Tube - Light

“Tube light” is an Indian campus slang for a ’slow’ person, the last one to get the joke. The slang is literally based on the fact that the real tube light, doesn’t turn on instantly, it takes a few seconds before the choke kicks in and the light is turned on.

We are soon discovering that the entire mankind suffers from that malaise; we are all tube lights. Which is why even as the planet hurtles down the six-lane highway of self destruction, when precious little can be done to stop the impending climate catastrophe, we sit up and shout ‘Ban the bulb’!! How ‘enlightened’ do you think that is?

For illumination in the dark, the human species made a massive technology leap as it is, from bonfires to the incandescent bulb. That is a few million years between the first discovery of fire and the day Mr. Edison lit his first bulb.

During a Solar Energy seminar and exhibition in Bangalore, I happily noticed that the market forces are ready to shower the requisite attention on the next techno-leap - Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for room illumination. LEDs are semiconductor technology that emits light at the junction of oppositely charged materials when voltage forces electron movement. Electrons’ moving from negative side causes photons to be released when they fill in “holes” on positive side. With a life-span of 100,000 hours, and the recent application of quantum dots on blue LEDs to get the same lumens and light type as an average incandescent bulb, LEDs are set to revolutionize the efficient and long lasting lighting sector.

So, do we take the risk of buying 5 mg of mercury per bulb in the available interim efficient lighting technology, CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lights), the ‘bulb’ version of tubelight ? Or do we direct the market forces and policies towards making LED technology commercially available while we lengthen the life of our old yellow incandescent by switching off ? Wait in the dark?

I have secretly started hoarding battery powered LED lamps of all varieties that are already in the market - torches, headlights, camp lamps, focus lights, so that when that ultimate outage occurs, in the near future, I am ready, unlike the rest of my fellow tube lights.