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THE Lighting Thread (merged)

How to save energy through both societal and individual actions.

Re: THE Lighting Thread (merged)

Unread postby IslandCrow » Thu 13 Nov 2008, 04:24:42

I am not sure where I am going on the issue of back-up lighting. But I must do something soon, partly because in the last power cut here I had to deal with another resident suffering a major panic attack (and although I didn't see it, nearly causing a disaster by putting the largest candle we had on the top of the lit wood burning stove "to give light").

In the mean time I am playing around with how to use LED lights to reduce the power consumption. One surprise what at the other half accept a 1 W LED bulb in the bedroom bed-side lamp. It is a clear white light and provides enough light for her to read at night, and for us to find any clothes etc around the room (although not good enough for hunting for dropped earrings etc).

I would recommend that people go for 'day light' lighting - in does not have the yellow glow that we are used to, but the human eye seems to be more adapt to the wave lengths it uses so it is easier to see things even if the light is not so powerful.

The other thing I am trying out is using a string of LED lights (sold as Christmas tree decorations) as background lighting for the living room. It gives a festive appearance and enough light (total power use 7W) to navigate safely around the room. I will have to try this on some unheated stairways (where CFT bulbs take too long to warm up in the cold of winter). The advantage of buying Christmas tree lights is that they are so much cheaper than the specialist designs for LED stair lighting.

One trouble I am having with LED is that it is best either as a spotlight or as a string of lights, and this house is wired for the old fashioned bulbs, where one bulb gives general light to the whole room. So I need to see what will fit without having to rewire the whole place.
We should teach our children the 4-Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rejoice.
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Re: Unexpected benefit of LED lighting

Unread postby jbrovont » Sun 10 May 2009, 17:09:53

Interesting. It could be that the spectrum of light your particular lights are emitting is less visible by insects. Since some types of LED lights have very narrow spectral emissions, it sounds like you may have made a very interesting (and beneficial) discovery! Anyone else had similar observations?
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Re: Unexpected benefit of LED lighting

Unread postby vision-master » Sun 10 May 2009, 17:51:55

I use LED string lighting to see in the dark.

About the same candle power as a small kerosene lamp, as I use them too.

LED is good mood lighting along with some 'blue' lights. :mrgreen:
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Re: Unexpected benefit of LED lighting

Unread postby PonyBoy78 » Fri 15 May 2009, 07:10:22

Thanks for the heads-up on this. I'm moving to south Mississippi in about two years, and this info is going to come in very handy..
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Re: THE Lighting Thread (merged)

Unread postby Ferretlover » Mon 29 Jun 2009, 17:23:24

Obama touts new lighting rules, energy policy Push follows House approval of climate bill that now moves to Senate
WASHINGTON - Aiming to keep the focus on climate change legislation, President Barack Obama put a plug in for administration efforts to make lamps and lighting equipment use less energy. …
In February, the president directed the Energy Department to update its energy conservation standards for everyday household appliances such as dishwashers, lamps and microwave ovens. Laws on the books already required new efficiency standards for household and commercial appliances. …
Associated Press
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Re: THE Lighting Thread (merged)

Unread postby Tanada » Tue 03 Jan 2017, 12:47:50

Recently I was told that with the proper Kerosene oil lamp of 185-1920 design you can use olive oil that has passed its used by date as fuel and have a much more pleasant smelling emergency light and heat source. Has anyone tried this and what were your results?
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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Re: THE Lighting Thread (merged)

Unread postby KaiserJeep » Tue 03 Jan 2017, 15:08:00

If you ever make it to the Whaling Museum on Nantucket, there is an oil lamp display comparing various fuels and various lamp designs.

It has been two decades since I saw it, but sperm whale oil is the best fuel, followed by other whales, kerosene is somewhere in the middle, and beef tallow and other land animal fats are the foulest. The vegetable oils are somewhere in the middle, and vegetable oils that are not clear (i.e. unfiltered) should not be considered as a lamp fuel.

The various fuels were tested in a lamp that used a woven wick advanced by turning a knurled wheel, exposing more wick above the slot. There was a blown glass chimney, but no mantle as you find in the modern Aladdin type lamps.

