Oh my god. This is quite literally the FOURTH time I have come across this article today! Why is everyone posting this?! I have a very poor opinion of this article but frankly I'm tired of being...
Oh my god. This is quite literally the FOURTH time I have come across this article today! Why is everyone posting this?!
I have a very poor opinion of this article but frankly I'm tired of being negative today and I don't think anyone would want to hear my thoughts, so I'll keep them to myself for the moment.
I will say one thing: incandescent light bulbs are more efficient heaters than they are light sources. 2% of the energy you put into them gets turned into light, and the remaining 98% gets turned into heat. That's why they use those kinds of bulbs in Easy-Bake ovens.
Were incandescent bulbs really even used that much in the decade or so prior to LEDs? At least personally I and most people I knew were on CFLs, for all their faults, so I found it weird that the...
Were incandescent bulbs really even used that much in the decade or so prior to LEDs? At least personally I and most people I knew were on CFLs, for all their faults, so I found it weird that the article presumed so. A 60w bulb incadescent outputs 60 watts of heat. That's the first setting on my space heater! Irrespective of the inefficiency they turn rooms into furnaces without much effort if you have even a couple in a room.
Not a downside in the colder states. It was kind of nice how incadecent bulbs would provide just the right amount of heat on those chilly spring/fall days to avoid kicking on the furnace. If they...
Not a downside in the colder states. It was kind of nice how incadecent bulbs would provide just the right amount of heat on those chilly spring/fall days to avoid kicking on the furnace. If they were less fragile I would honestly use them in the winter months and sub them out for LED in the warmer months.
I very much do appreciate the much lower fire risks with LEDs though.
Still a downside in colder states, because electricity is far more expensive per BTU than natural gas. Your incandescent bulbs are doing work your furnace and good LED bulbs can do for a fraction...
Still a downside in colder states, because electricity is far more expensive per BTU than natural gas. Your incandescent bulbs are doing work your furnace and good LED bulbs can do for a fraction of the cost.
When I said "furnace", I meant literal wood-burning. Hauling in logs from outdoors. This was awhile ago. Nowadays I have an all-electric house with solar panels and baseboard electric, which is...
When I said "furnace", I meant literal wood-burning. Hauling in logs from outdoors. This was awhile ago.
Nowadays I have an all-electric house with solar panels and baseboard electric, which is being subbed out for minisplit heat pumps as I can afford to.
A baseboard and incadecents do the job roughly equivalently, but the baseboards don't provide light.
That flickering effect does annoy me, and I know it’s due to bad PWM controls - it really leaves me wondering why any engineer would think that PWM was an adequate control scheme in this case.
That flickering effect does annoy me, and I know it’s due to bad PWM controls - it really leaves me wondering why any engineer would think that PWM was an adequate control scheme in this case.
Oh my god. This is quite literally the FOURTH time I have come across this article today! Why is everyone posting this?!
I have a very poor opinion of this article but frankly I'm tired of being negative today and I don't think anyone would want to hear my thoughts, so I'll keep them to myself for the moment.
I will say one thing: incandescent light bulbs are more efficient heaters than they are light sources. 2% of the energy you put into them gets turned into light, and the remaining 98% gets turned into heat. That's why they use those kinds of bulbs in Easy-Bake ovens.
Were incandescent bulbs really even used that much in the decade or so prior to LEDs? At least personally I and most people I knew were on CFLs, for all their faults, so I found it weird that the article presumed so. A 60w bulb incadescent outputs 60 watts of heat. That's the first setting on my space heater! Irrespective of the inefficiency they turn rooms into furnaces without much effort if you have even a couple in a room.
Not a downside in the colder states. It was kind of nice how incadecent bulbs would provide just the right amount of heat on those chilly spring/fall days to avoid kicking on the furnace. If they were less fragile I would honestly use them in the winter months and sub them out for LED in the warmer months.
I very much do appreciate the much lower fire risks with LEDs though.
Still a downside in colder states, because electricity is far more expensive per BTU than natural gas. Your incandescent bulbs are doing work your furnace and good LED bulbs can do for a fraction of the cost.
When I said "furnace", I meant literal wood-burning. Hauling in logs from outdoors. This was awhile ago.
Nowadays I have an all-electric house with solar panels and baseboard electric, which is being subbed out for minisplit heat pumps as I can afford to.
A baseboard and incadecents do the job roughly equivalently, but the baseboards don't provide light.
That flickering effect does annoy me, and I know it’s due to bad PWM controls - it really leaves me wondering why any engineer would think that PWM was an adequate control scheme in this case.
Good LED bulbs have a much higher PWM frequency and it's not a problem.
Using PWM improves energy efficiency and allows LED bulbs to run cooler.