71–80 of 90 posts
Related: I have noted over the years that incandescents with dimmer switches basically never burn out, and those with normal switches tend to break during the first second of being switched on. That's led me to the following thought: would it be possible to build a bulb with a built-in fade-in, either via bandpass/lowpass filtering or some sort of fading mechanism?
> Of course, given the collective ingenuity of the cartel’s engineers and scientists, it should have been possible to design a lightbulb that was both bright and long-lived. And not energy efficient. The article lightly touches on it, but the physical reality is that the better the electrical efficiency the less time the bulb lasts. It's a tradeoff that has not changed in 100 years. So yes, the cartel did mandate 1,0…
Seems like an important point, but I think it would also be worth to see a comparison of energy saved by end users through increased efficiency, and energy used on additional manufacturing, distribution and sales caused by the need to replace bulbs more often. This is a general point about all "eco" technologies too - a device is not "eco-friendly" if it's total manufacturing and distribution energy costs are higher…
I recall the electricity rate being around 0.08 USD/kWh around here a while back, so 1000h of 100W consumption would cost $8. I don't remember exactly what 100W plain light bulbs cost, but it certainly was a lot less than that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are LEDs aggressive to the eyes even if you manage to get them to have the same colour as ordinary light bulbs?
You mean spectrum - a big difference. "Color" means little or nothing. Very different spectra can have the same "color". I highly recommend reading through this, very educational about how complicated "vision" really is: http://webvision.med.utah.edu/book/part-vii-color-vision/col... It's a long read but well worth it. "Color" is something your brain creates, it's not "physical". Frequencies of light of course are a…
I recognise that two light sources with the same colour, but different spectra, might give different results when reflected off things. Is that what you had in mind?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
100% is a bit of a deceptive claim, since 1) we can exceed 100% with heat pumps, and 2) pretty much _every_ electrical appliance in an enclosed space is 100% efficient at converting energy to heat. 3) For the most part, the electricity being used to power those incandescents is produced with 25-50% efficiency. Burning gas to make heat to run a turbine to produce electricity to transmit it to your home to heat a coil…
Electric heating is a huge red flag - living in the northeast US, that tends to indicate that whoever built the building is not from around here, and perhaps came up from the South, or some other area that does not have real winters. Usually where you find electric heaters, you'll also find wildly insufficient insulation, foundations that aren't up to frost, and any number of other design flaws that bite you in the a…
Of course, I could also have looked for an apartment with gas heating, but the reality is the rent here is low enough that simply offsetting the environmental cost of electric heating with power sourced from wind (which is where almost all of this island's renewable energy comes from) is still a better deal.
It may be worth noting that it gets cool, but not especially cold, here, at least by New England standards. In January the average low is 3C, so still above freezing, and snow is rare, though it does happen.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems like an important point, but I think it would also be worth to see a comparison of energy saved by end users through increased efficiency, and energy used on additional manufacturing, distribution and sales caused by the need to replace bulbs more often. This is a general point about all "eco" technologies too - a device is not "eco-friendly" if it's total manufacturing and distribution energy costs are higher…
Conveniently, the retail price includes the direct expenditures on energy to make and transport the item to the store. I recall the electricity rate being around 0.08 USD/kWh around here a while back, so 1000h of 100W consumption would cost $8. I don't remember exactly what 100W plain light bulbs cost, but it certainly was a lot less than that.
I miss the times when every light fitting was the same (one size, bayonet style). I don't know how many different types and sizes of fittng we have. It's a pain replacing bulbs now. I preferred the light from the old incandescent bulbs too and if they give off a little heat, well living in the temperate zone we need a little heat after dark.
Planned obsolescence would be changing the base on the lamp every few years so that people would have to buy new fixtures when they can't buy replacement bulbs anymore. Author is not using that term correctly. The actually interesting story is about the market failure where customers have no choice but to prefer the thing they can measure (bulb life vs cost) over the more important thing they can't measure (electrici…
> Planned obsolescence would be changing the base on the lamp every few years so that people would have to buy new fixtures when they can't buy replacement bulbs anymore. Have you bought a light fixture recently? That sounds like the new state of affairs. Aided by government regulations that require new lamps not be able to accept older "inefficient" bulbs, there's been an explosion in the variety of sockets. I've co…
If it happens here I'll be extremely sad. CFLs and LEDs have an extremely strong negative effect on mood for me. Fortunately I can still buy halogens, which aren't quite as cozy but suffice.
And it's not something only experts notice. If you have multiple bulbs in the same proximity, one fails, whether replaced under warranty or you just buy a new one with identical color temperature specs, it'll look different from the others.
Recapturing heat loss from incandescent to make them more efficient, maybe even on the order of today's LEDs seems more promising to me than arresting decay rates and/or the hue shift problems.