Land of the free: in shock decision, US allows citizens to choose whatever light globe they want

Incandescent-light-globesIn a rare move for consumers, US citizens will not be forced to buy LED soul-and-body-clock destroying globes next year as was planned. Instead they can frivolously continue to buy incandescent globes if they so choose.

Despite the Democrats best efforts to stop droughts and bushfires with indoor lighting, no US citizen will be denied the chance to save their own money and enjoy a more natural spectrum of lighting in the privacy of their own home.

If you like your sleeping patterns, you can keep them…

BBC

(This was announced in September 2019)

The US is scrapping a ban on energy-inefficient light bulbs which was due to come in at the beginning of 2020.

The rule would have prohibited the sale of bulbs that do not reach a standard of efficiency, and could have seen an end to incandescent bulbs.

Many countries have phased out older bulbs because they waste energy.

But the US energy department said banning incandescent bulbs would be bad for consumers because of the higher cost of more efficient bulbs.

The Department of Energy said it had withdrawn the ban because it was a misinterpretation of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.

Specifically, the law stipulated that restrictions on bulbs could only be implemented when it was economically justified, Shaylyn Hynes, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy, told the New York Times.

Blue light suppresses melatonin, reducing sleep

Harvard Medical School

Effects of blue light and sleep

While light of any kind can suppress the secretion of melatonin, blue light at night does so more powerfully. Harvard researchers and their colleagues conducted an experiment comparing the effects of 6.5 hours of exposure to blue light to exposure to green light of comparable brightness. The blue light suppressed melatonin for about twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian rhythms by twice as much (3 hours vs. 1.5 hours).

Exposure to blue light at night has been associated with breast and prostate cancer. In the latest bizarre news, daily exposure to blue light may accelerate aging, even if it doesn’t reach your eyes (at least if you are a drosophila). OK, it’s just a fly study, but even eyeless flies had some brain damage from being exposed to 12 hours of day of blue light. And who knows what effect LED lighting all night could have on insects and wildlife (but who cares eh? Not the Greens).

BTW For years, I’ve used F.lux to make my screens warm “cave painting” colors after sundown. I like it.

h/t Hanrahan, and belatedly, Pat, and Travis T. Jones.

Photo by Diz Play on Unsplash

 

 

9.5 out of 10 based on 67 ratings

125 comments to Land of the free: in shock decision, US allows citizens to choose whatever light globe they want

  • #
    John

    Silly me, I bought incandescent bulbs in bulk to make some black market profits.

    160

    • #
      Russell

      John, i also have bulk incandescent bulbs but for different reasons. I’d keep them if i was you because there is a lot we aren’t told about LED light. ”

      ”LED lights are making us blind and wreaking havoc on our endocrine systems, peer-reviewed studies show… Leading photobiologist recommends switching back to sunlight, candles and incandescent bulbs”

      https://returntonow.net/2017/11/15/dark-side-led-lighting/

      151

      • #
        WXcycles

        … sunlight, candles and incandescent bulbs …

        The solutions are as bad as the alleged problem. The sun is the major source of skin cancers. We stopped using candles for lighting because they kinda suck at illumination and are also a significant source of house fires. Incandescent globes are much more expensive to leave on, and create a lot more heat (which in the humid tropics is very noticeable at night). Where I live there’s so much ambient light all night I almost never use the lights except to cook. I’ll stick to a mix of LED and fluro and having a walk in the sun between bouts of eye-watering light from a big screen TV as my monitor.

        This does not create sleep problems.

        Coffee is far worse for my sleep pattern, if I do not follow some rules for when ground coffee is drunk my sleep periods are all over the place. No coffee after 4 PM – no exceptions.

        70

        • #
          James

          I get concerned about the heat causing degradation of the light fittings. They seem to get brittle after many years and then you should replacement. That is why I prefer LED bulbs. I do not have any sleep issues. It is also good to use them as a corded work light. You will not get burnt on the light bulb!

          30

    • #
      cedarhill

      One of the exceptions was simply calling incandescents “heat bulbs”. Seems heat bulbs were never banned in the US.

      50

      • #
        RicDre

        “One of the exceptions was simply calling incandescents “heat bulbs”.”

        Yeah, try running an the original Kenner Easy-bake oven on an LED lamp; Major fail!

        https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Easy-Bake_Oven

        70

        • #

          Not Suzy Homemaker approved!
          The Brazilian government forces people to subsidize and vote for 32 looter parties. So four presidents ago the top guy had an apartment in France, and the entire country was ordered to switch over to French plugs incompatible with anything installed. One suspects this was so he could charge his electric shaver. The old plugs worked with US flat blade plugs and Brazilian round pin plugs. The new ones work with nothing on this continent, and rickety and dangerous adaptors are sold on every corner. Twenty-amp plugs are incompatible with 15A power points and vice-versa. Incandescent bulbs work even on what little amperage can make it through a chain of sloppy adapters, so those were absolutely banned and men with guns guard the border to see that none come in.

          40

        • #
          Another Ian

          well a single 100 watt one was an adequate heater for winter home brewing here

          10

      • #
        RicDre

        Traffic lights with LEDs instead of incandescent light bulbs can also be a problem in the winter when snow blows onto the traffic lights and covers them as the LEDs often don’t get warm enough to melt off the snow.

        110

    • #
      raygun Reagan

      I stayed with incandescent just because I have been using them for 40+ years. The few LEDs I purchased, went kaput in less than a year which proves that modern technology isn’t quiet ready for prime time ….. just like the Green energy thingy, a bogus claim by the politicians that are suppose to be looking out for us. When ever the cost of gasoline/diesel equals the cost of biotech/ethanol, whenever the cost of electricity equals the cost of unsubsidized solar/wind monsters, THEN AND ONLY THEN will I consider any form of green energy or just purchase a high tech bicycle.

      30

  • #
    Stonyground

    I like the LED bulbs, much brighter than incandescents, they last longer and are more efficient. It was the florescent ones that were a bit rubbish.

    100

    • #
      JS

      It was the florescent ones that were a bit rubbish.

      Understatement of the week there. Not fit for purpose would be more accurate.

      130

    • #

      I must admit that I’m somewhat of the same opinion. The place we moved into in our rural township was replete with halogen downlights that generated a huge amount of heat, burned up electricity with abandon, weren’t always overly bright and were all manner of colours. Nor did they last very long because of our regular brownouts and blackouts.

      I replaced them with LEDs, warm white for living areas and cool white for work areas (like the kitchen) and not only is the lighting better, but a lot cheaper to run as well. LEDs have come a long way since the early ones and produce a much better and even light than before, much closer to daylight. They also seem to handle the power outages better.

      They are now used regularly in video productions and photography because of the power and heat advantages and they produce light with a high CRI. Home lighting isn’t quite up to the level of these lights, but many are coming close because it’s easier and cheaper in the long run to produce COB LEDs that can be used everywhere.

      120

      • #

        I forgot to mention that you can still buy what are ostensibly incandescent light globes in Australia. They are the new type of halogen light globes; but the principle is the same, heating of a filament.

        40

      • #
        WXcycles

        Same for stage-lighting, which is all LED now and much cooler. Back in the day I used to play lead guitar in circuit bands and we had this lighting-guy, a stupid kid who loved to try to cook me with racks of 4 x 1,000 incandescent PAR64 cans up close. I remember playing one Sunday session at the Beachfront Hotel in Darwin in January, with a packed room. They local girls in the front row always lifted their top just as you were beginning to play a lead break – what good-sports they were! I had 4 cans on the floor, 4 hanging off a speaker stack beside me, two more behind me, and 4 more cans right above, for 14,000 watts of direct up-close lighting. He thought this was really funny. But the guy came unstuck soon after because he placed an unfiltered white light can too close to the drummer’s beautiful and very expensive lustrous electric-blue drum kit which caused the finish to bubble up to the size of a football, on the side of his floor-Tom. The damage was deducted from his wages and he was replaced. So much for smart-ass lighting guys.

        50

        • #
          Gerry, England

          In my church theatre group we still use the old filament lighting because we have no money to buy LED lanterns. In fact some of lanterns are so old I have seen them in a museum but basically if you can still get the lamps then they still work. LED lanterns do give you much greater versatility but they need more time to set up as they need to be programmed. You can buy white LED lanterns and use gels to colour them which reduces the channels needed to communicate with them.

          00

    • #
      Rob JM

      Yep your ahead after 6 months from the power savings, plus you eliminate the fire risk of halogen downlights. Just get the warm globes rather than the cool ones.

      10

    • #
      Graeme#4

      CFLs are an environmental hazard due to the mercury. They aren’t supposed to be disposed of in the normal rubbish, but of course that’s where they end up.

      40

      • #
        James

        I took CFL’s to my local transfer station and asked where to put them. I was pointed to the landfill compactor so that is where they went!

        10

  • #
    Deano

    When driving at night (and annoying Greta) I find I am dazzled by European cars with super bright LED headlights. The old halogens are much less dangerous.

    232

    • #
      Dave in the States

      There are several levels for halogen, HID, and LED bulbs for autos:

      https://www.caroutfitter.com/best-halogen-headlight-bulb-reviews/

      I have started using the Silverstar halogen bulbs. They seem to offer the best compromise of lighting the road better/farther with a white colored light beam, but not blinding fellow drivers.

      100

    • #
      Bill In Oz

      I find this a signifiant problem as well
      Often I assume that they are on high beam
      And flick my own high beab headlights on briefly
      But then they flick their high beam lights on
      Which are far more dazzling.
      Now that is a major regulation failure !

      90

      • #
        WXcycles

        Probably more to do with a low-beam that’s adjusted too high. Some lights are now presets and don’t seem to be adjustable any longer. Thus changing load can do that, such as too much in the boot as is often the case on a highway trip, or degraded suspension. Super bright LEDs are excellent for spotting kangaroos in roadside grass further out, frequency matters for cutting through the visual noise.

        20

    • #
      greggg

      Yep, and some of them flicker. It’s not real good having to close my eyes when they drive past so that I don’t start seizing while driving. Others have experienced the same.

      40

  • #
    robert rosicka

    Older. Style bulbs lasted longer and yes much cheaper , there is one in a fire station in America that is still going after nearly a hundred years I believe .
    I get maybe 3 months out of the Eco rubbish and expensive led not a lot more .

    53

    • #
      Russell

      Robert, 1924, Top representatives from all the major light-bulb manufacturers, including Osram, Philips and GE, gathered in Geneva and founded the Phoebus cartel, a supervisory body that would carve up the worldwide incandescent lightbulb market. They engineered a shorter life span, from 1,500 to 2000 hours down to 1000 hours. Look up ”Phoebus cartel”

      90

    • #
      GD

      I get maybe 3 months out of the Eco rubbish and expensive led not a lot more

      In my rented house here in Geelong, I get at most one month out of any type of globe in the kitchen, six months out of any globes in another room, yet the bedroom still has the original mercury spiral Turnbull globe that was here when I moved in.

      The house is almost 100 years old, perhaps that’s got something to do with it.

      60

      • #
        Curious George

        Mercury spiral globe? What an unusual incandescent light.

        My personal experience with LED lights has been very positive. If you don’t like the blue kind, go for yellow or orange.

        40

      • #
        sophocles

        For all LED and eco-fluorescent bulbs (don’t try this with incandescent ones), test how hot they are (I use a bare hand). If they are above room temp, they won’t last long. Solid State circuitry — and this includes LEDs and eco-fluoros — don’t like running hot. The higher the temp, the shorter the lifetime. If they are warm or more, make up (or have made up) some short extensions for those sockets — lower/extend the bulbs down on a bit of cord and select any lampshades for them to have plenty of air throughput. I have two lights on about 200 mm dangle and they are running quite cool. (into service Nov. 2011, still in service Nov. 2019)

        10

        • #
          Roy Hogue

          The Cree bulbs I have all run with a base too hot to hold onto. As I posted somewhere here in this thread I have two that run from sun down to sunup 365 days a year and sometimes longer. I have some in fixtures that you would think could never cool them adequately but they’re all still going. So I wonder if there’s something about chip manufacture that makes a difference. But whatever it is I haven’t replaced a Cree LED in almost 2 years. Some of them run long hours every day.

          I don’t think it’s necessary for higher running temperature to mean shorter life. For a reference point, check out the running temperature in the processor chip in your fast computer or the graphic processors used for gaming. They require forced air cooling and run too hot to handle. If I had a utility to read out the GPU temperature or CPU (8 of them, a quad chip with 2 logical CPUs per chip) I could give you the current temperatures of this Shuttle I’m running right now.

          10

    • #
      Dean_from_Ohio

      The Centennial Bulb, now at the Lawrence Livermore Fire Station in California, USA, has been burning almost continuously for 117 years. It’s currently expending about 4 W power. Here’s a webcam of the lightbulb: http://www.centennialbulb.org/index.htm

      They don’t build ‘em like they used to!

      110

      • #
        robert rosicka

        That’s the one I was thinking of and yes they don’t make them like that anymore .

        Russell there was a documentary on the ABC some years back about an German company who were on the wrong side of the wall that had a lifetime bulb and wanted to sell outside of the then communist Russia .
        That cartel you mention managed to block them until their bulbs had a reduced life , I’m sure the brand was Varta .

        60

    • #
      Graeme#4

      If you look closely at incandescent globe specs, you will find that you can obtain significantly more lifetime by derating them. Did this to meet a design spec before LEDs were available.

      20

  • #
    Senex

    Incandescent bulbs are almost extinct in Canada. At least LEDs last longer and have a more pleasing light than compact fluorescent bulbs, but both are problematic from an environmental viewpoint, both regarding disposal and their dependence on raw materials refined under appalling conditions in China.

    90

    • #
      sophocles

      About the only good thing going for the old incandescent light bulbs is that they are wholly recyclable. The compact fluorescents are a toxic trap (mercury). The LEDs? Don’t know, yet.

      I converted my home almost wholly to LEDs in 2011 as power prices climbed (and climbed and climbed and …). The bulbs were expensive c. NZD13.00 each having dropped from c. NZD20.00 each. (They have cheapened significantly since then to about c. NZD3.00 per bulb.) The only light not replaced was a standard fluorescent in the kitchen (3-foot @ 39W). After the conversion (20 bulbs) was complete, I was saving about NZD18.00 per month over previous accounts. It was no great statistical effort to determine full payback as less than two years at that rate.

      All the indoor bulbs are “Warm White” and the three outdoor ones are “Cool White” — noticably bluer.
      I put a stronger bulb in where I do most of my reading (bedroom and study), but that’s all. I have 3 different strengths of bulbs: 7.5W (40W equiv) for reading lamps, 8W (60W equiv) for everywhere else and 12W (c. 75W + ) for my main reading areas. I have one replacement bulb for each of those instead of the constantly replenished bulk supplies of incandescents. LEDs are what incandescents should have been, IMHO. The fluorescent in the kitchen lasts about 10-12 years. It’s now the hungriest bulb in the house so it’s not left on anywhere as much as it used to be. (Some user retraining still in place 🙂 )

      I’ve not noticed any changes to my sleeping patterns. They are almost entirely controlled by my physical exercise: I don’t sleep well when I miss out on the physical stuff, so it’s quickly noticed.

      What I have noticed is the improvement in lifetime: I haven’t had a bulb fail yet. I changed most of the lamp shades in the first few weeks to ensure the bulbs were well ventilated: if they felt warm to the touch (or worse), the shade and bulb mounting was changed to ensure good cooling (air circulation) from fixed ceiling to pendant (a bit of cord). I don’t miss changing incandescent bulbs at regular intervals at all! Lighting is no longer a noticeable hit on my power usage; about the equivalent of one 60W – 75W incandescent bulb on 6hrs per day to light my lifestyle.

      That’s my experience for what it’s worth …

      70

      • #
        John

        Did exactly the same thing back then too and dropped the power bill 30% overnight.
        The guys who got white light out of LED’s won the Nobel prize for good reason. It is one of the biggest energy conservation breakthroughs ever. If you are worried about “blue light” buy the warm whites and check the spectral distribution curve. They are fine. Incandescents are old tech and they suck as do halogens. The LED luminous efficacy is around 6 times better than incandescent. In other words they use around one sixth the power to generate the same amount of light. Switch and save.

        10

  • #
    tom0mason

    They don’t work correctly in California, where the old joke is …
    question:
    How did Californians light the dark nights before oil-lamps and candles?
    answer:
    With electric lights.

    Read the whole shocking story HERE

    80

  • #
    Richard Ilfeld

    California will “solve’ its problems.
    Its taxpayers will pay. then we will all pay.
    PG&E was a very widely held stock issue by retirees,
    including many through government retirement funds,
    not only in California. The share holders will lose.
    The potential pensioners will lose. The rate payers
    will lose. The bond holders will likely lose.
    Strangely, the regulators and politicians will be unharmed.

    If you fly across much of the US it is easy to follow the high
    tension lines. The area below them is clearcut. Where I live the power
    company leases it out for grazing to help keep it clear, which gains a little
    revenue & avoids the expense of mowing.

    When a country is divided up into a variety of internal divisions that can have
    vastly different policies, we perform real-life experiments.

    We have done so over slavery, Canada has come close to break-up over language/culture,
    and now several countries are experiencing stress over left/right splits mostly expressed in
    action by implementation of energy policy.

    In Australia, Canada, the US, and the EU there are now stark differences between jurisidictions and the middle class
    life within based primarily on the degree of embrace of this climate change stuff.

    Perhaps. absent climate change, the leftist governments would find other rationales for similar policies of social an economic
    control, but, as it is, climate policy seems to be driving economic differentiation among otherwise similarly situated states.

    What make this uniquely interesting is that we see rich states getting poorer.

    For a couple of centuries we have argued that capitalism, freedom, respect for private property and contracts, democracy etc. etc.
    lead to prosperity and that is why certain countries get rich and countries with similar geographies don’t.

    This is a much clearer experiment in a command and control government poking at a functioning economy with more extraneous factors held constant.

    The results ain’t pretty.

    Boise is Booming.

    30

  • #
    Reed Coray

    Will wonders never cease? Maybe, just maybe, the US government is starting to see the light.

    101

  • #

    […] a  brighter note, Jo Nova reports that people in the US can continue to use the light globes of choice after 2020 with the reversal […]

    10

  • #
    OriginalSteve

    In a message now to all the control freak Lefties….a word you just love to hear….

    No!

    Ha ha.

    Enjoy…. 🙂

    90

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    So, when can we expect no more heat waves?

    Oh, it’s not about the environment, but changing behaviour …

    2007: Turnbull pushes for efficient light bulbs
    http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s1851984.htm

    2008: It’s About Laws, Not Light Bulbs
    Mr. Gore’s ambition is not just to change individual behavior by getting people to buy energy-saving light bulbs: it is to change policy.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/opinion/06sun2.html

    60

  • #
    PeterW

    Be interested to hear if anyone can recommend decent quality low-blue LED lights..

    20

    • #
      Just Thinkin'

      PeterW, You might be waiting for a while.

      Better get a carton of beer…..or two…

      11

    • #
      Yonniestone

      We’ve got LED’s throughout the house as it came with them, after two years we had three downlight types malfunction within weeks of each other, just out of warranty of course.

      I queried this with the builder and found out cheaper brands have shorter warranties, figures I guess, so to replace them I went to Middys where I got good advice and purchased LED’s with a 10 year? (I’ll check) warranty, one thing I noticed was a switch on the light that lets you select three modes of lighting we use warm but there’s white and blue also.

      00

  • #
    David Maddison

    As mentioned by Travis above it was Turnbull who banned incandescent globes in Australia in 2007. Incans were incredibly cheap to make and used few resources just a bit of glass, steel, tungsten, lead tin alloy and plastic. I am yet to be convinced that the energy saved by LEDs or compact fluoros is more than what goes into their manufacture. Also, heat energy from incans was not entirely wasted as it contributes to house heating in winter.

    161

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      I have the se argument with smartphones…you go from a simple “just making calls” to a complex device costing $1000 that has to be maintained and leaks your personal data like a seive ( if not set up right). Even then things like gurgle play store prety much extract a huge amount of your data every time you downliad someting. Yuck, no thanks…..and I work in IT….the competition isnt much better…

      120

  • #
    David Maddison

    Trump works miracles for his people, both big and small, every single day.

    That’s why the Left are trying to destroy him.

    150

    • #
      Just Thinkin'

      David,

      Unlike our chairman mal who FORCED all Australians
      to not have access to cheap lighting…

      One of chairman mals many things he FORCED on
      to the Australian people…

      Including himself…

      I just wish the ghost would POQ….

      and DCB…

      80

  • #
    Timo Soren

    Live way in the north. I heat 7 months of the year cool 4. Since the inefficiency of incandescents is almost 100% in the form of heat. My use of incandescents translates to electric heating my home. And since the cooling period is during high natural light periods I estimated the switching of my 60 and 100 watt bulbs would have been economicly never recovered.

    80

  • #
    yarpos

    I have a mix of bulbs in my house depending on function. I have yet to see any led bulb live up to longevity claims.

    110

    • #
      robert rosicka

      Same in my house Yarpos .

      40

    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      it might be the house, rather than the bulb.
      http://www.elec.uow.edu.au/apqrc/content/technotes/APQRC%20TN015-1604%20Impact%20of%20PQ%20on%20Lighting.pdf
      The conclusion is that all types will suffer from power quality issues.

      17

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Actually, with all the solar panels on roofs, PV installers have ben known to crank up the inverter voltage output to ensure powers gets eported to the grid for sale, so in many cases, overvoltage can be an issue in housing areas.

        As such, in yet *another* own goal for unreliables….you can install LEDs to save power, but replace them more frequently as the solar panel output kills reliablity…but it wont just be lighting that suffer, other appliances will also suffer.

        So the paper is correct in its overall conclusision, however it should also include causes of over voltage and mention solar panel output…..

        80

      • #
        Graeme#4

        Did you read that document before linking to it Peter? Just pages of assertions, no proper studies, no graphs or specs. I fail to understand why the author bothered in generating it – as an engineering study it’s totally useless.

        60

        • #
          Peter Fitzroy

          We G4 what an interesting response –
          (1) where did I say that it was an ‘engineering’ study now did I?
          (2) as to ‘assertions’ – all at the end of the article.
          [1] Wikipedia, “Incandescent light bulb”, Webpage, last accessed 31 July, 2014. Available: http://en.wikipedia.
          org/wiki/Incandescent_light_bulb.
          [2] Illuminating Engineering Society, “Discover Lighting!”, Webpage, last accessed 1 May, 2015. Available:
          http://www.ies.org/lighting/sources/.
          [3] Joseph R. Knisley, “Voltage Variations And Arc Discharge Lamps”, Webpage, last accessed 1 May, 2015.
          Available: http://ecmweb.com/lighting-amp-control/voltage-variations-and-arc-discharge-lamps.
          [4] Z. Wei, N. R. Watson, L. P. Frater, “Modelling of compact fluorescent lamps”, 13th International Conference
          on Harmonics and Quality of Power (ICHQP 2008), Sept. 28 – Oct. 1, 2008, pp. 1-6.
          [5] Green Initiatives, “Top 10 Reasons You Should Switch to LED Light Bulbs”, Webpage, last accessed 1 May,
          2015. Available: http://greeninitiatives.com.au/reducing_your_power_usage/top-10-reasons-you-shouldswitch-to-led-light-bulbs/.

          Do you have anything, engineering or otherwise?

          14

          • #
            Graeme#4

            Once again, you don’t check links before posting them. Most of the links you mention don’t work, and there is no actual source for the statement of an incandescent’s efficiency. My comment stands – your original linked document was useless at providing additional information on this topic.
            And yes, I do know something about using lamps in unusual situations. But when I design, I use proper specs and only refer to docs that have a solid engineering background.

            10

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      The LEDs made by Cree do live up to their lifetime figures. Some of the earliest ones did fail and Cree replaced them with no argument at the rate of 2 replacements per failed bulb and I didn’t have to provide proof of purchase or ship the bad ones back. I haven’t had a failure for almost 2 years and I have one at each of the 2 doors open to the street that run from sundown to sunup, 24/7. That’s a lot of hours and still going.

      They do cost a bit more but more competition has brought the price down some.

      60

    • #
      RickWill

      I bought some of the original LED lights that had clusters of relatively low power LEDs rather than the modern CREE LEDs that are high power. They are still going after 12 years without any reduction in their miserable output.

      The modern CREE LEDs have very high operating temperature. The XD16 is capable of 365lm from a 3sq.mm led running at 2.9W:
      https://www.cree.com/led-components/media/documents/ds-XD16.pdf
      That is about half the light output of a 60W lightbulb; meaning 10X output per watt. Despite the high conversion efficiency, the junction still runs hot so cooling is very important.

      I have found that the first generation of CREE LED lights had circuit failures rather than LED failures. The other components were not designed to handle the heat or the cooling was inadequate for Australian conditions.

      My modern LED lights are no more than 3 years old. I have had one failure in a 15W Mirabella lamp made in China that was about 18 months old. Most were installed at the cost of the state government. A few years ago they came in and replaced all the incandescents left to compact fluorescent; then two lots have come through and replaced those remaining to LEDs; limit of 20 per visit. I had already replaced some of the compact fluorescent to LEDs to avoid the dimness during start up time.

      10

      • #
        Roy Hogue

        Cree has some proprietary heat sink technology that allows the chips to stay cool. The glass bulb will not be too hot to handle but the base can be very uncomfortable.

        I have some 75 W equivalent Crees running in fixtures that you would think could not cool them adequately and they’re still going strong.

        10

    • #
      Annie

      In our new house several LED bulbs failed…a bad batch. Replacements have been ok, so far. I hate blue light, ours are warm white ( not too yellow or pink) except for an over-white strip under kitchen cupboards…the alternative on offer at the time was a ghastly yellow. A relacement strip would be good but it would be a bit of a palaver to fit one.

      30

    • #
      disorganise

      Anecdotally, I find I’m not replacing bulbs that often anymore. As a child in the UK, it seemed a common occurrence to replace a bulb.
      I had halogen in ceiling fan, and that would go every 6 months or so despite it rarely being used, and filament bulbs in the kitchen extractor seemed to blow every couple of months until I replaced them with LED 18 months ago.

      It *could* be because I voluntarily replaced the main bulbs with RGB LED 2.5 years ago, so maybe it was a bit pre-emptive. Nonetheless, it seems quite rare that a bulb fails today, compared to my childhood memories.

      20

  • #
    Roy Hogue

    They’re sure heaping sin after sin on top of blue light.

    I wonder how long it will be until like coffee, eggs and some others, the experts start saying, “Gee whiz, we’re sorry but it’s not as bad as we told you it is.”

    But it’s apparently enough of a problem that Windows 10 has nighttime compensation built in and it changes the color balance and reduces brightness. And how’s this for thoroughness? If you aren’t using it you’ll get a reminder, which is nice or not so nice depending on your taste but they hold your hand all the way.***

    I wonder what the experts will say about my house full of warm white LEDs.

    70

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      *** It sure does make my wallpaper, a beautiful shot from the pilot’s seat of a J3 Piper Cub on final in a crosswind at about 250-300 feet AGL look crappy.

      Function over form does’t hack it when you’re talking about a work of art — the airplane, not the picture.

      30

    • #

      let me guess. You installed blue lights?

      02

    • #
      WXcycles

      Had a win with this last year Roy, was in the market for a 4G Android and a major manufacturer had a large-ish color-corrected low blue-light screen as a ‘feature’, except the resulting standard feature looked so saturated in garish greens and reds that no one was buying them. So the price dropped to ~$150. Bought one and found I could alter the color-mix in the setup and get a more normal screen and could also turn off the nanny-corp blue-light filter and got an almost natural color smartphone for peanuts.

      30

      • #
        Roy Hogue

        The big deal about blue is a mystery to me. The end result of mixing RGB to get what the original pixel was results in perceptually the same thing as the original scene. You don’t see the individual components otherwise it wouldn’t work.

        If I’m working in a darker environment such as night I just put the desk lamp on and point it behind the monitor and that relieves any contrast problems.

        Maybe a better expert than I am can explain it so it makes sense.

        30

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    Interestingly according to our government, the savings by going to LED’s are clear
    http://www.energyrating.gov.au/lighting/energy-costs
    So if the upfront cost is daunting, the fact that they last much longer, and save on power as well are direct benefits to the consumer.
    As to the blue light, who remembers the fears about the older style cathode ray tubes, which could produce high frequency radiation, and thereby cause cancer?

    33

    • #
      Peter C

      As to the blue light, who remembers the fears about the older style cathode ray tubes, which could produce high frequency radiation, and thereby cause cancer?

      Do you mean the old TV’s

      60

    • #
      PeterS

      LED TVs also emit radiation but not as much as the old CRT TVs. Not sure about OLED TVs; they might emit even less if any.

      30

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      The real reason I use them is because using them stops me from having to change 2 or 3 light bulbs every month.

      20

    • #
      Graeme#4

      While there is a saving in switching to LEDs, I doubt that the average lifetime of LED light is 10-15 times that of an incandescent. I ran a house with around 30 incandescents for over 40 years and didn’t change that many light bulbs over those years. I’ve recently moved to a townhouse where I changed all lights to LEDs at considerable cost and already two LEDs have failed in six months. And it’s expensive to replace those LED bulbs. So sorry, I don’t believe the govt figures – it’s not that big a saving.

      30

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      There’s no no doubt that lighting cost goes down. The trouble is that lighting is only a small part of your total energy cost. Big power consumers like refrigerator, A/C, make up the lion’s share of the total bill so the savings is not as much as you think.

      30

  • #
    Neville

    About time we were able to choose our globe of preference as well. But have a look at my last paragraph and understand it’s all BS and fra-d anyway.
    Oh and the entire SH is a co2 + methane sink while the NH is THE co2+ Methane source. See CSIRO Cape Grim data.
    And the scientists attending the EIKE conference in Munich have had to hide from the clueless climate thugs and they’ve received no help from the German govt.
    Don’t forget these vile donkeys can’t add up very simple sums about co2 emissions 1750 to 1990 (+70 ppm) and compare it to the last 30 years 1990 to 2019 ( + 60 ppm) and draw the obvious conclusion.
    But then again this simple data seems to have escaped the understanding of thousands of scientists, the MSM, pollies/govts etc all around the world.
    Unbelievable but true.

    https://townhall.com/columnists/jamestaylor/2019/11/22/climate-scientists-reduced-to-hiding-from-climate-thuggery-in-germany-n2556941?2311

    00

  • #
    Neville

    Why am I in moderation AGAIN?

    20

  • #
    PeterS

    I’ve heard a similar argument about using blue backgrounds on a computer screen. Not really sure if it’s true but I have switched to a different colour for my computers just in case. As for LED’s, they are getting better and would never go back to using incandescent lights. Me thinks there is too much hysteria around them. The very early ones were not only too expensive but had massive heat sinks to cool them down. Most modern ones don’t need them so large any longer with some not having any at all. They are efficient and last longer. OLED lighting is the next generation and they are the next closest light source to natural light with incandescent being the best. They also have the benefit of being shaped almost in any fashion, including flat panel lighting; no more large holes in the ceiling needed; just a small one for the wiring.

    40

  • #

    Those day-time like lights are bad news for wildlife as well as humans: migratory birds, insects and anything diurnal or that uses the sun or moon as a guide. Get the red end of the spectrum if you can’t get incandescent globes even for indoor lights as these shine out.

    protect the night and dark sky movements probably have little hope of convincing people, councils, states and nations but who knows?

    https://www.darksky.org/

    follow https://twitter.com/hashtag/protectnight

    53

  • #
    RickWill

    LED lights are a revolution in lighting.
    I have a single cell LED torch that will throw more than 800m. The best of the LED flashlights throw over 1500m:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGn3-B2wNFA

    Our local tennis club cut their electricity bill in half by installing LED court lighting while even adding lights to two more courts. It was the only way to increase the light coverage because the power supply to the sports area was already at its limit.

    60

    • #
      RickWill

      A 60W light globe operating for 2000 hours per year will cost around AUD45/year in electricity to run. It can be replaced more than adequately for a 7W LED light for $5 to $20 depending on whether just the globe is replaced or full fitting replacement. The LED will cost AUD5/yr to run for 2000 hours. A straight bulb replacement will take a month to pay back its cost in power saving at this usage rate.

      It does not take replacement of many incandescent globes to make significant savings.

      If you want to support the power grid and the mess it has become to ensure the subsidy farms remain viable then you should use incandescent globes. If you would prefer to keep your hard earned then choose LEDs.

      Car manufacturers are moving to LED lighting. I doubt you will be able to replace those with incandescent globes so even the diehard will eventually succumb.

      41

      • #
        gnome

        At present you can only legally install LED or Xenon bulbs in vehicles with load-leveling suspension and wipers on the headlights.

        That isn’t many cars on the market yet. Of course, there’s lots of illegal installs, and usually no action taken, because (contrary to some assertion above) bright lights are safer than dim ones, and people like them.

        60

  • #
    OriginalSteve

    O/T but kind of funny…..cooked oysters in the shell ready to eat, anyone?

    Apparently we have marine heat “waves” now……although in the tropics, the water is often warm, so how does that work? Or is this just a new funding money funnel?

    Faux “crisis-du-jour” now that we’ve found coral when allegedly they were “dead”…..?

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-25/marine-heatwaves-threaten-oyster-industry-great-barrier-reef/11726630

    “Waters off parts of Australia are warming at some of the most rapid rates in the world, threatening the future of some of the country’s most important marine industries, scientists say.

    “According to new research, the warming is being driven by climate change and is creating an increase in the frequency, duration and severity of what are known as marine heatwaves (MHWs).

    “Scientists say the heatwaves are having a severe impact on oysters — and threaten the future of the industry — as well plants and creatures that rely on the ocean for life, pushing some into new areas, while killing others.

    “”The oceans are really ringing the alarm bells,” said CSIRO biological oceanographer Alistair Hobday, a leading expert on MHWs.

    “”[The oceans] are telling us we’ve got big problems and those problems are not going to go away.”

    “A MHW is defined as a period of warm water that lasts five days or longer, where temperatures are in the top 10 per cent of events typically experienced in that region.
    They are graded in severity — similar to how cyclones are — with category five being the most intense.

    “The heatwaves lead to outbreaks of diseases that can be fatal to oysters and other molluscs, and reduce the reproduction rates of species such as salmon and abalone as well as killing seagrass and kelp.
    ……………….
    “What about the reef?

    “More than 2500km north of Swansea, the Great Barrier Reef is also feeling the impact of the MHW phenomenon.

    “So scientists, such as Associate Professor Jody Webster, are looking at ways to help.

    00

  • #
    pat

    oh, and incandescents would now be more expensive because their manufacture had been shut down or something:

    5 Nov: CBS: Environmentalists want to turn off incandescent light bulbs for good
    By Irina Ivanova
    Environmental groups and 18 state attorneys general are suing the Trump administration over its efforts to keep incandescent light bulbs on the market. They filed suit against the Department of Energy on Monday, claiming the agency’s decision to allow sales of these hot-burning bulbs would hurt the environment and waste billions of dollars.
    “The rule is harmful to the environment and also to consumers,” said Mike Landis, litigation director at U.S. PIRG, one of the consumer advocacy groups that filed the suit. “In our view, this is an unlawful action the Department of Energy is taking. Once an energy-efficiency standard is set, the agency can’t go back on that.”

    If the older lightbulb technology stays on store shelves, environmentalists say, the added emissions from their use by millions of consumers would be akin to keeping 128 coal plants running for a full year…
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/environmental-groups-and-18-attorneys-general-sue-trump-administration-over-incandescent-lightbulbs/

    4 Nov: NY Attorney General: Attorney General James Sues Trump Administration For Rollback Of Light Bulb Energy Efficiency Standards
    NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, leading a coalition of 16 attorneys general and the City of New York, today filed a lawsuit against the Trump’s Department of Energy (DOE) challenging its final rule rolling back energy efficiency standards for certain light bulbs…
    “The Trump Administration’s not-so-bright idea to rollback light bulb energy efficiency standards is an obvious attempt to line the pockets of energy executives while simultaneously increasing pollution and raising energy bills for consumers,” said Attorney General James…

    Joining Attorneys General James and Becerra in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the City of New York.

    These matters are being handled for the Attorney General’s Environmental Protection Bureau by Assistant Attorneys General Lisa S. Kwong and Timothy Hoffman, under the supervision of Senior Counsel Michael J. Myers and Bureau Chief Lemuel M. Srolovic. The Environmental Protection Bureau is part of the Division of Social Justice, led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Meghan Faux
    https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2019/attorney-general-james-sues-trump-administration-rollback-light-bulb-energy

    10

  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    24 Nov: UK Times: Power giants National Grid and SSE go offshore to escape Jeremy Corbyn’s clutches
    National Grid and SSE shift ownership to fend off Labour
    by John Collingridge
    The two leading power companies have quietly shifted ownership of their British operations into offshore companies to protect against Jeremy Corbyn’s threat of cut-price nationalisation, The Sunday Times can reveal.

    National Grid and SSE, which together own Britain’s entire gas and electricity transmission spine, this weekend confirmed they had created overseas holding companies in recent months to seek shelter from Labour’s renationalisation agenda. SSE has put its UK business into a new Swiss holding company; National Grid has shifted its gas and electricity businesses into new subsidiaries in Luxembourg and Hong Kong.

    The moves are designed to build defences against Labour’s sweeping renationalisation plans. Switzerland, Luxembourg and Hong Kong have “bilateral investment treaties” with the UK that ensure investors are paid properly in the event of any state asset grab…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/66d41a10-0e19-11ea-93be-ccf3f2ed7d1d

    20

  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    24 Nov: UK Telegraph: Green energy tycoon gives £15,000 to Labour days before its wind turbines general election pledge
    By Edward Malnick
    Official figures show that Dale Vince, the founder of Ecotricity, is Labour’s largest individual donor so far in the election campaign, having given the sum to the party on Nov 12, through his firm.

    Mr Vince attended the Labour manifesto launch in Birmingham on Thursday, where the party committed to building 7,000 new offshore wind turbines, 2,000 onshore turbines, and solar panels spanning the equivalent of 22,000 football pitches.
    Ecotricity operates 24 onshore wind farms, with a further four either awaiting construction or planning approval, according to its website. Mr Vince’s firm also operates a solar farm in Lincolnshire, and received planning permission for a further four…
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/11/24/green-energy-tycoon-gives-15000-labour-days-wind-turbines-general/

    24 Nov: Guardian: Solar farms can keep UK’s lights on even at night
    Trial shows panels can smooth voltage fluctuations in the National Grid
    by Jillian Ambrose
    National Grid used a solar farm in East Sussex to help smooth overnight voltage fluctuations for the first time earlier this month, proving solar farms don’t need sunshine to help keep the lights on.
    Lightsource BP, the owner of the solar farm, said an inexpensive tweak to the project’s electrical equipment meant it could help balance the grid with only two seconds’ notice…
    “Inverters” at the solar farm are usually used in the process of converting solar energy to electric current. But at night, when the grid is often less stable, the same equipment can adapt grid electricity to a healthier voltage.

    Chris Buckland, technical director of Lightsource BP, said the inverter acts like a distortion mirror by reflecting the energy network’s voltage back to the grid at a slightly different level.
    On blustery nights with plenty of wind power but little demand, the solar farm could help prevent the energy grid’s voltage from rising too high. It could also prevent the voltage from falling too low during still nights in winter when demand is often high…
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/24/solar-farms-keep-uk-lights-on-at-night

    lots of detail, worth a read:

    29 Oct: GreenTechMedia: Spain’s Solar Bubble Looks Ready to Pop. The Market Will Be Just Fine
    Consolidation is coming to Spain’s red-hot solar market, but in a post-subsidy world the landing will be relatively soft.
    by John Parnell
    Spain’s grid authorities have not been shy about taking action to hone the field of solar speculators. Regulators have trimmed more than 20 gigawatts of PV projects from the grid connection queue and quadrupled the guarantees required to open an application to €40,000 ($44,440) per megawatt…

    “Grid connection is more of a crucial issue,” she said before echoing McGuigan’s expectation of very high attrition in that pipeline.
    “If you look at Chile and Australia in the past, both had huge pipelines but only a limited number of projects reached the notice-to-proceed phase,” she said.
    Both Lightsource BP and BayWa r.e. are remarkably bullish about a market being linked to a bubble…READ ON
    https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/what-happens-when-a-subsidy-free-solar-bubble-pops

    10

  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    24 Nov: UK Times: GMB urges oil tax impact studies
    by Michael Glackin
    A Scottish trade union has called on Jeremy Corbyn to produce detailed assessments of the impact that Labour’s windfall tax on oil and gas companies would have on jobs in Scotland.
    The tax, unveiled by Corbyn last week, is aimed at generating £11bn to “pay the cost of the climate emergency” and is a central plank of Labour’s policy to shift the UK towards a low-carbon, green economy.

    However, the policy, which would generate 10 times the £1.1bn the Treasury is forecast to raise from the oil and gas sector this year, has aroused anger in Scotland. It is feared that the tax will accelerate the decline in North Sea investment and lead to thousands of job losses in the oil and gas sector.
    GMB Scotland, which has also criticised the Scottish government’s environmental strategy, called for a balanced energy policy, with roles for North Sea oil and gas and new nuclear alongside renewables..
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fb5b3d64-0e1c-11ea-8f6d-195dfbf668c7

    30

  • #
    sophocles

    This is way off topic, but no apologies:

    It seems the Wolf Creek Crater has been redated and its age brought down from c. 300,000 years to c.120,000 years.
    (Courtesy of Suspicious Obeservers news 23Nov2019.)

    While I’m speaking of Big-Rock-from-Space craters: there are two craters on the Hiawatha Glacier in NW Greenland (rather under the glacier) which need what I would call urgent dating. But then, my priorities don’t match many other peoples’ ones … what’s wrong with doing it by yesterday?

    30

    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Talking of walking off the beaten track, it snowed in Hawai’i again on the weekend – hey, it’s almost ‘winter’ over there after all.

      Both summits, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, on the Big Island were capped with a ‘frozen white substance’ Saturday morning after the previous night’s thundersnow storm.

      Great to see some things never change…

      20

  • #
    George4

    I rely totally on my headlamp LED torch.
    I use it in the house at night and don’t turn any room lights on and off and can walk outside any time and go anywhere fully lit.
    Just need to charge 2 18650 batteries every 3 or 4 days, so big saving in electricity.

    20

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    The main point of this thread is that legislation is not of any value when talking about lighting, and in particular by lighting type. I heartily agree with that, if you want to waste 90% of your energy as heat instead of light, who cares? And to reduce heat waste was the ostensible reason for the imposition of the regulations banning most incandescents (at least in Australia)

    However, and this might help those who are worried about buying faulty or substandard LED’s (and applies to other types as well), there are standards that the bulb (if that is the correct term) has to meet, and the consumer can tell by a stamp on the outside of the product. https://www.lightingcouncil.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2018-07-LCA-Changes-to-LED-Lamp-Regulations.pdf. As always, this is a state’s issue, so implementation varies.

    45

  • #
    TdeF

    Far away the point of the Trump intervention is that people are allowed once again to choose. Each type of lighting has costs, fans, advantages, disadvantages but far and away the most important idea is the right of choice. As for the impact on the planet, that is just nonsense. Like the French Government demanded that people buy diesel cars, only to fine everyone who owns one for actually driving their diesel cars and polluting their cities with nitrous oxide. Or the US law which demanded everyone eat trans fats and forced food outlets to switch. Then they found transfats were highly carcinogenic. It is ironic that McDonalds were considered heroes by taking a long time to switch. Alcohol was banned in the 1920s. How did that go? When will governments get back to looking after trade, defence and peace and stop interfering with people’s lives and diet and choices?

    The business of governments interfering with everyone’s lives for the ‘greater good’ is against everything we call freedom. Who decides? Politicians? It is creeping totalitarianism, like the law in Australia against giving ethnic offence hidden as a human right when Australia is not a rights based system. Then the consequent extortion at $5000 a case was created by intimidation or they caused you immense costs in a courtroom, as students in Queensland found for simply asking for the white computers if there were black ones. That year the Human ‘rights’ commission gained $350,000 in cash from such extortion. It seems all you had to do to make $5,000 in cash was take offence and this presumably tax free. Enforced by government.

    Lightbulbs? Just another example of legislative overreach which saw our Prime Minister Tony Abbott accused of being a spy for some unnamed country. Possibly Great Britain.

    We should be glad the light bulb nonsense is over in the US at least and they are out of Paris in only another year. Not in Australia though. We are saving the world all on our own.

    I wish the Government of Victoria would enable us to use coal power again, pick up branches in the forest and look for gas. Our Progressive idi*t Premier promised electricity would only rise 10% when he forced the shutting down of Hazelwood 20 years early by tripling the price of our coal. That was 4 years ago. As Andrew Bolt reports, electricity in Victoria has increased 400%. No apologies from Andrew. He is single handedly saving the planet by making it increasingly difficult to work or live in Victoria. What a champion! Unless you work for his government which has added 50,000 people to the State payroll. You have to wonder what they are all doing which was not done before but at least they will all vote for their savior, even if there is no work.

    That’s the totalitarian socialist state, regulating everything you do, everything you say and giving you a job doing nothing by taxing those who have real jobs.

