What is Digg?89 Comments
- SolarCoupons, on 11/29/2007, -3/+58Great news! The less energy we use in our homes, the less money we have to spend on solar panels to run them, the more people will buy solar panels. Giggidy giggidy!
- Ajajadude, on 11/29/2007, -0/+43They need to start rolling this kind of thing out for parking lot lights and the such en masse. I can't even imagine the amount of energy and money being wasted on that kind of thing.
- DiggChainey, on 11/29/2007, -1/+41I run all my household lighting with LEDs connected to my battery bank and a Solar Panel. I spent about 175 dollars total on the system. The most expensive being the used solar panel, but well worth it. Since June 1st I've saved close to 45 dollars per month on average from my electric bill. The system has paid for it's self already. Best investment I've ever made. The lights will probably outlast me.
- socialpyramid, on 11/29/2007, -5/+45"The Department of Energy has estimated that LEDs could reduce national energy consumption for lighting by 29% by 2025. That would save U.S. households $125 billion on their electric bills."
- neilcreek, on 11/29/2007, -0/+17We, and the Earth, would be in your debt if you would provide us with a tutorial or guide to do the same thing. The desire and enthusiasm is there from many people, but not the knowhow. Please share with us! :)
- PATSCRU, on 11/29/2007, -3/+18I do believe you're the first person ever to ever "giggidy" over solar panels, and i've heard giggidies for some of the most outlandish reasons. For that i commend you. You're honorary medal is in the mail.
- mrASSMAN, on 11/29/2007, -0/+13Also saves money in the summer.. with less heat produced homes will stay a bit cooler so A/C systems don't have to work as hard.
- Typhoon2009, on 11/29/2007, -6/+19Hurrah. CFLs don't give good light and have mercury. Seriously what gives? "Oh yeah, switch to CFLs, nevermind the mercury that goes into the landfills. Oh, and have fun cleaning up if you accidentally drop it and it breaks!" LEDs are what I have been waiting for. If cheap LED lights come to the masses, I'm switching over ASAP.
- inactive, on 11/29/2007, -1/+14I didn't see a numerical price anywhere. That's the only thing holding leds back right now.
- evil-doer, on 11/29/2007, -2/+14by the sound of the title, i thought it was a breakthrough in manufacturing that would lower the costs of buying the bulbs. LED lights are SUPER expensive. but no, its just a more efficient bulb. which is still good, but these get 1uped every few months all the time. id like to see them actually be affordable because they are far superior to fluorescent.
- Gemfinder, on 11/29/2007, -0/+10$125 billion? That's probably what the average house will *cost* in 2025.
- 13B1303, on 11/29/2007, -0/+10sodium lights are extremely efficient, more efficient than CFLs as a matter of fact. It will be hard to beat the sodium bulbs for the price, even with power factored in. 180+ lumens/watt is a hard # to beat
- laserdog, on 11/29/2007, -3/+13A North Carolina company has made a major breakthrough in the science of vague vaporware press releases!
- altgeeky1, on 11/29/2007, -2/+11"Oh yeah, switch to CFLs, nevermind the mercury that goes into the landfills. Oh, and have fun cleaning up if you accidentally drop it and it breaks!"
There is mercury in CFLs, but a very trivial amount. How much? Less than any disposable or rechargable battery. Most people don't know or care that batteries are NOT supposed to be thrown out in common trash... yet they do, and sites like dealnews.com literally CREAM themselves at '100 AA batteries for $9.99!'.
If you've ever been to a public beach, you've been exposed to more mercury.
Besides, a LOT MORE than mercury is going to end up in the water supply if the water table RISES due to increased global temperatures and melting tundra.
Not to sound cynical, but most USA trash is exported to Canada and China. Why worry? ;-) (kidding) - balatus84, on 11/29/2007, -0/+9What kind of bulbs are you using? What voltage system is it? Details, man!
- TrainingName, on 11/29/2007, -0/+9Especially when you have 4 parallel lights across the highway, every 20 feet.
Couple zillion dollars down the drain each year, don't you think? - LeeSoong, on 11/29/2007, -0/+8Solar LEDs light my walkways and this year I switched over my Christmas lights to all LEDs - looks great!
- mode87, on 11/29/2007, -0/+7ya, where did you get such a cheap solar panel? how many watts is it?
- DiggChainey, on 11/29/2007, -0/+7I live in the snow belt. My city uses LED's on a few traffic lights. We have never had a problem
- LeeSoong, on 11/29/2007, -0/+7wire your house with USB ports for DC power and those little LED lamps that plug into laptops...
LEDs are the best - and made right here in the USA North Carolina.
No Mercury, less power.
Now start putting these innovations all together:
15 % power LED lighting, Upgraded 40% efficiency solar power panels, improved SO2 rechargeable energy storage batteries, improved home insulation, ultra-efficient heating / air conditioning.
