Lighting

This week the guest speaker was Dr. Malory-Hill. She spoke on Architectural Light and its impact on humans. There was an abundance of information, which I found to be extremely valuable. I had no idea that there were so many different types of lights that being used today. I also found out that almost all light was restricted to only sunlight and flame up until 18th century. This is another example of how technology is progressing along at an amazing rate and only gaining speed. There have been an astronomical amount of different types of lights produced in the last 3 centuries. These include: Edison’s light bulb, halogens, new balance, fluorescent, high intensity discharge and LED.
Apparently Edison didn’t even have the idea for a light bulb but he purchased the patent for it from a Canadian. No one remembers this Canadian’s name and yet everyone associates the light bulb with Edison. I guess maybe the Canadian should have experimented with his idea for a couple more years instead of selling the patent. He probably made a buck for the patent and he lost his space in history. Apparently all Edison did was add a carbon or platinum filament to make the patented light bulb work. The worst part for the Canadian is that his light bulb, which was fiddled with by Edison, is still being used today even though it is probably the least efficient source of light. Only 10 % of the energy emission from this bulb is light, while the other 90% is emitted in heat.
The halogens are supposed to be a lot more efficient and last a lot longer. They are supposed to last at least 5 years and yet the ones that I use at home last a maximum of 6 months.
The large High Intensity Discharge lights are used only in large areas such as gymnasiums, hockey rinks, banquet halls, stadiums, large department stores and streetlights. At first I didn’t understand why this was and then Dr. Mallory-Hill showed us that it takes forever to turn on and even longer for it to turn on after it is turned off. When she showed us this using the one bulb she had, it dawned on me as to why street lights look as though they are burnt out and then an hour later they are on again. I always thought it was very strange that the maintenance crew of our city worked so fast on changing the lights of our cities streetlights and yet were so slow in getting anything else done. The other thing I could never understand is why the city workers would fix the light in the middle of the night. Now I understand that its not fast city workers at all but a very slow light. When something gets messed up within the light it turns off and takes up to an hour to turn back on because it has to completely cool down before it can heat up again.
So LED lights last up to 80 years and are the most energy efficient lights. Why is it then that hardly anyone uses these lights other than for Christmas lights? I fathom the fact that it is a very low emission of light but there are ways you can use that. You can use the LED’s in a large quantity and get a bright light. The other way you could use it to your advantage is for setting the mood, either for an intimate dinner or at the club or any other places that you want a dimmer light.
The store, which I work at just recently, went through a changeover meaning that we have a new owner. He has decided that he wants to redo the entire floor plan of the building in order to make more retail space. He has also decided to exchange the fluorescent lights we currently have in place to a T8 halogen. Apparently they are energy efficient as well. I asked him why he wouldn’t just put in LED lights since they are the most energy efficient and would save him even more money per year than these T8’s. He didn’t have an answer really so I think he might be looking into changing his idea of the lights.

~Trev