The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Energy => Topic started by: mystery-ak on April 26, 2022, 07:56:33 pm
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Incandescent light bulbs being phased out to save energy
By MATTHEW DALYan hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is scrapping old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs, speeding an ongoing trend toward more efficient lighting that officials say will save households, schools and businesses billions of dollars a year.
Rules finalized by the Energy Department will require manufacturers to sell energy-efficient light bulbs, accelerating a longtime industry practice to use compact fluorescent and LED bulbs that last 25 to 50 times longer than incandescent bulbs. The Trump administration had slowed an earlier phaseout of incandescents, saying it was targeting rules that burden businesses.
Once the new rules are fully in place next year, consumers should save nearly $3 billion per year on their utility bills, the Energy Department said. The rules are projected to cut planet-warming carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons over the next 30 years, an amount equivalent to emissions generated by 28 million homes in one year, officials said.
“By raising energy efficiency standards for lightbulbs, we’re putting $3 billion back in the pockets of American consumers every year and substantially reducing domestic carbon emissions,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement Tuesday. “The lighting industry is already embracing more energy efficient products, and this measure will accelerate progress to deliver the best products to American consumers and build a better and brighter future.”
more
https://apnews.com/article/business-environment-3b67bbd3c37886459d07d5aad7c03984
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In practice, these boondoggles don't last anywheres near as long as claimed, but they are certainly pricey.
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Where in reality... Everywhere those incandescent bulbs are used for heat in the north, they will have to be replaced with more energy consuming heaters - Forcing expensive overkill.
And don't think that is some small concern.
My crawl space has a string of lights - 100w incandescent bulbs which supply, well... light, when I need to go down there. But there is a secondary purpose - When it is 10 below or more, I turn those bulbs on, and they supply just enough distributed heat to keep my pipes from freezing.
The old well, down at the ranch, is always kept from freezing by a single bulb... all winter long.
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Fluorescent bulbs contain mercury and are hazardous to dispose.
I have personally chosen LED bulbs to save on my electric bill.
I should be able to make my own decisions about how I want to save money.
I don't need Big Government making my decisions for me.
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Where in reality... Everywhere those incandescent bulbs are used for heat in the north, they will have to be replaced with more energy consuming heaters - Forcing expensive overkill.
And don't think that is some small concern.
My crawl space has a string of lights - 100w incandescent bulbs which supply, well... light, when I need to go down there. But there is a secondary purpose - When it is 10 below or more, I turn those bulbs on, and they supply just enough distributed heat to keep my pipes from freezing.
The old well, down at the ranch, is always kept from freezing by a single bulb... all winter long.
I thought about installing lights under the house. But decided against it. The warmth would attract mice...and snakes. That would NOT entice a plumber to help me out. :laugh:
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Eff it. I'm going back to oil lamps and candles.
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I thought about installing lights under the house. But decided against it. The warmth would attract mice...and snakes. That would NOT entice a plumber to help me out. :laugh:
That's why they are only used when it is well below zero. Mice ain't moving at that temp... they are holed up in their burrows.
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That's why they are only used when it is well below zero. Mice ain't moving at that temp... they are holed up in their burrows.
It doesn't get below zero very often, thank you Lord. But the mice around here don't burrow. They just seek out heat. And you know what follows mice.
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It doesn't get below zero very often, thank you Lord. But the mice around here don't burrow. They just seek out heat. And you know what follows mice.
Yeah... That's not a thing up here either... All we have is garter snakes. In fact, nothing venomous at all except hobo spiders... Which really ain't likely. But garter snakes can be a bother... Had a house once where they had a den right next to the foundation. One spring, hundreds of them invaded the basement through a crack... It was crazy. Of course, all of it was just snakes waking up and seeking any way out of their den, on their way to the surface...
But it was a thing.
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I'd like a state to pick a fight here and have a company make and sell bulbs solely within a state and see how that can hold up in court.
Like so many things, absolutely no prerogative of the feds to control this.
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Where in reality... Everywhere those incandescent bulbs are used for heat in the north, they will have to be replaced with more energy consuming heaters - Forcing expensive overkill.
