Why LEDs haven't yet cut energy use for lighting

[NickB79]

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67454472.amp

Last year, LEDs hit a milestone. They made up 50% of lighting sales globally, according to the International Energy Agency. However, because more people around the world are installing electrically-powered lighting than ever before, the total energy consumed by lighting is actually going up. The latest LEDs are ultra-efficient - but we probably need to do more to ensure that lighting doesn't end up using more energy overall.

"The number of lights used in each household is increasing," says Shivika Mittal at Imperial College London's Grantham Institute. "That is offsetting switching to LED."

Jovan's paradox strikes again. And I'm afraid this won't be uncommon; over half the planet's population is still in developing nation status, without most of the luxuries we take for granted in North America and Europe.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. So LEDs have lessened the energy demand rise we would have seen had we stayed with incandescent.

Is that fair to say?

[Think. Again.]

2. Excellent!

We get more lighting with less energy use, great news!

Now, we need to use less lighting. We need to use less energy in general.

[BWdem4life]

3. We could just go back to kerosene lamps

[Think. Again.]

4. Ha! yeah...

...or maybe we don't have to light shopping mall interiors when they're closed, etc.

[BWdem4life]

5. Unlighted mall interiors

make for better movies.

[NickB79]

6. And as the article shows, that's not happening

It's actually really concerning, as light pollution is a serious ecological problem across North America, Europe and Asia.

It's like a guy trading in his 20 mpg truck for a 50 mpg Prius, but then driving 3x as many miles because he's saving so much on gas.

One step forward, two steps back.

And I can't even say I haven't been sucked in. Cheap LED lights let me convert a corner of my dark basement into a well-lit area to overwinter huge numbers of houseplants and start vegetable seedlings in spring, when there's still snow outside. I put LED solar lights on my daughter's playset so she can keep swinging after dark. My chicken coop has a solar light to increase egg production in winter. Humans crave light, and it's a hard thing to ask them to intentionally darken cities and homes when it seems so affordable not to.

[Think. Again.]

7. Yep, as I said...

...now we need to use less enegy in general.

I keep waiting for the push to start scaling back all the useless energy use, and there is a LOT of that, but so far no one's even talking about it.

And of course it isn't just lighting, that's probably one of the lesser evils.