Luminescence is a source of “cool light” that does not require heat in order to emit light. What results in this kind of light is the movement of electrons from a high-energy state to a low energy state. There are three major types of luminescence and they are: chemiluminescence, electroluminescence, and triboluminescence. Out of these three types, the only one that would power New York to the extent that it does today is electroluminescence.
Chemiluminescence, result in photons of light and another product. These products are often not biodegradable and often then not there is not a useful way to utilize the products. This energy is obtained from a chemical reaction. Some disadvantages of chemiluminescence include a low luminosity as well as a low frequency of light. New York is known for its bright lights, chemiluminescence on the other hand would not produce enough light to keep the city as bright as it currently is. Bioluminescent, as many have argued, is said to be sustainable but it would require the extraction of light from a fairly large amount of animals to power a city. For the future engineers would like to use bioluminescence for lining trees with light to align the highways, to power Christmas trees, to have plants illuminate when they need water and to detect bacteria. Bioluminescence is very cheap and efficient at smaller scales, but in order to power a city you need a LOT more energy then the light that these animals may provide and to a larger scale.
Electroluminescence is light obtained from electrical currents or from a strong electrical field. The most common use of electroluminescence is for light and informal displays such as smart boards. A common example of electroluminescence is LED lighting. The big disadvantage of electroluminescence is that it requires little current but a lot of voltage, (somewhere between 60-600 watts). The primary disadvantage to this is that only certain metals can handle this much voltage but such a city. The only reason this matters is because it is dangerous but if we find a way to protect humans from the source, then it should not be a problem.
Triboluminescence, on the other hand is still in its development. Not much is known about triboluminescence and how and why it creates light so it is not a commonly used form of light. Light with triboluminescence is generated when chemical bonds are broken through contact of certain materials. An example of triboluminescence is when we crush sugar crystals or pull adhesive tape. The fact that it is still in theory proves that it is not ready to power a city yet.
Personally, I think that electroluminescence is the way to go. It is extremely efficient to power a city such as New York. LED lights are becoming more and more common because they are energy efficient and will save the city money in the long run. Electroluminescence is the only luminescence mentioned that would truly provide uniform illumination to the city at a larger scale. It also has a high resistance to fluctuation in temperatures, which is very useful in New York where the temperature is constantly changing.
3 comments:
Hi Grace, I really like your post. The one thing that caught my was using luminescence to light Christmas trees. I thought that was a great point because it would save so much energy considering how much we light up Christmas trees.
Grace, I like how you have an explanation of every other type of luminescence in addition to electroluminescent because by showing their flaws it strengthens your view that electroluminescence is the best. However, I disagree because as you said electroluminescence is dangerous.
Hey Grace, I thought your post brought up good points about how you thought each type of luminescence wasn't as good as electroluminescence , but I think bioluminescence would be a better choice because electroluminescence costs more and uses more energy than electroluminescence does.
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