Abstract
The compact florescent lamp (CFL) is becoming an increasingly popular light source for households replacing the commonly used incandescent lamps. CFLs have advantages and disadvantages; among those advantages are cost savings, energy reduction, increased efficacy, and longer life expectancy. Appearance, poor power factor and harmonic impact on distribution systems are some of their disadvantages. This paper discusses the various application issues related to the CFL’s.
I. INTRODUCTION
The compact fluorescent lamp (or CFL) is being used more and more in the residential homes. Advertised as an energy efficient lighting solution and driven by the climate change and environmental issues, many households have begun phasing out their incandescent lamps and replacing them with a twisted, tubular, opaque lamp called a CFL. Governments are helping the growth of this new technology and the new energy bill of 2005 and 2007 will phase out most of the common incandescent lamps used today and replace them with energy efficient CFLs. This efficiency comes at a cost on power quality. The CFL electronic ballast creates significant harmonic distortion that lead to power quality issues in distribution systems. This paper compares the CFL and the incandescent lamp and discusses the CFL in terms of its efficiency, cost savings, harmonic distortion, the impact of government regulations on lighting, and their impact on power distribution systems.
X. CONCLUSIONS
Compact fluorescent lamps create economic saving for the individual user. While an incandescent lamp may be a more aesthetically pleasing light source, CFLs last longer and are more efficient. Great savings can be achieved when using a CFL over an incandescent lamp over an extended period of time.
Compact fluorescents with internal electronic ballasts create a highly distorted current waveform, typically greater than 100% THD. This distortion has the potential to create issues on overall distribution systems.
