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LED lighting is a perfect example of how technology can eliminate any trade-offs for becoming more efficient. I would say EVs are another. This is definitely n

by zaroth 4y ago

LED lighting is a perfect example of how technology can eliminate any trade-offs for becoming more efficient. I would say EVs are another. This is definitely not always the case, but any time that it is, I think market adoption will be swift and eventually universal. For me, the take away is that ultimately to be successful the efficient and sustainable choice needs to be the better choice on the individual level.

dredmorbius 4y ago
30 years ago my neighbours didn't have garden lighting running until midnight every night. Today they do. That's only one example of a lighting application which LEDs have enabled. It's just not that we crank up the lumen output in every lighting fixture (though that happened in many cases). It's not just that we've started illuminating parts of our houses, offices, and exteriors which were never previously illuminated (though that's also happened). It's that activities and populations which never previously could afford to run a 60W bulb now have multiple 10W LEDs. Those might be mains or battery powered (or a combination). There's also the reliability factor. Mains power which shuts off for hours per day is useful, but has limits. Mains power which shuts off for only a few minutes or seconds per year is far more useful. Access to electricity has increased from 78% to 90% of the global population since 2000. That's nearly a billion more people with access to lighting. Kenya is a reasonably modernised country in Africa, with 47 million citizens. Its total electric generation capacity is about 2.6 GW (roughly the equivalent of a single major US or EU power station). That works out to 55 watts of power per person. Less than a single 60W light bulb. (Actual peak demand was 1.9 GW, November, 2019, or 40 watts/person.) With such a limited supply, availability of LED lighting could very well lead to far more lighting, and a shift from other energy uses. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Kenya https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Kenya https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya

by zaroth 4y ago

dredmorbius 4y ago

30 years ago my neighbours didn't have garden lighting running until midnight every night. Today they do. That's only one example of a lighting application which LEDs have enabled. It's just not that we crank up the lumen output in every lighting fixture (though that happened in many cases). It's not just that we've started illuminating parts of our houses, offices, and exteriors which were never previously illuminated (though that's also happened). It's that activities and populations which never previously could afford to run a 60W bulb now have multiple 10W LEDs. Those might be mains or battery powered (or a combination). There's also the reliability factor. Mains power which shuts off for hours per day is useful, but has limits. Mains power which shuts off for only a few minutes or seconds per year is far more useful. Access to electricity has increased from 78% to 90% of the global population since 2000. That's nearly a billion more people with access to lighting. Kenya is a reasonably modernised country in Africa, with 47 million citizens. Its total electric generation capacity is about 2.6 GW (roughly the equivalent of a single major US or EU power station). That works out to 55 watts of power per person. Less than a single 60W light bulb. (Actual peak demand was 1.9 GW, November, 2019, or 40 watts/person.) With such a limited supply, availability of LED lighting could very well lead to far more lighting, and a shift from other energy uses. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Kenya https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Kenya https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya