Consumers are making the move to renewable energy, however, there is still a lot of dependence on fossil fuels. Take the poll and in the Comments section, let us know what you think can be done to make the shift to renewable energy easier.
From real calculations, solar at my home does not provide ROI. There is a mountain behind the house westbound. We only get direct sun for half a day. The local power company uses hydro as part of the energy mix and my electricity prices are relatively low , altho increasing what feels exponentially.
What I find ironic and hilarious is the Special Interest Groups, media, bureaucrats, are screaming for Green Energy ---- then when a Wind Turbine Project or Solar Project site is selected, other Special Interest Groups, media, bureaucrats, start screaming - NOT HERE ! NOT HERE ! its disrupting the three toed paisley nano-salamanders mating drive, its making the whales nervous, its destroying the view of the natural forest and mountains, the project devalues my Martha Vineyards spring vacation home and the winter vacation home in Florida, those power generators are ugly, blah blah blah
I think a case can also be made that any solution that requires subsidies implies it is not an economically feasible solution. When "renewable energy" makes sense, it will be less expensive than "non-renewable" sources (including, e.g., the time to recharge one's vehicle for one data point), and people will naturally prefer it.
I suppose that a case like that could be made. A case could just as easily be made that subsidising allows for earlier investment to build the infrastructure and roll it out. Renewable energy does make sense but isn't yet capable of providing enough of (all? most?) countries needs yet.
In fact - another thing that burns my britches, I have sensor controlled outdoor light fixtures that require incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs wont work in them. Government outlawed incandescent bulbs but sellers are still selling their incandescent lamp inventory. I've replaced the cheap fixtures, but the big brass porch lights are getting by on whats left of any incandescent laying around the house. One has a powder room bulb in it. :-)
I have several LED bulbs that run hot, so much so that I have to wait for them to cool down before extracting them. I guess this is because of the 230V available, 225V of it has to be dumped somewhere to prevent destruction of the LEDs. I've ignored RMS etc to keep this short, I'm running late as it is...
I have several LED bulbs that run hot, so much so that I have to wait for them to cool down before extracting them. I guess this is because of the 230V available, 225V of it has to be dumped somewhere to prevent destruction of the LEDs. I've ignored RMS etc to keep this short, I'm running late as it is...
They don't really work like that. Mains powered bulbs containing a small number of LEDs use some kind of switching regulator to convert rectified mains to a suitable voltage to power the LEDs. These regulators are often not very reliable (being built from very cheap parts) but are reasonable efficient.
Hi michaelkellett, thanks for the reply. I know that most use switching regulators these days, and some LED bulbs run at quite low temperatures. But others do not, and I wonder where all the excessive heat comes from. Something, somewhere, is being over-driven. Maybe the thyristors or triacs are not being switched fast enough.
I also have some where the incoming AC is split so that a chain of LEDs light up during one half-cycle and the other chain on the other half-cycle. When they go a bit dim, it usually means that one of the chains has overheated just a little bit too much.
LED room-lighting is not popular with photographers. Digital cameras can get quite upset by the spikey nature of switch-mode light.
