5 ms·
Dubai Lamp
- ladberg 6y agoThese have gotten some attention recently probably because of Big Clive's great video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klaJqofCsu4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klaJqofCsu4
- PragmaticPulp 6y agoFor context: These are ultra-efficient LED light bulbs that are currently exclusive to the UAE. LED efficiency is non-linear with increasing power input. LEDs are most efficient at lower currents. The harder an LED is driven, the less marginal increase in light output. The Dubai Lamp gets higher efficiency by using more LEDs and driving them in the more efficient part of their operating curve. More parts cost, but lower energy costs long-term.
- makomk 6y agoAlso worse colour temperature and colour quality than some of the lower-efficiency LEDs, I believe (there's a tradeoff there).
- bradknowles 6y agoThis was covered in the original video. In short, people in Dubai like a cooler color temperature indoors, because the temperature outdoors tends to be hotter. The government is smart enough to recognize this fact, and build it into the exclusive contract they have with Philips.
- lsllc 6y agoWhy are they exclusive to the UAE? (neither this article, nor the one linked from the HN discussion the other day mention exclusivity). If it was a UAE manufacturer, I could see why, but you'd think Philips would want to sell world-wide.
- moistly 6y agoIs it to their advantage to sell lamps that last much, much longer?
- pepe56 6y agoYou can be sure light bulbs no matter the type will never reach even 5% of what they could reach if research would focus on longevity instead of controlled failure.
- fakedang 6y agoI presume the tech was first developed in tandem for street lighting, and then carried over to household lighting because the government said so. It's interesting as it is a common management consulting case study. As another comment mentions, most bulbs don't even reach their current full lifespan.
- fakedang 6y agoIt's a private-public partnership between a government authority and Philips. The government likely has a stake in the license.
- collyw 6y agoThanks, their website was pretty crap at explaining what it is / and how it differs from other lightbulbs.
- jl2718 6y agoThis is complicated. At low current there is no photon generation because all you get is leakage. Then the generation increases with current, while a lot of photons are lost to reflection and recombination and the leakage increases with thermal recombination. As the current increases, the carrier population densities become inverted and then most of the generation is through stimulated emission, which is much more efficient, and the reflections actually help drop the critical current to get to this point. The dream structure would be a very small junction region with high optical and electrical confinement, low defects, and high thermal conductivity. I would expect this to be a SiC wire with a thin strained CVD GaN crystal layer in a Bragg reflector outer shell. Just to be clear I know nothing of the last 15 years of progress.
- andreygrehov 6y agoPrevious HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25808959 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25808959
- asadhaider 6y agoPrevious HN discussion a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25808959 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25808959
- sleepless 6y agoCalled the german ministry of environment. They weren't even aware, these LEDs exist. One good option would be to move this into legislation. This would be a great addition to the "Ökodesign-Richtlinie" (https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/themen/wirtschaft-konsum/produkte/oekodesign/oekodesign-richtlinie https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/themen/wirtschaft-konsum/prod...) regulating product design for better sustainability and repairability.
- nikolay 6y agoMeanwhile, you can buy these now: https://www.swanwicksleep.com/collections/other-swannies-products/products/better-nights-anti-blue-light-led-bulb https://www.swanwicksleep.com/collections/other-swannies-pro...
- kps 6y agoWhat does that have to do with the ‘Dubai Lamp’? It's substantially less efficient than a typical LED bulb, and makes no claim about lifetime.
- nikolay 6y agoNo UV light bleeding.
- londons_explore 6y agoIt's just a bunch of red and green LEDs inside a regular housing..