Land of the free: in shock decision, US allows citizens to choose whatever light globe they want

In a rare move for consumers, US citizens will not be forced to buy LED soul-and-body-clock destroying globes next year as was planned. Instead they can frivolously continue to buy incandescent globes if they so choose.

Despite the Democrats best efforts to stop droughts and bushfires with indoor lighting, no US citizen will be denied the chance to save their own money and enjoy a more natural spectrum of lighting in the privacy of their own home.

If you like your sleeping patterns, you can keep them…

BBC

(This was announced in September 2019)

The US is scrapping a ban on energy-inefficient light bulbs which was due to come in at the beginning of 2020.

The rule would have prohibited the sale of bulbs that do not reach a standard of efficiency, and could have seen an end to incandescent bulbs.

Many countries have phased out older bulbs because they waste energy.

But the US energy department said banning incandescent bulbs would be bad for consumers because of the higher cost of more efficient bulbs.

The Department of Energy said it had withdrawn the ban because it was a misinterpretation of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.

Specifically, the law stipulated that restrictions on bulbs could only be implemented when it was economically justified, Shaylyn Hynes, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy, told the New York Times.

Blue light suppresses melatonin, reducing sleep

Harvard Medical School

Effects of blue light and sleep

While light of any kind can suppress the secretion of melatonin, blue light at night does so more powerfully. Harvard researchers and their colleagues conducted an experiment comparing the effects of 6.5 hours of exposure to blue light to exposure to green light of comparable brightness. The blue light suppressed melatonin for about twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian rhythms by twice as much (3 hours vs. 1.5 hours).

Exposure to blue light at night has been associated with breast and prostate cancer. In the latest bizarre news, daily exposure to blue light may accelerate aging, even if it doesn’t reach your eyes (at least if you are a drosophila). OK, it’s just a fly study, but even eyeless flies had some brain damage from being exposed to 12 hours of day of blue light. And who knows what effect LED lighting all night could have on insects and wildlife (but who cares eh? Not the Greens).

BTW For years, I’ve used F.lux to make my screens warm “cave painting” colors after sundown. I like it.

h/t Hanrahan, and belatedly, Pat, and Travis T. Jones.

Photo by Diz Play on Unsplash

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]

please wait... Rating: 9.7/10 (66 votes cast)