And don't think that is some small concern.
My crawl space has a string of lights - 100w incandescent bulbs which supply, well... light, when I need to go down there. But there is a secondary purpose - When it is 10 below or more, I turn those bulbs on, and they supply just enough distributed heat to keep my pipes from freezing.
The old well, down at the ranch, is always kept from freezing by a single bulb... all winter long.
Yep. I recall writing a congresscritter about the whole fallacy of wasted heat from an incandescent bulb.
At the height of winter here, subzero temperatures are common outside, and we have 8 hours of daylight and 16 hours of darkness. Needless to say, as a general rule, after sunset it gets colder out. In those rooms where artificial light is used (where people are) the little bit of extra heat is welcome. And, as you pointed out, those bulbs can heat anything from doghouses to crawlspaces and pump houses to engine compartments...By contrast, LED's are slow to light up in the cold and useless as a heat source. Which leaves 150W heat lamps...when a 60, 75, or 100 W bulb would have done the trick.
In midsummer, we have 16 hours of daylight, and only eight of darkness, so the lights tend to not be used much, and the heat they might have generated isn't a problem. It's hard enough getting the kids to bed when it is still light out at 10PM...You don't save any energy over something you don't use.
I like the warmth of incandescent lighting over the harsh light of LEDs, too.
It's just another "one size fits all" solution for a problem that hasn't been proven to exist.
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Yeah... That's not a thing up here either... All we have is garter snakes. In fact, nothing venomous at all except hobo spiders... Which really ain't likely. But garter snakes can be a bother... Had a house once where they had a den right next to the foundation. One spring, hundreds of them invaded the basement through a crack... It was crazy. Of course, all of it was just snakes waking up and seeking any way out of their den, on their way to the surface...
But it was a thing.
Why do I get a flash of a scene from one of the Indiana Jones flicks? I bet that was a hoot.
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Yep. I recall writing a congresscritter about the whole fallacy of wasted heat from an incandescent bulb.
At the height of winter here, subzero temperatures are common outside, and we have 8 hours of daylight and 16 hours of darkness. Needless to say, as a general rule, after sunset it gets colder out. In those rooms where artificial light is used (where people are) the little bit of extra heat is welcome. And, as you pointed out, those bulbs can heat anything from doghouses to crawlspaces and pump houses to engine compartments...By contrast, LED's are slow to light up in the cold and useless as a heat source. Which leaves 150W heat lamps...when a 60, 75, or 100 W bulb would have done the trick.
In midsummer, we have 16 hours of daylight, and only eight of darkness, so the lights tend to not be used much, and the heat they might have generated isn't a problem. It's hard enough getting the kids to bed when it is still light out at 10PM...You don't save any energy over something you don't use.
I like the warmth of incandescent lighting over the harsh light of LEDs, too.
It's just another "one size fits all" solution for a problem that hasn't been proven to exist.
ALL TRUE.
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Why do I get a flash of a scene from one of the Indiana Jones flicks? I bet that was a hoot.
Heh... Just exactly like that...
It all started with a bloodcurdling scream from my wife and me startled awake in full-on Hulk mode.
Kinda anti-climactic when I blew through the basement door ready to smash... Hard to translate that into something effective against a hundred little snakes... :laugh:
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Heh... Just exactly like that...
It all started with a bloodcurdling scream from my wife and me startled awake in full-on Hulk mode.
Kinda anti-climactic when I blew through the basement door ready to smash... Hard to translate that into something effective against a hundred little snakes... :laugh:
Just bag 'em up and relocate to the outbuildings...and anywhere else mice might be a problem...
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Just bag 'em up and relocate to the outbuildings...and anywhere else mice might be a problem...
That's all that happened. All they wanted was to get outside anyhow... The real problem was finding and destroying the den... because they will certainly come back to it come fall. so long as they are in reach of it.
The place was on a side hill, and I could not get machinery to the foundation, so I had to hand-dig it, which was a bother. Took about a month in my spare time... But I exposed that side, found the den, fixed the crack, tarred the wall, and tamped it all back in before the fall.
Wish I had Hulk mode for all that. :whistle: