Kate at SmallDeadAnimals.com points out that there’s a new hockey stick afoot. With some homogenization and principal components analysis, I’m sure the past can be smoothed out.
From: United States Unemployment rate, Aug. 2010
Meanwhile, light bulb workers of America go dim as one of America’s proudest inventions disappears from production. Mr. Edison is scowling, wherever he is.
From the Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2010;
The last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the United States is closing this month, marking a small, sad exit for a product and company that can trace their roots to Thomas Alva Edison’s innovations in the 1870s.
…
What made the plant here vulnerable is, in part, a 2007 energy conservation measure passed by Congress that set standards essentially banning ordinary incandescents by 2014. The law will force millions of American households to switch to more efficient bulbs.
Now the hoarding begins.
Expect container loads from China arriving on our shores soon, at least until 2017 when they’ll disappear there too…or will they?
Edison didn’t invent the light bulb. He was about the 22nd person to patent a working light bulb. He was the one who bought it into peoples homes by building a power station and ripping up the streets of New York to lay cable.
CFL’s or LED’s don’t work in the oven.
A strong driver for the innovation of new types of lamps (LED, CFL) is that the incandescent lamp, after more than a century of life, is a commodity with absolute minimal profit margins. In reality they can only be manufactured profitably in a low cost country using very lean manufacturing techniques. New technologies break this cycle and have the promise of a new product life cycle, better features (more light, less power, more green) and different positioning in the market. The vast development cost of the new product has to be recovered. As with any new product, important impacts remain undiscovered until the product is in the market. I am thinking here about e.g. the environmental impacts due to hazardous chemicals (mercury). The regulators and manufacturers have a very important responsibility to understand the product and its impacts and agree on regulation and standards as early as possible.
In the end, it is the market that will decide, but if there important lessons to be learned from mass volume production I would expect that:
1. a legacy technology will fight for its place in the market as long as there is demand and can do so at very low cost as the industrial base is available and ongoing development cost are low
2. cost is mainly driven by volume and a technology that can reach high volume first will almost certainly out-compete others
Finally, for companies that invest strongly in R&D, new lighting technologies offer opportunities to take market share quickly against companies that innovate slower. This is, in my view, one of the reasons why we see major lighting companies announcing the end of the incandescent light bulb: these companies trust the new products they have developed.
And then there is this headline: Efficient lighting equals higher heat bills: study
see here: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2009/03/04/mb-light-bulbs.html
I am keeping a huge stash of incandescents. I just like them better, I don’t give a darn about the $150 a year savings best case, $30 worst case with CFLs.
Think about it, we are altering our lifestyles for the equivilant of a night out at the movies. Its just silly talk.
I am waiting for the next generation of LED, thats where we get real savings.
JT
Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine breaks a CFL on the carpet–cleanup bill 2,000USD
“The DEP specialist recommended Mrs. Bridges call an environmental clean-up firm which, reportedly, gave her a “low-ball” estimate of $2,000 to clean up the room. The room was then sealed-off with plastic and Mrs. Bridges began “gathering finances” to pay for the $2,000 cleaning. Reportedly, her insurance company wouldn’t cover the clean-up costs because mercury is a pollutant.”
We should all be asking our insurance cos if they cover CFL breakage. A break in the house could result in mercury levels in “excess of 6 times the state’s “safe” level for mercury contamination of 300 billionths of a gram per cubic meter.”
Sorry if this story is redundant to the thread,
Zeke
Stephen Brown says September 9, 2010 at 1:59 pm:
Really??? In what fantasy world?
Probably 75% of the machining areas in U.S. machine shops are lit with 48″ long fluorescent bulbs. I’ve been working with such companies since forever, and I have never even heard of any such problem. For one thing, all fluorescent bulbs charge up and discharge independently of each other, so any “strobe light” effect from one is offset by the others in the area – and in machining areas they use a LOT of them, for maximum illumination.
Those shops that are not lit by fluorescent bulbs are almost all lit by mercury vapour lights, which are even MORE stroboscopic. And with fewer of those per shop. they would have less offsetting charge-discharge strobe effect, but the danger you talk about isn’t happening here, with either kinds of lights.
Maybe the 50-Hertz used in Europe makes it all different from our 60-Hertz in the U.S. – but I’d bet against it.
