4 ms·

Not LED light bulbs specifically, but... "The Phoebus cartel engineered a shorter-lived lightbulb and gave birth to planned obsolescence" https://spectrum.iee

Not LED light bulbs specifically, but... "The Phoebus cartel engineered a shorter-lived lightbulb and gave birth to planned obsolescence" https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-great-lightbulb-conspiracy https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-great-lightbulb-conspiracy

RulerOf 2y ago
It's true that the Phoebus cartel arranged to have light bulbs die after a certain number of hours, but bulb lifetime is a trade off between lumens, filament life, and energy consumption. The cartel-defined lifetime limit sits very close to the sweet spot for all of those metrics for incandescent bulbs. Technology Connections explained this well in a video about a year ago: https://youtu.be/zb7Bs98KmnY https://youtu.be/zb7Bs98KmnY
- dotancohen 2y ago
  > bulb lifetime is a trade off between lumens, filament life, and energy consumption At a specific temperature, using specific materials. There is no reason to suspect that material science would not advance. Or other constraints would change. A specific company choosing that particular sweetspot for a particular product line is fine. But a collusion between companies dictating that specific constraint (in lieu of, e.g., wattage per lumen) is too clear a marker of anti-consumer intent.
  - rcxdude 2y ago
    >At a specific temperature, using specific materials. The temperature of incandescent bulbs is directly related to the light that they give off, and tungsten is the obvious best material, there's no other materials on the horizon giving an improvement for the tech. It really is a pretty well understood tradeoff surface on a very mature technology (which was then displaced by completely different ones).
    - dotancohen 2y ago
      Advancements in materials led to LED bulbs, which operate under different principles and run fall cooler. Yet the time-limited bulb lifetime remains.

4 ms·

Not LED light bulbs specifically, but... "The Phoebus cartel engineered a shorter-lived lightbulb and gave birth to planned obsolescence" https://spectrum.iee

by sillystuff 2y ago

RulerOf 2y ago
It's true that the Phoebus cartel arranged to have light bulbs die after a certain number of hours, but bulb lifetime is a trade off between lumens, filament life, and energy consumption. The cartel-defined lifetime limit sits very close to the sweet spot for all of those metrics for incandescent bulbs. Technology Connections explained this well in a video about a year ago: https://youtu.be/zb7Bs98KmnY https://youtu.be/zb7Bs98KmnY
- dotancohen 2y ago
  > bulb lifetime is a trade off between lumens, filament life, and energy consumption At a specific temperature, using specific materials. There is no reason to suspect that material science would not advance. Or other constraints would change. A specific company choosing that particular sweetspot for a particular product line is fine. But a collusion between companies dictating that specific constraint (in lieu of, e.g., wattage per lumen) is too clear a marker of anti-consumer intent.
  - rcxdude 2y ago
    >At a specific temperature, using specific materials. The temperature of incandescent bulbs is directly related to the light that they give off, and tungsten is the obvious best material, there's no other materials on the horizon giving an improvement for the tech. It really is a pretty well understood tradeoff surface on a very mature technology (which was then displaced by completely different ones).
    - dotancohen 2y ago
      Advancements in materials led to LED bulbs, which operate under different principles and run fall cooler. Yet the time-limited bulb lifetime remains.