Posted on 01/12/2016 6:11:16 AM PST by Freeport
US researchers say they have developed a technique that can significantly improve the efficiency of the traditional incandescent lightbulb. These older bulbs have been phased out in many countries because they waste huge amounts of energy as heat. But scientists at MIT have found a way of recycling the waste energy and focussing it back on the filament where it is re-emitted as visible light. The development has been reported in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Little has changed in the technology of the incandescent lightbulb since they were commercially developed by Thomas Edison in the US in the 1880s.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
It will be interesting to see the cost of the glass doping process and materials.
But for such a huge increase in energy-to-light conversion, I'm in!
Hate the spaghetti bulbs and LED’s can be overwhelming. If someone can bring back a good old incandescent bulb, more power to him!
I’m with you on the good old ones. I bought enough of them to last me for many years, so my kids will be able to use them!
Same here. Got a bunch for Christmas last year. Wasn’t too happy about it but oh well, I’m stocked up anyway. Lol.
They were banned because of a lie about man made global warming. The industry seemed to be on board with selling the public newer more expensive bulbs.
If something is a better mousetrap, the public will beat a path to your door.
We’ve outlawed televisions, light bulbs, toilets, air conditioners, and dishwasher detergent. This is not the purpose of government and the replacements are not superior.
I want to see LED Christmas lights go away. They have such a cold, harsh light and cast no glow whatsoever. Depressing. Give me the warm glow of twinkling incandescents on a cold winter’s night!
Will they be made in China?
Very good post.
All of the “new” bulbs are made in, and imported from China.
We are running a MASSIVE trade deficit with China.
This is very, very cool! (minor physics pun there).
The question is whether the ultimate cost of the coating will make it cost effective because of the relatively short life of the heated filament.
For the technically oriented, the article has a link to the Nature Technology article, which then has a further link at the bottom of the references which describes in detail the calculations involved.
There was nothing wrong with the old incandescent bulbs. I hate the crappy European lighting. It makes me feel sick.
I bought some LED at Target this past season (Target has lit displays of each variety so you can get an idea of brightness).....was pleasantly surprised to see that these equalled the glow of my oldies.
17,000 Americans lost their jobs when Immelt/GE forced the incandescent bulb into the trash bin. TA DAH—and magically the new GE bulbs are made in China. Just another way to make life difficult for Americans.
In winter; Is the heat from the old bulb really “wasted energy”?
Yellow lights are hideous!
I like 4100K - white with just a hint of yellow. Easy on the eyes.
For reading 3500K produces a more pleasant yellow without being overpowering.
For me, I’ll never know why I lived with 2700K incandescent most of my life.
Now they come in different colors. You can have the same color as your old bulbs or daylight color, anything in between.
I am remodeling a house at this time and replacing all the bulbs with LED's. It will cut the cost of lighting by at least 75%. If the power companies would push them as fervently as they pushed CFL's, they could avoid costly expansion programs and we could keep the mercury out of our homes.
This new technology looks good, but at what cost?
I was at our local Orchard Supply Hardware store last week and spotted regular old incandescent bulbs on a shelf end-cap. I was stunned, did a double-take, and stopped to see if it was true. Yep, they were indeed good old-fashioned incandescent bulbs. This was a huge shocker. It still rattles me seeing the $0.59 incandescent bulbs next to the $5-$10 LED bulbs.
My cache of a couple hundred is still going strong.
I hope this invention has commercial promise.
But what am I going to use in my Easy Bake Oven?
My wife and I were counting the houses that use the old fashioned C6 bulbs — there weren’t many any more. We are C6 stalwarts. We even refuse to upgrade to new-dangled inventions like blinking bulbs or “sparkly” types. Plain old colored bulbs for us.
I use and incandescent on a desktop moveable arm lamp. It works as a hand warmer over the mouse in the winter. Electricity well spent....
The only positive is that they're instantly at full brightness when you flip 'em on.......but I doubt they throw off the light of a 40W incandescent.
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