The Unbearable Coolness of Lighting

Like Priuses and low-flow toilets, light emitting diodes (LEDs) are current "it" girls of green tech.  Whereas standard light bulbs burn out after a few months, and compact fluorescents contain dangerous quantities of mercury, LED fixtures contain no harmful chemicals and last about as long as Wagner's "Ring Cycle" or a typical season of "American Idol"--that is, they go on and on and on until at some point you just look up and say, "Good Lord!  Hasn't this thing died yet?"  Which, admittedly, is a desirable quality in a light fixture.

But while LEDs are useful, one wouldn't normally think of them as exciting.  So we were amused by some quotes in "Green Promise Seen in Switch to LED Lighting":

"Brian Owen, a contributor to the trade magazine LEDs, said. . . ."

The quote's not really important.  We were just surprised to find out that there was still a whole magazine devoted to LEDs.  We thought it had folded ages ago; the Solipsist cancelled its subscription back in '04.

"Ted Van Hyning, director of event technology at the Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland, said the new LED lights in the hotel's conference rooms use 10 percent of the electricity of the fluorescent lights they replaced. . . . .'We have six-figure energy costs a year, and these lights could represent a huge saving.  Besides, they're cool and sexy and fun.'"

So, if you're keeping track, "cool, sexy, fun things in Cleveland":

--LeBron James

--The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

--LED lighting at the Renaissance Hotel

"Buoyed by the improvements in the technology, Peter Byrne, a lighting designer and energy consultant for Buckingham Palace, installed the 32,000 [!] custom LEDs in the ceiling of the grand stairwell when older fixtures wore out. . . .  'They need high-quality light--they have a lot of gold,' he said, 'and gold tends to look silver if you light it poorly.'"

See, British royalty is just like us!  Why, just the other day, we were expressing concern to WOS that, if we switched to LEDs, it would make all our gold look silvery and hideous. We would barely be able to tolerate sitting on the toilet in the leprous reflection of poorly lit gold bathroom fixtures.  Thank you, Your Highness, for (literally) lighting the way.