Reader W.N. sends in this little tidbit about the LED traffic lights that were supposed to be so much better than those wasteful old incandescents:
EXETER – Jay Perkins has some advice for winter drivers who approach an intersection and find clumps of snow covering a traffic light.
“In my opinion, you resort back to your driver’s manual and you yield. If you can’t see the light, you shouldn’t be going through without yielding,” said Perkins, Exeter’s highway superintendent.
His warning comes as officials in other states voice concerns over energy-efficient light emitting diode (LED) traffic lights, which use 80 to 90 percent less energy but don’t throw as much heat as incandescent bulbs to melt snow. Some say the snow builds up and obstructs the lights, causing confusion for drivers and accidents.
The article goes on to say how the benefits outweigh these inconveniences. However, a Canadian study that we posted earlier this year called into question similar claims made about twisty light bulbs:
The law of unintended consequences wins again. From the NY Times Green, Inc. blog:
For those wondering if the benefits of the increasingly ubiquitous compact fluorescent lightbulb (see our logo above) have been overstated, a report last night from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation offers a little something to chew on. The report suggested that the energy savings associated with the bulbs — which use far less electricity than their incandescent predecessors — may be offset by higher heating bills, and more greenhouse emissions.
CBC News has found that in some cases compact fluorescent bulbs (C.F.L.s) can have the adverse effect of increasing greenhouse gas emissions, depending on how consumers heat their homes.
Physics professor Peter Blunden at the University of Manitoba said C.F.L. bulbs are certainly more energy efficient than older incandescent bulbs.
But in cold-weather climates such as Canada’s, Blunden said older incandescent bulbs do more than just light our homes. During the long winter months, they also generate heat. The new C.F.L. bulbs, on the other hand, produce minimal heat so the loss has to be made up by fossil-fuel burning gas, oil or wood to heat your home.
“To some extent, the case [in favor of C.F.L.s] has been oversold” because of the offset in higher heating costs, he said.