Developments of genius

[Bryn]

What do you do with the time you save ?
NO don't answer that !
I know what you folks charge per second

Surely the big advantage of the electric kettle, with its internal heating element, is that that far less energy is wasted than is the case with a stove top kettle? Carcinogenic wood burning stoves excepted, of course.

[MrGongGong]

Surely the big advantage of the electric kettle, with its internal heating element, is that that far less energy is wasted than is the case with a stove top kettle? Carcinogenic wood burning stoves excepted, of course.

Got smokeless coal in my stove
and the kettle on the top stays hot all day
cheaper than putting the gas heating on

[Sydney Grew]

Sometimes newer things are less good than those which preceded them.

Example: Modern compact cameras which have no viewfinder but an LCD screen. Totally useless in bright sunlight.

More?

Light bulbs. There is a "big enough lie" on the packets. They last half as long and cost twice as much. I wonder who is behind it?

[Dave2002]

Light bulbs. There is a "big enough lie" on the packets. They last half as long and cost twice as much. I wonder who is behind it?

This is a mine field area. Some new bulbs don't last long, yet others are very good. Low energy ones are generally that - and there are benefits. However, the light levels are sometimes so low compared with supposedly comparable incandescent bulbs that users can't cope. This seems particularly to be the case with some older people who may find low light levels really problematic. Perhaps the spectrum of some newer bulbs is sufficiently different from older bulbs to cause some people great problems. The startup time and time to reach anything like full power can also be a problem. However I have bought very good LED bulbs - though at a vast expense. We also have first generation low energy bulbs which still work - and that must be after 20 years or more now surely. The big chunky ones!

Some newer bulbs have mercury which makes disposal problematic - for those who bother to read the disposal instructions. These bulbs may present a skin cancer risk for susceptible people who get too close to them.

For many people the benefits and the energy reduction should be worthwhile, but it's not a completely no-brainer decision to switch to newer bulbs depending on the application and the eyesight of the intended users.

[Serial_Apologist]

This is a mine field area. Some new bulbs don't last long, yet others are very good. Low energy ones are generally that - and there are benefits. However, the light levels are sometimes so low compared with supposedly comparable incandescent bulbs that users can't cope. This seems particularly to be the case with some older people who may find low light levels really problematic. Perhaps the spectrum of some newer bulbs is sufficiently different from older bulbs to cause some people great problems. The startup time and time to reach anything like full power can also be a problem. However I have bought very good LED bulbs - though at a vast expense. We also have first generation low energy bulbs which still work - and that must be after 20 years or more now surely. The big chunky ones!

Some newer bulbs have mercury which makes disposal problematic - for those who bother to read the disposal instructions. These bulbs may present a skin cancer risk for susceptible people who get too close to them.

For many people the benefits and the energy reduction should be worthwhile, but it's not a completely no-brainer decision to switch to newer bulbs depending on the application and the eyesight of the intended users.

Yes there's a gloomy dimness about places everywhere. Presumably local authorities use low-energy bulbs in street lighting. At least with the old, brighter street lights people, (particularly women), felt safer at night; their problem wasn't so much in the lights themselves causing light pollution as in the design allowing light to escape, rather than being concentrated downwards. The resultant change over the past decade or so has brought back picturesqueness to the nighttime cityscape but not made it any safer.

[eighthobstruction]

....>>>>Yes there's a gloomy dimness about places everywhere.<<<<....

....Are we being eclipsed....??....