If the USA invested a $2 Trillion tax credit / refund for upgrading all the homes in the USA - we wouldn't have to worry so much about middle east oil supplies.
(oh, and add wind power, hydro power, bio-fuels, etc into the mix too!) - Narcowski, on 11/29/2007, -0/+6Hey, my state did something useful!
- testuzer, on 11/29/2007, -0/+5They have not made any new breakthroughs. LLF has assembled an end user product, and this wreaks of marketing.
From their press release at http://www.llfinc.com/PressRelease.aspx?ID=22 "We used Cree, Inc. XLamp and OSRAM Opto Semiconductors Golden Dragon products in the lamp .."
http://www.cree.com/products/xlamp.asp
http://catalog.osram-os.com/catalogue/catalogue.do ... - nicktripp, on 11/29/2007, -0/+4Actually, the city of Raleigh, NC is doing that.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/14/raleigh-officia ... - MasterThief117, on 11/29/2007, -0/+4The theatre I work in just got these new LED PAR's and I must say, these things are incredible. I believe they are only 35 watts but they compare to the 500 watt ones we use. Such a save in energy.
- slvrtgr, on 11/29/2007, -0/+4:)
My hometowns Morrisville
WOOT!!! yea NC - merper, on 11/29/2007, -0/+4When you factor in that these things literally last decades AND save on energy bill, they're already much cheaper. It's just that when you see a $1 incandescent next to a $20 LED, well people don't have a mindset of buying lightbulbs that last more than a couple years, so they assume the same from the LED. We're working on costs but it will be a while before you get a device price close to a CFL.
- Gemfinder, on 11/29/2007, -0/+4San Jose gave us flexible, 30-cents-a-watt solar panels, and now this. The future is here, my friends.
- knobtwiddler, on 11/29/2007, -1/+5actually it was an alphabetical price, you missed it.
- KraftDinner101, on 11/29/2007, -0/+4Lol a green conscious pot grower.
- knobtwiddler, on 11/29/2007, -0/+3get back in your cage!
- Arthemys, on 11/29/2007, -1/+4The concept is ideally to lower theft/damage to property. IE the cars parked there and hopefully keep people safe.
I recall reading an article that contrasted the before and after of when London first installed street lamps, way back when... Showing a significant decrease in violence. (though I do agree, burning lights like that is money down the drain, especially in the new style car dealerships, there's a Ford dealer near me and their lights are brighter than the sun, literally.) - Tartled, on 11/29/2007, -0/+3Smells of marketing BS. Those numbers do not add up. A 60 watt equivalent CFL uses about 13 watts, and 5.8 watts is nowhere near 30% of that.
- LeRenard, on 11/29/2007, -0/+3instructables that man!
- andy3109, on 11/29/2007, -0/+3$20? Where can you get a good $20 LED light bulb?
- Gemfinder, on 11/29/2007, -0/+3Nanosolar, but not until next year.
- 80hd, on 11/29/2007, -0/+3I can't stand the flickering of led christmas lights.
Given the fact that they use SO MUCH less power I can deal though.
DLP on the other hand.... - Pritchard, on 11/29/2007, -0/+3"I can't even imagine the amount of energy and money being wasted on that kind of thing." - Probably about 125 billion dollars.
- knobtwiddler, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2I use them where the sun don't shine !
- bmobile, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2Nevermind, "BoneheadFarker" found it: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11/cree_led.p ...
- krahzee, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2Due to the life span of the bulbs, not only will the leds be cheaper to run in energy costs, but since you do not have to send out crews to change them as often a large city could also factor in overtime and straight pay in labor as part of the savings.
Sure other problems in light poles can and will always develop over the years of use, but think about how many dead street light bulbs a city must have to deal with at one time. - MorbenDK, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2No to mention changing building regulations to require some of these things.
- howea, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2Also the typical Fluorescent lamp has about 5x the mercury vapor.
Thinking back how many we broke while having light-sabre duels - ats314, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2all i read was grow weed cheaper without heat detection
- telepwn, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2Actually, if taken on the whole, meaning if everyone switched to using CFLs in the US instead of incandescent bulbs, there would be a decrease in mercury releases to the environment because a lot more mercury comes from coal plants and such and the decrease in energy usage would outweigh the actual mercury found in the CFLs.
- Darksaber11, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2Now, where can we actually buy them?
- inactive, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2I'm sure they could make a full spectrum light.
- CannibalTom, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2LED energy efficiency will greatly help Cannabis growers, save tons on electrical.
- rockdawg, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2It's about time we started using L.E.D.s in place of incandecent and flourecent lighting. Just think how cool the christmass trees will look from now on! :-)
- inactive, on 11/29/2007, -2/+4Anyone think this would be good for growing weed? Think it'll be in the right light spectrum?
- UnstableMind, on 11/29/2007, -0/+2Ummm, no. The co-op's and electrical companies will raise rates to compensate for the loss of funding.
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