It’s official: I’ve finally become my father. Or is it my mother? I honestly don’t remember anymore which one of them was always bugging me to turn out the lights before I left a room, but in any case I, too, am now a light-turner-offer fanatic. And my poor wife has become my victim.
Twice in the past week I clicked off the lights to our basement, unwittingly leaving her in the dark down there. In my defense, I did call downstairs to see if she was there, but she was in a back room and didn’t hear me. “Your voice is soft, so you really have to yell for me to hear you down there,” she gently reminded me… twice.
On a more positive note, I also am a fanatic long-lasting-light bulb user. We have these energy-savers in globes all over the house and on our front porch, and everywhere else they will fit. They don’t fit in some globes, I’m very sorry to report.
So you can only imagine my glee when I read an interesting piece about the impending phase-out of traditional light bulbs in this week’s Chemical & Engineering News.
With the United States’ phase-out of conventional incandescent light bulbs set to start in a few months, an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) describes how the ban on 100-watt bulbs portends a huge new wave of growth for the once lowly light-emitting diode (LED). C&EN is the American Chemical Society’s weekly newsmagazine.
In one of a three-part cover story package on the raw materials that enable the electronics and related industries, C&EN Senior Editor Alexander H. Tullo explains how LEDs have crept into everyday life in multiple waves. LEDs are perhaps best-known for their initial application as tiny light sources that form the numbers on digital clocks, serve as indicator lights on appliances, and transmit data on remote controls.
However, these unsung heroes of the electronics revolution have extended their reach. LEDs, for instance, first replaced fluorescent lights as the mainstay for backlight illumination on cell phones, laptop computers, and other small devices. Then LEDs’ advantages — including longer life, small size, and low energy consumption — carved out a new role as backlights in flat-panel TVs. Now LEDs are poised to become an alternative to incandescents and fluorescents in home lighting.
Image: Chemical & Engineering News
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