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Blog Action Day ‘09: Lighting the World with LEDs
This is a post for Blog Action Day 2009, an effort to unite bloggers to discuss one topic for one day from many different perspectives. This year’s topic, chosen by a vote, is climate change.
Remember the big push for everyone to switch to compact fluorescent, or CFL, light bulbs? Many people advertised them as the easy solution to all of our energy problems. Ignoring the other impracticalities of this claim, there are still two problems with CFLs. First, the murcury in them is a potential household risk if a CFL ever breaks [PDF]. Second, unlesss they are properly recycled, that murcury ends up back the in the environment, where it damages ecosystems, eventually making its way up the foodchain to humans.
Luckily, there is a fairly new technology that solves both of these problems: LED light bulbs. LEDs have been around for a long time, but until recently LED light bulbs were expensive and dim. With LED ligth bulbs that are neither expensive (well, not too expensive) nor dim, let’s look at some of the benefits of LED light bulbs:
- Long lasting – The EvoLux LED light bulbs advertise a 50,000 hour lifetime compared to most incandescents that advertise lifetimes in the range of 4,000 hours. Practically speaking, that’s a 1 to 2 years compared to 10+ years.
- Sturdy – A lot of an LED bulb’s casing is made of plastic and LEDs are pretty hard to break in the first place, so your LED bulbs shouldn’t be breaking unless you’re really mistreating them.
- No mercury – Even if an LED bulb does breaks, there are usually no toxic chemicals to clean up.
- Even less energy usage than CFLs – The (advertised) equivalent of a 100W compact florescent CFL bulb usually sucks 20-30 watts, while (advertised) LED equivellents can be found in 12-13 watt range. (I haven’t actually checked with a light meter.)
The only significant problem with LED bulbs is the cost. As opposed to an incandescent or CFL which can be purchased for a few dollars, an LED bulb costs around $50. It does pay off in evergy savings, though.
I compared the approximate cost savings of an EvoLux LED bulb over a standard incandescent and found that the LED bulb would pay off in the fourth year.
Amount of money saved over time by using an LED bulb (Each mark on the X axis represents one year.)
So if you’ve been holding out on CFLs or are just looking for a way to save even more energy, try an LED bulb. I chose to try an EvoLux, but don’t limit yourself to that. Find the best deal you can and try it out.
Of course, you can also download the LED vs incandescent light cost savings spreadsheet. Plug in your energy cost and see what happens. (The graph is on sheet 2.)
Happy Blog Action Day!
Linux Loop will be participating in Blog Action Day 2009. The goal of Blog Action Day is to unite as many bloggers as possible to focus on one cause. This year’s cause is climate change and the date is October 15th. If your interested in getting involved yourself, check out the BAD website. Otherwise, just look forward to Linux Loop’s Blog Action Day post on October 15th.
Blog Action Day 2008: The Obstacles to Using Open-Source to Provide Equal Opportunity and Combat Poverty
The Dream
Standard proprietary you-need-a-new-computer-every-few-years software is not a model that allows everyone to have a computer. A very bottom of the line Vista desktop from Dell costs nearly $500, so it is hardly realistic for everyone to own one. Linux and open-source software, however, present an alternative. Linux and most of its software are free and run on older computers, allowing anyone to install it on an old, discarded computer and donate it to someone not fortunate enough to own a computer.
The Problems
Much is said about this idea, yet little is said about the remaining flaws. If we don’t recognize the flaws, how can we improve? That, and Blog Action Day, is the point of this post.
- It’s Not Microsoft
Like it or not, Microsoft equals computers for a lot of people. While some may be open minded about software, many are suspicious of non-Microsoft software, perhaps believing that nothing that is free could be as good as Microsoft’s expensive software. Unfortunately, the only real way to solve this problem is to clearly explain how Linux and other open-source software came into existence, what its business model is, and/or just convince people to try it for themselves. - Education – Linux is not Windows
People say they already know how to use “a computer,” but what they often mean is that they know how to use Windows. Anything other than Windows is “hard to use.” The fact is, Linux is not Windows. Thus, if someone has only learned how to use Windows machines, they will probably need at least a little help with Linux. The problem is who is going to provide that help. It is not very likely that everyone just happens to know someone who can help them learn Linux, nor is it particularly realistic to think that everyone being given a computer will also be given a personal, on-site Linux crash-course. The best thing would be to put some sort of tutorial onto the machines, but are people really willing to sit there and read through it and is it as good as being taught by a real person? Sure, you can learn Linux, or any operating system, on your own, as I did, but don’t expect everyone to want to, or even be willing to, spend time figuring this out on their own. - Internet Costs (suggested by zaine_ridling)
The great thing about Linux is that it is free. There is no free internet, though, and without internet, you only get about half the advantage of your computer. You could tell people to go into a Starbucks, but then the computers you give out have to be laptops with wireless, not old desktops. Some people may be able to pay for dial up or even basic DSL, but most people probably cannot afford to do this. Having to support hundreds of people’s monthly bills is just not realistic. - Compatibility with Windows
Most Windows software is not going to work under LInux and few people are going to be willing to go out searching for a Linux alternative. Worse, by default OpenOffice saves in a format that is not readable by Office. These sorts of problems, though they do have solutions, just make the process more complicated, unless you have a really good way of training the people getting the computers. See problem number 2. - Physical Distribution
Standard desktop computers are big, bulky, and heavy. None of those bode well for shipping prices. Currently, it is basically only realistic to give someone a computer if they and the computer are within driving distance of each other.This is particularly a problem in parts of the world where it may not be common for anyone to have a computer. If shipping was free and there were no customs taxes, you could give your old computer to someone in the middle of no where. As it is, it would likely cost more to ship the computer than to buy a new one there. - Piracy
Most people think of piracy as being something that the RIAA and Microsoft continue to fight in numerous stupid ways, but it can also be the enemy of Linux. If everyone just pirated Windows, Linux would lose a major edge. It is true that, for someone who cannot even afford a computer, it may be better for them to have a pirated copy of WIndows than nothing, but wouldn’t it be far better for them to have a completely legal system based on Linux?
In dealing with these issues, we must also remember that there has already been success using Linux to provide equal opportunity in many places by many people. Solving these problems would only increase the success. This is no reason not to strive to solve these problems, though.
The question I now pose to you is this: how can we solve these problems?
Blog Action Day: What are the obstacles to using open-source to combat poverty?
On October 15th, I will be participating in Blog Action Day. (Click on the banner above to learn more.) The idea is that on one day – October 15th – a large number of blogs will dedicate that day to discussing this year’s issue, which is poverty. Since it is not yet October 15th, you may be wondering why I am posting about this.
This year I want to take a different perspective on a standard idea: using open-source software to help create equal opportunity for those in poverty or who simply don’t have enough money for a new computer. Since many members of the Linux community have probably been involved in (or know someone who has been involved in) projects aimed at giving open-source software to those who cannot afford traditional software, I would like to pose the following question:
What obstacles, either technical or otherwise, still exist to successful use of open-source software by those who may not be able to afford standard proprietary software?
Please leave a comment or use the contact link at the bottom of the page to tell me your answer.