Much like windmills, Obama’s energy plans for the country turn on “green” energy like LED lighting.
From The White House website:
Today’s Recovery Act in Action episode takes place in Durham, NC at Cree, Inc., America’s foremost producer of LED lighting. It’s a tale of many important economic advances coming together: cutting- edge energy-saving technology, export-led growth, and most importantly, good manufacturing jobs here in the US. And at the center of the story is a Recovery Act tax credit that helped to pull a lot of this together.
Cree was chosen for a $39 million tax credit through this Recovery Act program, which is called the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit, nicknamed 48C for its line in the tax code….
The Recovery Act included $2.3 billion for the 48C program, but we quickly got more applications than we had money for… the President took the logical step of calling for a $5 billion expansion of the program….
LEDs can light up your smart phone or your parking lot, and relative to conventional lights, they can reduce energy use by more than 60%.
What possibly could go wrong (other than the credits creating jobs in China)?
Israeli researchers have found that pervasive use of LED and other “white light” has serious negative health consequences:
Exposure to the light of white LED bulbs suppresses melatonin five times more than exposure to the light of high-pressure sodium bulbs that emit an orange-yellow light, according to a new international study – that includes University of Haifa Prof. Abraham Haim.
Melatonin is a compound that adjusts our biological clock and is known for its anti-oxidant and anti-cancerous properties.
Now, Prof. Haim and his colleagues taking part in the study are calling for regulations and rules for the pollution stemming from artificial light at night.
The study, titled “Limiting the impact of light pollution on human health, environment and stellar visibility” was recently published in the Journal of Environmental Management. The researchers investigated the influence of different types of bulbs on light pollution and the suppression of melatonin.
It is already known that ‘white’ artificial light suppresses the production of melatonin in the brain’s pineal gland. Also known is the fact that suppressing the production of melatonin, which is responsible, among other things, for the regulation of our biological clock, causes behavior disruptions and health problems.
Some of the negative physical consequences, like rapid and excessive hair growth, have been documented, as have psychological problems, like delusions of grandeur and uncontrollable narcissism:
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Comments
We need more “organic” light
Rapid hair growth and delusions of grandeur? Biden should switch back to incandescent.
Next, we will find out that “heavy metals” from solar panels are leaching into the ground water.
“But Cree, a major recipient of Recovery Act funds, may be sending that money straight to China …
… in late 2010, the company opened its first plant in Huizhou City, China. That made Cree the first global LED company to locate a manufacturing plant in China.
But that plant is only the beginning of an expansion in China, says Swoboda. At the opening of the plant, Swoboda boasted that more than 50 percent of Crees employees live and work in China.”
As CREE’s CEO says, “CREE Chip, China Heart.” I imagine he also says, “CREE Hearts Recovery Act Funds.”
“Uncontrollable narcissism”? Hey Mr. President, turn off your LED.
Obama’s using too much LED’s.
Isn’t it great how suppressing one industry to grow another is looked at as such a noble cause in these days of the watermelon movement. At one time we would have seen these as acts of corruption that we would have expected from the mafia not praised the president for. Oh how the times have changed.
Darnit, and I liked Cree LED’s, too.
Not to mention high lead and arsenic counts they’ve been found to contain. Another hazmat contestant.
http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/uc-researchers-led-lights-contain-lead-arsenic-8634
I got fed up with replacing compact fluorescents quicker than incandescents. And no, I admit that I, with 98% of others, didn’t dispose of them correctly, but they and their lead went to the land fill.
I did the calculations of LED light costing $40 but with longer life (assuming, unlike compact fluorescents, that the lifetime estimate is accurate) and their lower energy consumption, that they were far cheaper than incandescents in the long run – penny foolish but pound wise. Also, some LED lights are dimmable unlike compact fluorescents.
There’s a fallacy in that report. As a practical matter, there is no difference between an LED and an incandescent bulb, because BOTH of them, in use, will shut down melatonin production.
It’s not the type of emitter, it’s the light itself that is the problem. In people who are already producing low amounts of melatonin, the body can respond to even very small amounts of light (such as a nightlight) by limiting melatonin production past the useful thresshold.
LEDs emit more light per unit than incandescent bulbs, but it just doesn’t matter, because the incandescent bulbs are already ‘way, way over the threshhold for this effect.
We need to change all the bulbs in Congress. If melatonin is suppressed, maybe they’ll stay awake 24 hours and actually accomplish something.