Fluorescent lighting technology in Hong Kong
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Fluorescent lighting technology in Hong Kong
Lighting technology has proven to be a vital entrepreneurial and economical complement through the extension of working hours by bridging the gap between day and night. Fast-growing economies during the 19th century, such as London, employed lighting to increase working hours in their factories and safety of their roads (cite). Hong Kong had undergone a myriad of lighting inventions from the gas-lit streets in 1864 by the Towngas Company to the incorporation of the safer fluorescent lighting technology in homes in 1938 (cite). This paper will delve into how Hong Kong has used fluorescent lighting, the improvements made to the technology and its preference to formerly used lighting inventions.
The conception and idealization of fluorescent lighting technology in 1938 was an improvement to antique lighting technologies; fire, candles, Argnand and pressure mantle lamps used for lighting in homes up until 1910 (cite). In the era where gas was used for lighting streets, major roads and trunk roads to avoid accidents, the avid need to light households was conceived to provide quality light suitable for the eyes (cite). The early nineteenth century was characterized by the continuance of the industrial revolution aimed at improving the quality of human life through conducting research, formulating hypotheses, and implementation of the best possible solutions (cite). Institution of the fluorescent lighting technology enabled scientists, entrepreneurs and researchers to continue their work late in the night under favourable conditions of the eye-friendly lighting technology.
The fluorescent lighting technology immediately gained ground over pre-dominantly used technologies due to its eye safety. For instance, the use of paraffin wax candles in the 1860s and lamps during the early twentieth century quickly became unsuitable due to the health-related problems posed by the emission of the colourless, odourless and poisonous Carbon (II) Oxide gas (cite). The fluorescent lighting technology was gratefully accepted in Hong Kong to replace the previously used discharge lamps for lighting homes, warehouses, and offices since the lamps’ operation were dependent on the use of the hazardous mercury and sodium vapour (cite). Fluorescent lighting technology dominated the Hong Kong market as the best lighting solution based on visual safety and reduction of fires caused by toppled candles and broken lamps (cite). The fluorescent lighting technology brought forth the use of different fluorescent tubes that were compatible with different voltages and their advancement to the more economical compact fluorescent lamps (cite). However, the technology has been faced with lumen depreciation after long lighting hours and environmental degradation due to the inadequate and improper disposal methods of used fluorescent bulbs and lamps.