After discussions on energy use the next major environmental problem for lighting is Mercury.

The Mercury issue is not going away. Although the Mercury lobby say only 3% of European Mercury is in lamps this is due to the massive quantity still in use or storage by the Chlor Alkali process. They are not really picking up that the 3% is not static. There is a flow of new Mercury into Europe from Chinese lamp Manufacture and there is no reciprocal flow back to China of recycled Mercury due to the export ban. Mercury is increasingly being sequestered as contaminated waste in Salt Mines in Eastern Europe!The result is increasing loss of materials from lampss. LEDs are far from the only alternative.

The Fusion Sulpher Plasma lamp technology from the mid 1990s was basically sound. Many of their lamps went to Sweden and remain in use. Their problem was the Magnetron. They were using commercially available units intended for domestic microwave ovens. . Many lamps were used in Sweden to drive light pipe installations in cold stores and also part of the Swedish Post Office sorting facilities where they needed to avoid stopping machinery for lamp replacement. The Swedish lamps have been upgraded to better magnetrons and there is a home grown cottage industry providing maintenance and replacements for these. As these systems are approaching 20 years in service I think this does show that this technology is good. As far as I understand LG, who have bought and developed this lamp, have come up with a more efficient more solid state magnetron designed specifically for these systems resolving the life and maintenance issues and I believe they are using Sulpher Plasma lamp systems for their own factories and distribution buildings.

We need to look very seriously at these and other induction lamps for the future.  Induction lighting can be achieved without the necessity for Mercury in the lamp, not just for the sulpher lamp. Mercury is needed to allow electron flow to establish electrical gas discharge so will be required indefinitely unless we move to discharges generated by radio, microwave or other technologies that no longer require electricity to be directed through gasses!

Kevan Shaw 8-7-10