Our future needs replacing. During this semester-long project focusing on the viability of our future planet, I researched the common Sylvania 60 watt LED bulb. I took the fundamentals of current lighting and created a bulb that is not only made out of eco-innovative materials but something that lasts the entire life of the home by only replacing the key elements that produce light: the LED diodes.
The Everlight bulb contributes a total of .55 kg CO(2) eq into the atmosphere compared to the Sylvania bulb contributing a total of 3.56 kg CO(2) eq into the atmosphere!
| Logistics and Sketches |
| Lifecycle Analysis |
| Systems Map |
Further Information
When a common light bulb burns out, the entire bulb becomes ultimately useless and needs to be then thrown away or recycled (the cost of recycling the bulb costs more than to create it). With the Everlight bulb, when your bulb burns out, simply remove the diffusor done and pull out the bi-prong LED unit that is burnt out, and easily replace it with a new one. This dramatically cuts down on waste and production of virgin plastics and allows for the housing unit to be continuously used. The design of this bulb allows for the user to be able to grab onto the diffuser dome from any angle to remove and replace it.
Along with the Everlight design comes a potential partnership with a great eco-aware community called Precious Plastic (preciousplastic.com). Becoming a part of their family could allow for the community’s plastic waste to be given a second life by creating the light bulb housing. This allows for a more economical and resilient circle of use that reduces pollution and reuses plastic for a second life. With the processes that Precious Plastic has explored, the variety of colors and designs is almost limitless! Because the Everlight would use recycled plastic through injection molding or other means, future shapes of the bulb could cater to all different use cases and light fixtures.
