From GE's website: http://www.gelighting.com/na/business_lighting/faqs/cfl.htm#8
8. Do light bulbs (such as fluorescent and compact fluorescent bulbs) give off hazardous amounts of ultraviolet (UV) light?
Regular fluorescent light bulbs used in your home and office do not produce a hazardous amount of ultraviolet light (UV). Most light sources, including fluorescent bulbs, emit a small amount of UV, but the UV produced by fluorescent light bulbs is far less than the amount produced by natural daylight. (Ultraviolet light rays are the light wavelengths that can cause sunburn and skin damage.) [THIS MEANS THAT THEY PRODUCE ROUGHLY THE SAME AMOUNT OF UV AS REGULAR FLUORESCENT BULBS, ADJUSTED FOR THE DIFFERENT WATTAGES. Unfortunately, sleeves do not exist for CFL bulbs as they do for straight tubes. The heat is significantly less than incandescent bulbs of equal light output. MAW]
Your safety is important to us. That's why, for all of our light bulbs designed for general public use, we strive to minimize the amount of UV light emitted.
If you're looking for a low-UV bulb for an especially sensitive area, try our Saf-T-GardŽ bulbs. They block most ultraviolet light emissions, and they're also shatter-resistant.
From the web site: http://www.knoxviews.com/node/4493
One thing that is not talked about much is that CFLs emit more ultraviolet (UV) light than an incandescent bulb, which produces virtually none. Light in a CFL starts out as UV from excited gases, and is made visible by phosphors coating the inside of the tube/bulb. Incandescent light is mostly infrared emitted by heating the filament to super high temperatures (leading some to call them "heat bulbs" instead of "light bulbs"). Most of the UV from a CFL is filtered out in the conversion, but there is still some.
Manufacturers say, however, that there is no health risk and that eight hours of exposure to CFL UV is about the same as one minute in full sunlight. But, photographs, artwork, some fabrics, and some photoreactive chemicals used in furniture finishes are susceptible to degradation from any increased levels of UV over time. So this is something to consider. [1 minute of full sunlight is something like 80,000 lux, compared to 500 lux+/- for a CFL, so this is not apples to apples. Extrapolated to the same light exposure, this would be something like 3 hours of sunlight at the intensity of a CFL. MAW]
This is a web page of spectra of different bulbs: http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/spectra7.htm
[Anything at or below 400 nm is considered UV. Light just above 400 nm is violet and is very high energy, so it is not ideal, but may be somewhat necessary to create a cooler, "daylight" appearance. MAW]
Marc
American Conservation Consortium, Ltd.
4 Rockville Road
Broad Brook, CT 06016
www.conservator.com
860-386-6058
*Collections Preservation Consultation
*Conservation Assessments & Surveys
*Environmental Monitoring & Low-Tech Control
*Moisture Management Solutions
*Collections in Historic Structures
*Collections Care Grant Preparation
*Conservation Treatment of:
Furniture
Painted Wood
Horse-Drawn Vehicles
Architectural Interiors
Marc A. Williams, President
MS in Art Conservation, Winterthur Museum Program
Former Chief Wooden Object Conservator, Smithsonian Institution
Fellow, American Institute for Conservation (AIC)
----- Original Message -----
From: Carol Chamberlain
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 4:19 PM
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] CFL bulbs
Does anyone have experience using compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs in a museum setting? How much heat do they give off? How about ultraviolet light? We are a state agency that oversees 27 historic sites including historic houses and other historic buildings as well as visitors' centers with offices etc. I hear that CFLs are cost effective, but I have the other questions.
Thanks,
Carol Hunt Chamberlain
Chief, Curation and Collection Management Branch
Division of State Historic Sites & Properties
Mailing Address: 4620 MSC, Raleigh NC 27699-4620
Street Address: 430 N Salisbury St, Raleigh NC 27604
919-733-7862 ext 249 FAX: 919-733-9515
[log in to unmask]
My opinions may not be those of my Agency. Email to and from me, in connection with the transaction of public business, is subject to the N.C. Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
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