Would using candles instead of electrical lighting be more beneficial to the environment?

Question

Would using candles instead of electrical lighting be more beneficial to the environment?

Answer 1

It depends on what is your source of electrical light. You don`t JUST have to use fossil fuels which are the almost the most contaminating and are nonrenewable.

Candle light is very ineffective and imagine how many candles you would need to light a house and how many people need light! That might end up starting a few fires!

You have to even everything out. You can`t go to the extreme and not use electrical light and always use candles, but we do need to start looking for other ways of getting electricity.

Answer 2

I have no hard data, but I would guess worse.  Candle wax is derived from crude oil so to make candles you need to extract the wax from all that oil.  Then there is the production, which is pretty energy intensive (I'm on a co-op making candles right now), but I think that production of lightbulbs would be just as intensive, so we'll cancel these out.  Numerous candles would be needed to match the lighting power of a light bulb and each of these candles while burning would put out quite a significant amount of carbon dioxide.  Consider that power for the lightbulb is not purely derived from fossil fuels.  A significant amount of power in North American grids comes from hydroelectric and nuclear power which are relatively safe for the environment.

So just use a candle for the ambience or the good smells, not because it may be more efficient than a lightbulb.  Because it won't be, especially if you're using a CFC bulb.

Answer 3

Er, no. The smoke pollution would cause serious damage to people's health and the number of deaths in fire would be horrendous.

Answer 4

Yeah, but do you want to wear specs all your life?

Answer 5

no .because i think that candles may be derived from petroleum products,or maybe whales which could be worse

Answer 6

No.  Electric lights are much for efficient at producing light per unit energy.

Answer 7

No. Candles make less light per unit of pollution than an electric light.

Answer 8

Heck they won't even us use candles in church anymore.. its all oil based lamps.. which I think are more dangerous than any candle wax!!!

There is also a big push in CA to ban fireplaces.. and they are getting their way in a lot of counties!

Answer 9

yeah until u full asleep and burn your house down

Answer 10

Oh yes, very romantic too!  I used to love power cuts just so we could use candles!

Answer 11

Candles are dim and are made from petroleum. Why do you think we did away with them for principle light.

Answer 12

"A candle typically produces about 13 lumens of visible light and 40 watts of heat, although this can vary depending primarily on the characteristics of the candle wick. For comparison, note that a 40 watt incandescent light bulb produces approximately 500 lumens for the same amount of power"

wikipedia

Answer 13

no, candles are a very inefficient way of generating light.

a candle generates more heat than it does light. (makes sense since its fire) on top of that, candlewax does not burn enviromentfriendly.

id say stick to a TL-light powered by watergenerated electricity.

Answer 14

Well, power generation and transportation is probably

less efficient than burning the thing on the spot to get

light.

On the other hand, one can readily imagine generating

light without much of a carbon imprint (wind, solar,

nuclear) in which case, per lumen, the candle would

be worse.

All that being said, going back to candles, or even

gas, would be a huge step backwards for the economy

and how business currently happens.

Most any other alternative would be preferable.