Like an old incandescent light bulb, the notorious BULB Act finally fizzled in the House of Representatives last night, our friends over at Think Progress report. The proposed legislation would have repealed energy efficiency standards for light bulbs that were set back in 2007. The bill required a 2/3 majority to pass and it failed, gaining only 233 votes in favor with 193 opposed.
Most of us have grown up in an environment where power comes from a plug in the wall, and lights are fixtures or lamps that take advantage of that system. But in many parts of the world, this infrastructure doesn’t exist, and so people spend a lot of money on dirty, smelly Kerosene to light their houses at night. Something so simple as a bright, dependable LED flashlight can be an excellent leapfrogging technology for people in such places, as it can provide clean, safe light that can be ‘filled up’ with a tiny solar battery charger.
President Obama and General Electric Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt toured the facility of an LED manufacturer (Cree Inc.) in Durham, North Carolina this week. And, of course, Obama discussed the job creation benefits of energy efficiency policies and put a strong emphasis on young Americans pursuing degrees in the “hard sciences” and leading us forward in the cleantech industry.
Sears Canada has become the first major retailer of the country to ban the sale of inefficient incandescent and halogen lighting, opting instead to sell only energy efficient LED and CFL (compact fluorescent) alternatives.
Incandescent lighting enthusiasts who like bright lights but have witnessed a shrinking list of options can have some refreshment; Switch Lighting has announced the first ever LED equivalent to a 100-watt bulb
Congressman Ron Paul seems to have a weird thing for old light bulbs, but you’ll find no such sentimentality in the U.S. Navy. Following up on a Sailor’s complaint about the noisy hum from out-of-date berth lights in submarines, the Office of Naval Research has been working on a new … [continued]
I decided to leave last week’s roundup of cleantech (or related) news that we didn’t already cover on Cleantechnica to today (for various reasons). So, now, here’s the roundup. China’s High-Speed Trains [VIDEOS] Why fly when you can travel the 1000km between Guangzhou (Canton) near Hong Kong to Wuhan – … [continued]
If you spent any time in school over the past generation or so, you probably experienced those old-time overhead flickering fluorescent light fixtures, and maybe you wondered if they were exchanging some kind of secret code with government spies, alien invaders, or maybe just with each other. Well, wonder no … [continued]
Scientists in Taiwan have discovered that gold nanoparticles can induce luminescence in the leaves of plants, making them emit a reddish glow. They came up with the process while searching for a way to create high-efficiency lighting that is similar to LED technology, but without the use of toxic chemicals … [continued]
In one of those happy research accidents that lead to new breakthroughs, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new kind of nanowire that produces light, much like the glow produced by LED technology. The team was actually fine tuning a new method for … [continued]