    120

  • #
    pat

    was just wondering why there’s been no followup on the major blackout in the UK!

    21 Nov: GreenTechMedia: UK Hopes for No ‘Rare Events’ This Winter as Blackout Report Put On Hold
    An investigation into the U.K.‘s biggest power outage in a decade is halted pending the outcome of upcoming national elections.
    by Jason Deign
    Britons are hoping the grid will hold steady this winter after a report on the country’s biggest outage in a decade was put on hold.
    The government investigation into the cause of an Aug. 9 blackout that affected around a million British customers is on ice pending the outcome of national elections on Dec. 12, with insiders saying it likely won’t get published until next year.

    A spokesperson confirmed that U.K. electricity system operator National Grid ESO had not made any changes to its operating procedures following the outage…
    Observers said that while the circumstances surrounding the August blackout were unusual, similar occurrences could not be ruled out as the U.K. increases its reliance on renewable energy…

    Meanwhile, an analysis of the outage by European energy consultant Paul-Frederik Bach concluded that “the result of increasing shares of wind and solar power will be decreasing short-circuit capacities and rotating inertia.”
    This will in turn lead to more rapid frequency changes and less stable voltage vectors, the analysis found…READ ON
    https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/u-k-hopes-for-no-rare-events-as-blackout-report-paused

    20

    • #
      Dave Ward

      Britons are hoping the grid will hold steady this winter after a report on the country’s biggest outage in a decade was put on hold

      Not all of us!

      I don’t look forward to the thought of a complete grid failure and subsequent “Black Start”, but a couple of 24hr blackouts would be no problem to me, as I’ve already made backup provisions. However, the millions who haven’t, might think more carefully before listening to the the die-hard AGW believers and XR lunatics…

      20

  • #
    pat

    shhh. don’t tell Australians, ABC etc:

    19 Nov: StopTheseThings: Game Over: German Wind Industry In Freefall: Turbine Makers Sack Thousands in Mass Layoffs
    The manufacturers of turbines and solar panels are dropping like flies, as subsidies are rolled back across Europe…
    The wind back in subsidies across Europe has all but destroyed the wind industry: in Germany this year a trifling 35 onshore wind turbines have been erected, so far.
    Twelve countries in the European Union (EU) failed to install “a single wind turbine” last year.

    Danish turbine maker, Vestas is on the brink and was recently forced to axe 600 of its groovy ‘green’ jobs. Its rival Siemens Gamesa, has also been forced to wield the axe, sacking 600 workers in its Danish operations.
    Spreading like a contagion, the demise of turbine manufacturers across Europe has taken hold in Germany, with Enercon lining up to sack 3,000 of its workers, in a last ditch effort to stay afloat…
    https://stopthesethings.com/2019/11/19/game-over-german-wind-industry-in-freefall-turbine-makers-sack-thousands-in-mass-layoffs/comment-page-1/

    11 Nov: ReCharge: Thousands to lose jobs as German wind crisis hits Enercon
    Market won’t recover if Berlin goes through with ill-designed climate package, company chief Kettwig warns
    by Bernd Radowitz in Berlin
    A combination of ill-designed first onshore wind auctions in 2017, a permitting malaise, bureaucratic hurdles, and anti-wind protests have pushed German onshore wind additions to their lowest figure since 2000. Enercon during the first ten months of this year has installed turbines with a combined capacity of around 210MW in the country, compared to 2GW still erected in 2017.
    The company blames politics for the slump.

    “The current energy and climate policy endangers not only know-how that has been built up over years and jobs in our industry, but also climate protection and the Energiewende [energy transition] as a whole,” said Enercon managing director Hans-Dieter Kettwig…READ ON
    https://www.rechargenews.com/wind/thousands-to-lose-jobs-as-german-wind-crisis-hits-enercon/2-1-704074

    30

  • #
    pat

    24 Nov: MedicalDaily: Anxiety Cases Are On The Rise: Here’s What You Need To Know
    By Seema Prasad
    Eco-Anxiety
    Anxiety does not end with worrying about money and health alone. It also leads to catastrophizing about the impact of Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. The rampant uneasy feeling is palpable by the number of climate activists that have taken it to the streets in America…

    The anxieties are clearly reflected in a survey by Australian-based organization, specializing in mental health concerning young people, ReachOut. Four out of five high school and university students who answered said that they felt little or extreme anxiety about climate change. Furthermore, they said that these anxious thoughts plagued their minds every week.

    To deal with this unique mental health crisis, a U.S.-based organization, ***Good Grief Network, has set up several support groups to help people overcome eco-anxiety in the last six months…
    https://www.medicaldaily.com/anxiety-cases-are-rise-heres-what-need-know-446282

    ***Good Grief Network: About
    Our Team
    Aimee Lewis-Reau, CoFounder & Creative Director
    Born and raised in southeast Michigan, Aimee is a certified Scholè Yoga Instructor and RYT 200. She DJs under the name eXis10shAL and takes delight in making crowds dance, because Alice Walker said it best: “Hard times require furious dancing.”…

    Good Grief in the News…LIST INCLUDES CNN, NBC, CBC, ETC.
    https://www.goodgriefnetwork.org/about/

    30

  • #
    Peter C

    But the US energy department said banning incandescent bulbs would be bad for consumers because of the higher cost of more efficient bulbs.
    The Department of Energy said it had withdrawn the ban because it was a misinterpretation of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.
    Specifically, the law stipulated that restrictions on bulbs could only be implemented when it was economically justified, Shaylyn Hynes, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy, told the New York Times.

    Could it be that the US Department of Energy is changing its tune because of direction from the President?

    Can I add this to my list of Deeds of Trump?

    30

  • #
    Gbees

    My incandescent lights are still going meanwhile I’ve changed literally dozens of LED and other energy saver (sic) lights. It’s all a con

    20

  • #
    jaymam

    Those of us still running electric trams on 600 volts DC need to use 100v or 120v ES incandescent bulbs in series. Some LED bulbs work on DC but most do not (because the circuitry in them is not expecting DC). The trams cannot be rewired to run bulbs in parallel.

    00

  • #
    Gerry, England

    Working in the public sector relating to streets I have heard about the problems caused by the switch to LED street lighting. The allure is the reduced power consumption, so they are a greener option and save money on electricity that has been made more expensive by green taxes.

    The CFL lamps are rubbish – I have had 2 fail due to a component exploding. They are very temperature sensitive and use them in the wrong lantern they can overheat and die early. They don’t like being switched on and off a lot and are next to useless when they are first turned on from cold. LEDs are a much better alternative, especially now they can also be dimmed. By the way, using a dimmer with a GLS lamp can make them last much longer by soft starting them.

    20