I cannot comment on smell, the display was in a glass case. In a BBQ, I prefer the taste and smell of butter over any vegetable oil.
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Re: THE Lighting Thread (merged)

Unread postby aldente » Sat 25 Feb 2017, 02:00:11

Kaiser Jeep>

get rid of your red warning signature !

otherwise the devils will haunt us *(or you possibly*)

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Re: THE Lighting Thread (merged)

Unread postby KaiserJeep » Mon 27 Feb 2017, 17:15:22

aldente, you need to update your profile to include your physical location, and we will add you to the collective:

http://peakoil.com/forums/social-conservatives-and-their-islamic-ally-t72469.html

...you will be assimilated.

(The red warning alerts people to messages I posted before I was assimilated.)
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Re: THE Lighting Thread (merged)

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Sat 18 Mar 2017, 10:07:33

In addition to building out the alt Texas is starting to look at more effective conservation measures. In addition to changing lighting downtown Seguin (named after on of our revolution's heros: Juan Seguin) is also the first city here to swap out all street lights for LED's. Will cost $400,000 but will save the city $125,000 per year. And again it was a financial decision and not an environmental one. Can't find any info that the city was given financial help from anyone but it would make sense for the state to provide some low cost loans to our cities for similar efforts:

"In a vote 7-1, city officials of Seguin in Texas, U.S. approved the purchase of LED lights to be installed in the downtown area, and agreed to year-round illumination before sunset till 10:00 PM, reported Seguin Gazzette. “We also looked into the LEDs, and there are several pros going that route,” said Main Street Program Director Kyle Kramm. “They use less energy, about a third of the cost that incandescent bulbs do, and they also have a longer life expectancy. The LED bulbs will burn for 50,000 hours versus the incandescent that burn for about 3,000 hours, so, it’s about 16 times the length that you would expect to get from the LED bulbs.”

Based on a memorandum from city staff, the cost to replace incandescent lights, and wire the LED luminaires would cost about US $71,650. Additional electrical costs is estimated to bring the total program costs to US$ 74,650. According to a memorandum from city staff, the cost to install the old incandescent lights, remove the lights after the holiday season, and replace burned out bulbs and wire costs about $71,650 with electrical costs estimated at $3,000 for a total program costs of $74,650.

The upfront installation cost of the LED bulbs would fetch about US $106,000, which includes LED bulbs and wire for the city’s Central Park and courthouse, said Kram. However, annual costs to maintain the bulbs would decline to under US $10,000 per year. The city estimates it would cost about a quarter or about US $8,100 to operate the LED lights, compared to the US $ 32,000 currently spent on incandescent lights. Resulting in annual savings of about US $24,000.
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Re: THE Lighting Thread (merged)

Unread postby Paulo1 » Sat 18 Mar 2017, 10:56:21

I am doing a major kitchen/dining reno this summer which will incorporate LED tape lighting around a vaulted ceiling (edge). I will have this configured to be able to use a marine deep cycle during power outages. I also plan to reconfig things with an 8' piece of LED tape for under/cabinet lighting.

Costco sells an awesome camping LED lantern that uses a bunch of D cells, but batts last for years. It is made by GE and has several brightness settings. We have lots of power outages during storm season and this is absolutely the best portable device I have ever used. It lights up an entire room for whatever one might wish to do, from reading, cards, or cooking.

LED tape lighting: https://www.flexfireleds.com/top-4-cons ... ip-lights/
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Re: THE Lighting Thread (merged)

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Sat 18 Mar 2017, 11:08:46

Paulo - Just decorative but dirt cheap: from Amazon wife just got a solar powered string LED light system. About 70 lights on 40' run. Includes the little solar panel with rechargeable battery. IOW all in one system. Only costs about $10 on "Lightning sale". Will run around the top of patio fence. And just starting a project: making a small light house stacking 3 clay pots of progressively smaller size. Painted red and using a $4 solar walkway light from Walmart for the beacon. All together a very cheap and free energy ornaments.
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Re: THE Lighting Thread (merged)

Unread postby Paulo1 » Sat 18 Mar 2017, 22:28:11

Thanks Rockman. Will check it out for sure.
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