No quite right.
Until last year.
No solar panels made would “generate” more energy in their life , than used in the manufacture and shipping

Low energy compact ( looks like light bulb)..include lots of electronics as you found. .but all is discarded..
Some manufacturers did do a system where just the tube was changed..but they cost tuppence more and where “unsightly”..so we get to where we are today…LED lamps will not fall in price since the manufactures still have an investment to pay off on cfl ..

Of course you are being conned.

All this rubbish about 'low energy' this and that is literally rubbish.

Yes, a 60watt light bulb emits a fair proportion of its energy as heat, and the removal of the heat is all you are saving with the new lamps.

So if you remove all of the old incandescent lamps and substitute them for the new types you will have to supplement the removed heat from another source i'e your heating system, if you wish to retain your current comfort levels.

You don't get anything for nothing

Apart from the questionable energy safer, it is also hazardous waste containing quicksilver. Niko.

Guess where all those circuit boards and components are being manufactured ?
Could it possibly be the same part of the plannet with air pollution so bad, there are times you can’t see acrosd the road ??

But it’s not over here so that’s alright rhen….

To all of the above contributors.

Please go to your local government brainwashing department for 'retraining'.

Your views are contrary to the government's 'experts' and therefor need adjusting.

As I understand it, the pollution produced in one country, stays in that country. ha ha ha ha ha ha. In china they just have pollution fog, In this country we have 'green' fog, but some can see through it.

Hi there, Ian,

That sounds OK if you say it quickly. However, when you work out the required cross-sctional-area of copper required to distribute a low voltage supply any distance without excessive voltage drop, it gets less practicable. Copper is expensive and the second-best, aluminium, is tricky to work and to joint.

[I did once tease a Hi-Fi dealer (he was trying to sell me gold-plated loudspeaker cables) that I linked my loudspeakers to my amplifier via the flow and return pipes of the microbore central heating system.]

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

I love this one.

Mercury is used in low energy lights, dentistry etc but is banned from "normal" use such as barometers, manometers and such like. Why? Because it is poisonous.

May I suggest another reason. Mercury, like Helium and Gold, is a material that has a very finite quantity on this planet. Very little more will be found so in normal circumstances its cost will go up with demand. So you ban it for normal use, which frees up an awful lot of the stuff for use in all these lights.

OK, it is poisonous.

JA

(1) No-one has ever done it large scale but it is possible in principle to transmit light directly around a house rather than distribute electricity to work lamps to produce light in different rooms .

Central lighting source per house could probably be much more efficient than multiple ‘ clever technology bulbs ‘ .

Central source doesn’t have to be particularly small and could be part of an integrated energy management system for property .

(2) Various people have proposed schemes for the wireless transmission of power electricity over large and small distances .

Tesla seems to have been first to propose but he got his sums wrong so project died .

HG Mathews actually demonstrated a high power system on the hills a few miles from here .

Don’t think I’d like to live anywhere where power electricity was being transmitted around me and through me but idea might have some mileage for special applications .

MikeW

> So if you remove all of the old incandescent lamps and substitute them for the new types you will have to supplement the removed heat from another source i'e your heating system, if you wish to retain your current comfort levels.

A true point that is little mentioned, although it is a seasonal effect (in summer it makes the air conditioning work harder, if you have any) and it depends somewhat on how you control your heating. It's one of the advantages of a condensing tumble drier – although not really any more efficient, all the heat is recycled into the house instead of down a pipe.

I have greatly reduced our home heating costs – almost entirely by waging war on draughts, of which their are legion in our much-modified 30's semi.

> WHAT was used in place of lead?John

Err, what about nothing? The engines were designed to run on lower octane petrols and valve seat designs were changed. Yes there were/are additives for non-compatible engines (are you thinking of the manganese compuinds used in Australasia?).

> Low voltage systems

The problem is lower voltage means much higher currents, bigger, thicker conductors and greater risk of fire. 240V optimises conductor size, whilst 110V, symmetrical around earth is relatively safe.

May finally be a practical proposition with more efficient LED and modern electronics that run on relatively low currents, although even a 50W TV will need 4A at 12V and 8A at 6V. I think that what will probably happen is a 5V standard with outlets of up to 2A which we will use for all the small electrical equipment, with the larger gear still using AC mains.

Personally I think the UK 240V should be dropped to match most of Europe's 220V (230V is a compromise nominal value that suits both systems within the margin for error).

The drop would not materially affect most electrical/electronic equipment and it would reduce the consumption of non-thermostatic heaters etc. with materially affecting performance. Probably not popular with the energy companies…

Neil

Edited By Stub Mandrel on 23/01/2014 18:57:30

Stub Mandrel & Lofty76,

Thanx 4 xplanation of lead substitution. Too long ago now to remember where I read about a mercury compound having replaced a lead one. I accept what you have both said.

As regards previous posts about electronics, there are plenty of other mad changes. I believe you can no longer purchase "paraffin" but you can still obtain the same stuff if you call it "lamp oil"!!

I can still buy old type incandescent bulbs as they are only banned for sale for home use. Still available for "industrial use" whatever that means.

Good `ol Creosote has gone. So do own car oil changes and use old muck as preservative on garden fence -recycling! If neighbour asks, its not a lie to call it wood preservative!

.

Dave

I have to disagree … In the early 1980s, the best 12v lighting available was Tungsten Quartz Halogen.

But modern LED lamps are much more efficient than these, so the rules have changed.

At an average of [say] 20 Watts per room, the wiring requirements should be quite modest.

Ian's suggestion makes sense to me … We just need one decently engineered power supply to feed a low-voltage circuit … 'though I'm not sure if it would be better as ring, or star. I would go for a nominal 12volt DC, to make it compatible with car systems [for the benefits of spin-off technology].

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 23/01/2014 23:44:35