My attention was called to an article on CNN called “Lights out on Edison’s Bulb? yesterday.

I have strong feelings on the matter, the catalyst for which will be the following quote, but do at least skim the article so you know what I’m talking about later on.

“It’s a 19th-century invention that was perfected in the 20th century,” he said. “That’s part of the evolution of all inventions.”

Calling fluorescent lights the “perfection” of lighting technology is like calling a fucking Unicycle the perfection of transit technology.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m into saving power… I like that the lights in the common areas of my government workplace go off automatically after a set time if no one’s moving and I’m even the little gnome who goes around and turns off the desk and office lights of people who leave them on when they leave.

But!
I
HATE
FLUORESCENT
LIGHTING

I can’t convey how much I hate it. I can’t work effectively bathed in that flat, dimensionless glare; I absolutely feel the effects on my mood and motivation. I feel like I’m suffocating in some oppressive cell if I have to have the fluorescents on. In the halls it’s fine (as long as there’s no flickering, which is a whole other issue), but in my workspace, it kills me. I was saved in my old building by being in a window cube where the natural light tempered the F-effect, and in my current one by getting an office where I have two, yes, incandescent lamps (which I frequently use singly, to save power) because the light is SOOOOO much more pleasant. I’d rather work in the dark than under fluorescents. I’d rather work with chains on my body and perpetually sticky fingers. Fuck fluorescent lighting 100%.

I see some hope on the horizon in the form of tunable LED lighting which can emit a warmer color spectrum while still being more energy efficient than fluorescent. I don’t know that they’re available yet, but got I hope they get here before someone demands that I remove my incandescents. I will lose my damn mind.

California Assemblymember* Levine is right when he says

Electricity-saving technologies may not be glamorous, especially when compared with the idea of a shiny new power plant, but the facts are that there are hundreds of electricity-saving innovations now on the market that if fully used throughout the United States, would significantly decrease the electricity the country now uses,

but I don’t care if the result is me feeling like shit all the time. Start with weather stripping and insulation and tankless hot water heaters… you’ll have to pry my incandescents from my cold, dead fingers.

Can I get a hell yeah?!

* P.S. and O.T. but WTF, seriously. I’m just PC enough to allow that using Assemblymembers to refer to a mixed group of Assemblymen and Assemblywomen is ok, even if it does violate my linguistic sensibilities as being unwieldy. Fine, I’ll survive. But on his own page? Why, I ask? Why? Who’s being offended when I call an Assemblyman an Assemblyman?

Sunday, February 11th, 2007 @ 12:45 pm Policy, Rant, Technology
RSS 2.0 Trackback