4 ms·

I suppose a nice example would be city lights. There was an article lately about how electrical consumption for city lights increased despite the switch to LED

I suppose a nice example would be city lights. There was an article lately about how electrical consumption for city lights increased despite the switch to LEDs. Can't quite find the article though, but here is one about light pollution increasing (which does not necessarily correlate with electrical consumption, but still): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/light-pollution-increasing-around-globe/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/light-pollution-increasing-arou...

gameswithgo 9y ago
> There was an article lately about how electrical consumption for city lights increased despite the switch to LEDs. Its something like a 6x reduction in electric usage vs incandescent, how would people manage to use 6x more light? OR was this a switch from CFL to LED that led to more usage?
- grondilu 9y ago
  They'd just have to use at least six times more lights. Or leave them on more often. That does not seem impossible to me. That being said, I may just be misremembering it. Maybe it was just about light pollution, but I do think it was about electric consumption. I'm just not sure.
- amalcon 9y ago
  Most streetlamps had been HID lamps for a long time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_discharge_lamp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_discharge_lamp Efficiency was one reason for this, but the bigger reason was just that (for the duty cycle of a streetlamp) they require fewer installations and last way longer than incandescent bulbs. This means that the maintenance costs are much lower.
oftenwrong 9y ago
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/10/led-light-cfl-b.html http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/10/led-light-cfl-b.html this?
- grondilu 9y ago
  This is ten years old. I was thinking of a much more recent article.
kurthr 9y ago
Maybe this one from 2015? I remember hearing it on the radio. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20082015/lighting-paradox-cheaper-efficient-led-save-energy-use-rises https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20082015/lighting-paradox... I have to say that the amount of new light installed is truly huge and interfering with astronomical viewing. Don't bother telling someone to remember to turn off the lights anymore either... they'll look at you like you're a martian.
- srtjstjsj 9y ago
  How would they know what a martian looks like, if light pollution ruins telescopy?

gameswithgo 9y ago

> There was an article lately about how electrical consumption for city lights increased despite the switch to LEDs. Its something like a 6x reduction in electric usage vs incandescent, how would people manage to use 6x more light? OR was this a switch from CFL to LED that led to more usage?

grondilu 9y ago
They'd just have to use at least six times more lights. Or leave them on more often. That does not seem impossible to me. That being said, I may just be misremembering it. Maybe it was just about light pollution, but I do think it was about electric consumption. I'm just not sure.
amalcon 9y ago
Most streetlamps had been HID lamps for a long time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_discharge_lamp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_discharge_lamp Efficiency was one reason for this, but the bigger reason was just that (for the duty cycle of a streetlamp) they require fewer installations and last way longer than incandescent bulbs. This means that the maintenance costs are much lower.

oftenwrong 9y ago

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/10/led-light-cfl-b.html http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/10/led-light-cfl-b.html this?

grondilu 9y ago
This is ten years old. I was thinking of a much more recent article.

kurthr 9y ago

Maybe this one from 2015? I remember hearing it on the radio. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20082015/lighting-paradox-cheaper-efficient-led-save-energy-use-rises https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20082015/lighting-paradox... I have to say that the amount of new light installed is truly huge and interfering with astronomical viewing. Don't bother telling someone to remember to turn off the lights anymore either... they'll look at you like you're a martian.

srtjstjsj 9y ago
How would they know what a martian looks like, if light pollution ruins telescopy?