbs are a great technology and important
to a more climate friendly future. Aneco Solutions has a large range of encapsulated CFL's available, see our Products page for more information.