Incandescent Bulbs Return To the Cutting Edge

lee1 writes "A law in the US that is due to take effect in 2012 mandates such tough efficiency standards for lightbulbs that it has been assumed, until recently, that it would kill off the incandescent bulb. Instead, the law has become a case study of the way government regulation can inspire technical innovation. For example, new incandescent technology from Philips that seals the traditional filament inside a small capsule (which itself is contained within the familiar bulb). The capsule has a coating that reflects heat back to the filament, where it is partially converted to light. The sophisticated ($5.00) bulbs are about 30% more efficient than the old-fashioned ($0.25) kind, and should last about three times as long. So they are less economical than compact fluorescents, but should emit a more pleasing spectrum, not contain mercury, and, one supposes, present the utility company with a more desirable power factor."

Comments

A modest proposal

[Man On Pink Corner]

On the other hand, mercury is toxic forever. It never, ever, becomes safe, no matter how long you wait. When the glass breaks it'll poison you just as well in a million years as it does today.

No, no, you're missing the beauty of it. Instead of using normal mercury, there should be a mandate for light bulbs to use mercury-194, which has a half-life of 444 years. A perfectly-manageable timeframe for waste storage.

Another cool thing is that the bulb lights up without even being plugged in. It actually generates energy rather than consuming it.

But here's the really cool thing: according to Wikipedia, Hg-194 decays by electron capture into Au-194. That's right, in 400 years half of the mercury in your light bulb will have turned to gold. Replace all of your household lamps with Hg-194 compact fluorescents, and you won't even want to throw your burned-out light bulbs away in the first place!

It's amazing how many seemingly-intractable environmental problems would go away if people would just think outside the box a little.

Re:A modest proposal

[u38cg]

Occasionally a crackhead^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H mod will be so impressed by a funny post that they will award it karma-bearing insightful mods as opposed to karma-less funny mods. Alternatively, they're so dumb they believed it, which is not as unlikely as it used to be.

Re:lasers?

[elrous0]

It's just like my dear old dad used to say: "Son, lasers can make *anything* better."