ALSO – to have such an effect the machine rotation would need to be an exact multiple of the 50- or 60-Hertz and stay there. Semi-automated machines are set to run at ALL KINDS OF RPMS, to maximize the metal removal rates. VERY infrequently would those frequencies be a multiple of 50 or 60 Hertz.
ALSO – even in small machine shops, VERY LITTLE machining is still done on semi-automated (“Bridgeport” type) milling machines, or on semi-automated lathes. Those machines are dinosaurs now. The vast majority of parts are machined on CNC (computerized numerically-controlled) machines, with the machine not even capable of running without the guards engaged.
SUMMARY: Bad, sloppy thinking and talking about obsolete machine shop practices and almost nothing to do with reality in the year 2010. When was the last time you were in a machine shop? All the shops with old machines went out of business in the 1990s. Either that or they modernized.
Oddly, filament bulbs would last longer with a thicker filament. The idea that you have a bulb that “only” lasts 1000 hours (42 days of continuous usage, or 6-12 months for the average user) was nothing but a marketing gimmick. Most CFL buyers were more interested in the 3-5 year longevity of the CFL. I’ve moved my CFLs between three different residences now, and they still work well.
However, had GE just made a bigger filament, it would have made an incandescent with 3 to 5 times the life with equivalent power usage and a small sacrifice in lumens.
But the real culprit here is Congress, banning something that they really shouldn’t have.
I replaced most of my household with twisties several years ago. Here are some lessons:
1) Twisties do not work in the cold (below about 5C). They just don’t turn on or eventually glow at half brightness. Outdoor lights need to be incandescent.
2) I’ve not kept accurate numbers, but I seem to be replacing them at about the same rate as incandescents.
3) A 200W incandescent in the bathroom overhead saves heating because you can dry off and not feel as cold.
4) I really HATE the packaging that claims “same as X watt incandescent” What’s wrong with actually admitting how many lumens? More people would become numerate if they had a chance to calculate lumens/Watt. But then they’d become skeptical of government………………..
The few cfls I have tried (mostly spots for my kitchen) have been terrible . They don’t work well in systems with a dimmer switch and their failure rate is abyssmal . As far as incandescent bulbs go – most of the ones I’ve bought in the last several years have been made in China and don’t seem to last as long as the old US ones . Halogen bulbs get too hot .
Wally the Walrus posted on CFLs exploding for various reasons
George E. Smith says: September 9, 2010 at 1:59 pm
But Edison was something else; and I don’t remember much about the donnybrook with Tesla.
Here some less known, nonetheless interesting details from Tesla’s life and work.
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/Nikola%20Tesla.htm
That is to bad, that is the plant shuting down and all.
In northern contries, the $0.50 light bulb was 100% efficient, for about 6 months of the year. If you had cheep hydro, it is probably the best thing since sliced bread. Especially since there are no enviromental issues with incandescent bulbs.
Another political lunacy. Switching to low energy light bulbs will reduced the energy consumption of the UK by ~1% or less. F***ting against thunder if you’ll excuse the vulgarity. If we really want to save CO2 production which is, according to the great minds that control our destiny to object of the exercise, we should look at more efficient ways of generating “low carbon” energy i.e.: nuclear. Of course this will get the green lobby incandescent with rage. When we have power outages in the UK and our economy completely shatters I hape that the fingers will be pointed firmly at the EU and the major green movements and they will have to account for misery their total idiocy has inflicted on us.
I use CFL’s for only the lights that are left on for a long time…the family room, the office, etc. They are not good for closets, bedrooms, bathrooms as they will burn out rapidly with the short and numerous on cycles. But in general, I like them a great deal. Especially if I choose the 3000K variety.
Foe all the other, incandescent, lamps I have them on a dimmer. They last for 10 years, at least and allow all sorts of ambiance settings as well as use a less energy and produce a lot less heat while dimmed.
Jim
For all you people having a fit.
As far as I know you still will be able to buy high efficiency Quartz-Halogen incandescent bulbs. The Philips “Halogena Energy Saver” bulbs already are available at Home Depot. They are exempt.
They are far better than old incandescent bulbs at maintaining there light output over the life of the bulb and far more efficient than conventional incandescent bulbs and are available in a wide variety of sizes and shapes.
I do believe within 10 – 15 years cheap LED lamps, will make everything else obsolete.
Zeke the Sneak says:
September 9, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Your post is very relevant, and the $2,000 price tag for mercury cleanup is typical.
Now that most people cannot afford the cleanup cost, or have failed to read the label, home contamination has begun.
Incandescents are only going to offset heating costs if you are using electric resistance heating. Heat pumps provide more heat to the house for a similar amount of electricity and gas heating, may provide cheaper heat depending on the rates in your area. In areas of moderate winters and warm summers like mine, the net win is for lower heat output bulbs.
I know when my house was built the builder used non-standard incandescent bulbs because he said they would be available after the ban. Not sure if that is true, but I hope so. I have bought some LED bulbs for exterior use, but so far the costs are so high and the light output so low I have not use any inside. I have installed some CFLs as well but most of my fixtures can’t use them.
I normally read at least most of the posts before commenting, but figured I would throw this out there.
I have replaced most of the light-bulbs in my house with the new energy efficient variety simply because I am lazy and would rather have the higher run-times from them. I really like not having to replace light-bulbs especially the ones that require a ladder, its a convience.
That being said, I have moved three times in the last 5 years, and in each house, there were built in sockets that would simply flicker from these “brand new” lights and would only work with normal incandescent. It would require replacing the entire light fixture and possibly rewiring to put them in. I have no issues with the new light bulbs, but there probably should be something out there to address this issue…
The mentioning of 50 (or 60Hz) flicker above is incorrect. The variation in luminance is caused by the power cycle and not by the voltage cycle. Within one 20ms cycle power cycles twice through a light bulb. Once for the positive voltage phase and once for the negative voltage phase. During both phases the light bulb will light up. Hence the luminance changes with double the frequency of the voltage, which will be 100Hz (Or 120Hz).
http://www.olino.org/us/articles/2010/04/12/the-flickering-of-light-bulbs
“SUMMARY: Bad, sloppy thinking and talking about obsolete machine shop practices and almost nothing to do with reality in the year 2010. When was the last time you were in a machine shop? All the shops with old machines went out of business in the 1990s. Either that or they modernized.”
Not in the uK !
All the new machines were “exported” to China/India when the companies went out of business and the foreign companies bought the assets. The old machines still run in old companies….they were built to last !
Loads of places still use manual centre lathes and capstan lathes, not to mention mills.
Anyway, you’ll soon find that LEDS go out of favour….look at the amount of rare minerals used in their production….
Feet2thefire:
I’m not sure Steven Brown was addressing a non-problem of strobing so much as some law (he doesn’t give the jurisdiction) that supposedly assumes such a problem. I would suppose the ‘problem’ is two laws that contradict each other.
LEDs are cool and amazing technology. You guys come across as a grumpy old bunch of dinosaurs.
REPLY: Please count me out on your labeling, I have LED lighting and love it. See this:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/02/07/swapping-my-lights-fantastic/
-Anthony
I use mostly SMD LED lighting, but there are a couple of places where the thermal extremes are such that incandescent is the only possibility. So I will be there with the rest of you getting a lifetime supply for those areas. Bah, I wish the Congress would learn how to read.
I don’t know what problems others are having with CFLs, but I converted my whole house to them back in 2001 when energy costs in California went through the roof. I haven’t had any problems, and they regularly last 4+ years with multiple hours of daily use. Since I also live in Chico, I have the same tiered electric rates as Anthony (topping out at 40 cents per kwh), which means that any power savings is subtracted from the most expensive rate. Being in Chico also means that I’m only using the heater for 4 months out of the year, and the air conditioning for 6 months, so extra heat thrown off my incandescent bulbs is, on the whole, a bad thing. I crunched the numbers, and with low price of bulbs purchased in bulk from the local Costco, they paid for themselves in power savings in less than 3 months.
And the mercury thing is overblown. Every house in built in California for the last few decades has had regular fluorescent bulbs in the kitchen and bathrooms, and all these bulbs have mercury in them. When any fluorescent bulb burns out, whether CFL or regular, you just put them in the garage next to the old paint and dead batteries until you make your annual run to the local hazardous waste facility. If you’re concerned about breakage, don’t put a CFL into a tall top-heavy lamp.
One of the first actions taken by GE was to drop Edison’s filament and replace it with the filament developed by Joseph Swan. Swan went to the bother of inventing man-made fibres to create his superior filament.
His brother Alfred invented the modestly named Edison screw and also the bayonet fitting.
And, Joseph Swan had a far superior beard.