Reply to: 100w light bulbs

[TimberWolf]

Nice to be 'green' in theory, however when you know that you are just being manipulated by 2-jag driving lying coonts you start to think differently.

I think we should start shunning all the emotive green bollox and start aiming for efficiency in everything. Like good code, less is more. I will only start changing my light bulbs when LED technology is prevelant. Some of the new LED bike lights are very impressive in tems of brightness and power consumption.

Aren't energy efficient bulbs highly toxic as well?

LEDs are improving all the time and are about on par with florescent light bulbs in terms of efficiency (about 10%, compared to incandescents on about 2.5%, a candle 0.04%, quantum dot 60%), but have drawbacks, such as price, not covering the full 2 pi steradians and colour balance. They are expected to be more efficient than fluorescents in the near future (if not already at the high-end). They last a long time, fail slowly and are rugged.

[expat]

Nice to be 'green' in theory, however when you know that you are just being manipulated by 2-jag driving lying coonts you start to think differently.

I think we should start shunning all the emotive green bollox and start aiming for efficiency in everything. Like good code, less is more. I will only start changing my light bulbs when LED technology is prevelant. Some of the new LED bike lights are very impressive in tems of brightness and power consumption.

Aren't energy efficient bulbs highly toxic as well?

Oh yes, you can't just throw them in the bin. The fluorescent coating is full of heavy metals. You have to take them to a special recycling point.

And if you break one, Defra says you should:

Vacate the room and ventilate it for at least 15 minutes. Do not use a vacuum cleaner, but clean up using rubber gloves and aim to avoid creating and inhaling airborne dust. Sweep up all particles and glass fragments and place in a plastic bag. Wipe the area with a damp cloth, then add that to the bag and seal it. Mercury is hazardous and the bag should not be disposed of in the bin.

[Shimano105]

Nice to be 'green' in theory, however when you know that you are just being manipulated by 2-jag driving lying coonts you start to think differently.

I think we should start shunning all the emotive green bollox and start aiming for efficiency in everything. Like good code, less is more. I will only start changing my light bulbs when LED technology is prevelant. Some of the new LED bike lights are very impressive in tems of brightness and power consumption.

Aren't energy efficient bulbs highly toxic as well?

[Stan.goodvibes]

We can feed, clothe and house everyone in the world right now if we wanted to, but we don't. The planet could probably support a lot more people if we all worked together for the common good, but we won't.

The assumption that we are intelligent mammals making quality decisions about our resources etc is entirely false.

As Agent Smith pointed out to Morpheus - we act like a virus. Our entire society is based on continual consumption - when we consume more we call that 'economic growth'. History shows that when two or more societies want the same recources, they typically go to war over it.

Remember those nagging thoughts you probably had over the last few years that property prices couldn't just keep on rising like this forever, but somehow you must be wrong because everyone else seemed to think it was normal? And now you've been proven right?

The same will happen with that nagging thought that surely we can't just keep on going consuming the way we currently do...

[TimberWolf]

The population the world could support depends on available energy. Currently it is heavily subsidised by fossil fuels (for fertiliser, transport, etc) and our rate of consumption of these is growing exponentially, and new finds getting smaller but meeting current demand. Some people speculate that this situation will change in the very near future though, and places like the UK are already dependent on the rest of the world for energy.

If we had abundant energy, food can be made (inefficiently) with plants growing in 3 dimensions (e.g. hydroponics and powerful lights) instead of the regular 2 (on land).

Does anyone know of any chemical process that has been developed that can create food from raw materials such as air and water? Plants and animals (including bacteria) can do obviously, but can man do it yet, even if only to create basic sugars or carbohydrates?

[d000hg]

Well better brains than mine put the number somewhere in the low 1-2 billion.

I'm pretty sure that those who make this their life's work still can't agree and the number varies between 1 & 20 billion depending who you ask.
It also depends if we're assuming nothing else changes... meat is far less efficient in terms of people fed per acre for instance.

[ctdctd]

Can't keep doing it forever.

It's OK - we use everything up, we die, evolution starts again. Human 2.0 anyone? (Zeity and the Dr Who mob excepted)

Where's the blow up world smiley?

[Stan.goodvibes]

Exactly how many people have your detailed calculations revealed the planet can support then?

Well better brains than mine put the number somewhere in the low 1-2 billion. Considering the pretty well researched figures that hilight the fact that if everyone on the planet lived the way we do we'd need over 3 planets worth of resources, that sounds about right.

In an interesting parallel to the credit crunch, we are living well beyond our means in terms of enviromental resources - I have seen quite a few articles hilighting this issue recently. Can't keep doing it forever.

[tim123]

Can you get dimmable energy saving bulbs?

?

Why would you need to dim energy saving bulbs, aren't they dim enough already?

tim

[Diver]

Get a carbon arc lamp. plenty of light and you can get a tan too

[Peoplesoft bloke]

There's no reason they can't be powerful enough, but I thought all new cars had LEDs now not just expensive ones? Maybe I have some kind of halogens but the bulb certainly looks unlike a normal incandescent one in my Yaris.

Lots of cars have LED tail lights and indicators - are you thinking of HID (AKA xenon) headlights? Only a very few production cars have LED headlights.

[d000hg]

Power isn't an issue with an alternator and LED's aren't powerful enough for the main beam, they'd look more at home on a modified saxo if you ask me.

There's no reason they can't be powerful enough, but I thought all new cars had LEDs now not just expensive ones? Maybe I have some kind of halogens but the bulb certainly looks unlike a normal incandescent one in my Yaris.

[gingerjedi]

And by the way, LED car headlights use less power and also should not need replacing hardly at all, which I like because they never seem as easy to replace as they should be in any car I've tried. I think they also cast less glare to the side than normal lights although that could be more about the assembly they are fitted into.

Power isn't an issue with an alternator and LED's aren't powerful enough for the main beam, they'd look more at home on a modified saxo if you ask me.

I wonder if you can get different colours and make them flash in pretty patterns like my Christmas tree lights?

[PAH]

Maybe we should convert all of those unused coal mines to ground source heat pumps.

Good idea, set fire to them!

[d000hg]

There.Are.Too.Many.People.

Exactly how many people have your detailed calculations revealed the planet can support then?


I'm a bit worried, this is the first thread I ever read where AtW doesn't sound like an escaped lunatic.

I'm all for low-energy lights, as long as they are not the ones which take 5min to 'warm up'. I think this is where the difference is between cheap & expensive ones?
LEDs could be pretty cool if the technology properly matures, I imagine they last practically forever even compared with standard low-energy bulbs.

And by the way, LED car headlights use less power and also should not need replacing hardly at all, which I like because they never seem as easy to replace as they should be in any car I've tried. I think they also cast less glare to the side than normal lights although that could be more about the assembly they are fitted into.