Anyone else hate the new light bulbs?

[SPIKER]

...
ISO New England is the grid operator for most of northern and central New England, excluding Vermont, Northern Maine, and New York State IIRC. They expect to need more capacity over time, not less.

As far as summer temps, I can only tell you what is happening here. There isn't appreciably more AC in work places, stores, autos, etc. than there was 20 years ago. Yet, more and more people, including me, are installing or considering installing home AC.

July, 2012 was the hottest month ever in Portland Maine. Not only is it warmer, we have had periods of humidity that are unusual. The national temperature records for the lower 48 states do not show cooling. It's possible to pick a year here or there that was cooler than the years before, but the overall trend is warmer.
National Overview - June 2012 | Warmest 12-month consecutive periods for the CONUS | State of the Climate | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)

not sure of your age or not but in the late 60's and early 70's there were major concerns that wee were going into the next Ice Age as well as the early 80's were very cold vs 50's/60's. Climate at a Glance | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) shows a plot from 1890 thru now, that the ave temp is 54.19F while & shows 1962/63 were two of the warmest ave temps ever recorded in US.

While it is easy to say that certain areas are warmer or colder there are lots of "trends" that can be formed from small amount of data segments.

I think you really should rethink the use of AC, where and when it has been built up. Today it is somewhere around 85% of homes have AC in them. Back in the 1970's The luxury of having it was pretty much out of reach for the "Average" us person & only about 36% of US homes had it. The growing world demand is an issue but so is the fact that in China and India they are not part of the Koto summit/treaty which outlawed CFCs and other ozone depleting chemicals. Their use of these damaging chemicals and fact that they burn anything including tires in power plants so if they are unwilling to curb any of their waste and pollution when rest of us are then we may not make much difference anyhow. China has surpassed the USA in pollution output and will soon surpass USA in many other ways as well and most all of them will be not good...

Mark

 

[k0ua]

Preserving a clearly failing program is the real sin IMO.

Well we can sure agree on that.

 

[Alan L.]

The biggest problem is the CFL bulbs are inconsistent. We have some that are years old and put out quite a bit of immediate light. And others that are not bright and take forever to reach that. The ones I really don't like are outside flood lights. Just don't light it up and don't last very long either. There is that curly thing inside the flood bulb shaped glass and what happens is that outside glass fills up with rain water, then the bulb fails.

 

[dave1949]

not sure of your age or not but in the late 60's and early 70's there were major concerns that wee were going into the next Ice Age as well as the early 80's were very cold vs 50's/60's. Climate at a Glance | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) shows a plot from 1890 thru now, that the ave temp is 54.19F while & shows 1962/63 were two of the warmest ave temps ever recorded in US.

While it is easy to say that certain areas are warmer or colder there are lots of "trends" that can be formed from small amount of data segments.

I think you really should rethink the use of AC, where and when it has been built up. Today it is somewhere around 85% of homes have AC in them. Back in the 1970's The luxury of having it was pretty much out of reach for the "Average" us person & only about 36% of US homes had it. The growing world demand is an issue but so is the fact that in China and India they are not part of the Koto summit/treaty which outlawed CFCs and other ozone depleting chemicals. Their use of these damaging chemicals and fact that they burn anything including tires in power plants so if they are unwilling to curb any of their waste and pollution when rest of us are then we may not make much difference anyhow. China has surpassed the USA in pollution output and will soon surpass USA in many other ways as well and most all of them will be not good...

Mark

Your link, and mine before it, are based on the same data set from the same sources. It really doesn't matter which way you look at the data, the log-term trend is warmer, even on the graph you linked. Try plotting several different months, picture a straight line that represents an average of the data points from left to right across the X axis.

I remember the Ice Age ideas. I don't know what their significance is now. If the main point is, they were wrong then and could be wrong now, that is true. It doesn't prove they are wrong now though. It is false logic. If you got lost driving, you could get lost again, therefore you will always get lost when driving. See? Chances are you will get lost again sometime. However, there's a better chance that you will not.

Fortunately, climate science has come a long ways since 1970. Think of all the climate measuring hardware and tools that exist today that weren't around in 1970. The ideas or theories behind global warming caused by greenhouse gases have been around since well before 1970. Read about greenhouse gases to see the history. Those ideas have been refined and re-refined many times by many different people. I think the chance of their being wrong is about NIL. What remains is the accuracy of the projections. Those are being refined many times over by many different people using many different methods.


AC isn't as common up here. This article discusses many of the ideas you noted. Still, even taking away just the desire for better comfort, the summers are making AC more necessary to be comfortable.

Air conditioning?
From 1980 to 2001, the share of homes with air conditioning nationwide rose from 57 to 77 percent. In New England, the change went from 42 to 58 percent.

Government figures also distinguish between window units and central air conditioning, the pinnacle of relief. In 2001, twice as many homes nationwide had central air as single units, 55 percent compared to 23 percent. In New England, only 14 percent of homes had central air; 44 percent had single units.

 

[ultrarunner]

Some with A/C really don't use it because they are Heat Pump units... at least those I know in Washington State.

Here in the SF Bay Area... not a single unit in the entire neighborhood...

 

[VonD]

Well, I have the CFLs in several rooms and they do consume less energy but the colors vary a lot. It's hard to tell the difference between black, grey, and dark blue socks in the early morning! Thank heavens my wife is a detective for the fashion police and checks me out before I head out to the office.

 

[Sodo]

Rick that reminds of the led flash lights, they are like disposable lighters now if you shop around.

They don't last as long as a disposable lighter

 

[buckeyefarmer]

amazon has 11w (60W equivalent) for $14, regular price $18. It is white now, not yellow. 17W (75W equivalent) is $32, little pricy.

 

[Sodo]

I will say that government mandates are an expression of leadership. Phasing out leaded gasoline is an example of something that would not have occurred without leadership expressed as a mandate. Granted, some mandates are better than others.

yeah, and that Ethanol mandate was a really really really bad one.

Many US citizens support lobbyists running our government affairs so don't be surprised. Industry causing government to enact legislation creating a permanent market for Ethanol should be no surprise when lobbyists are controlling, providing, paying off your congressmen. That is their JOB.

 

[Scooby074]

amazon has 11w (60W equivalent) for $14, regular price $18. It is white now, not yellow. 17W (75W equivalent) is $32, little pricy.

Are you sure the yellow ones have been replaced?

I was in HD 3 days ago and they had both the Philips white, round globe models as well as the yellow, flat top models. The Flat top ones are the only ones I recommend from personal experience, I havent tried the cheaper, round models. The yellow "AmbientLED"s are of a much more solid construction compared to he white, round style and the flat style. Much beefier heatsink compared to the white ones.

The 17W AmbientLED (Yellow) is now only $26.98 at HD Canada. http://www.homedepot.ca/product/17w-led-a19-household/822304

They also had the cheaper "Cree", white, round ones. While Cree makes excellent LED modules, I dont believe the make the actual bulb (maybe they do?), as such, Im not sure on the product, although it does have a 10 year guarantee. They seem to be a lighter construction to the trusty Philips Yellow's