Plasma greenhouse effect
January 15th 2008 06:16
Don't you just hate it when something niggles in the back of your head, a little voice tells you the planets are not alligned, but the cogs aren't jammed so much as struggling to keep turning.
The worse of it is when you don't remember what it was that upset your train of thought, the thing that overheated the grease just won't show itself. Days or weeks can pass by and eventually your mind learns to deal with it, accept the thought is gone and try to reinvent the lubrication system to get round whatever it was.
Just when you start to see blue skies and a glorious surf the answer hits you right between the eyes, disappointment that the idea or thought wasn't the next big thing is soon overcome by the fact that that particular load has finally been released.
So what was this conumdrum that kept me awake for days and days, sent shivers of greyness to every corner of my pre-midlife crisis brain. Nothing dramatic I am afraid but no less confronting...
Plasma Tvs are all the rage, I will point out the writer does not own one nor shares in companies that make or sell them (this is purely due to a lack of need rather than a religious or ethical belief). But it occured to me that these things must use a bit more power than the avergage Cathode Ray style if not only because of their size.
However this thought alone was not enough to worry my adled brain for more than a few moments. It wasn't until I was accosted in the shopping mall by a rather attractive young lady (yes I'm a bloke, I don't stop for guys), telling me in great detail how much money I could save by buying new light bulbs and chucking the old ones out.
I was a bit side tracked by her rather quirky smile, her eyes spoke volumes that I would love to hear but unfortunately her mouth, tempting as those lips were, was talking without distraction about light globes.
Simply put the average normal light globe costs about $134 per year including replacements as they blow, whereas a Compact floro costs only $32 per year and amazingly a new LED style costs only $21 per year.
Having taken as much punishment as I could I left the girl unsatisifed, partly as a punishment for her beauty which I now feel quite guilty about, afteral it was me that labeled her in this way and not her anything she encouraged. However the figures started to sink in and I had to discover why these two seperate ideas with numbers had developed a crush on each other inside my head.
It appears the average size Plasma (no not the kick ass wall that everyone seems to dream of, the ordinary joes version) uses a staggering 350w per hour compared to a conventional TV that uses 70w per hour.
In an average house one might expect to find 3 or 4 lights on when needed, each one of these average globes uses 60w per hour.
So some maths :
Plasma Tv 350w less conventional tv 70w = 280w per hour extra power to account for
This equates to turning off 4.5 conventional lights that would otherwise be on !
or
Changing 20 conventional lights that would ordinarily be on to compact floro lights
or
changing 46 conventional lights that would ordinarily be on to be LED lights
It is very important to stress a light must ordinarily be on, one could easily switch all the house lights on and then before sitting down to watch the big game, ceremonarily counting them as one turns them off to save greenhouse gas emissons.
Despite being told I am not your average joe public by a fair stretch I still can't imagine too many people would have 4.5 lights on that they don't need on, turning them off would be simple good house keeping as opposed to saving the planet.
The simple solution for anyone wanting to watch a picture bigger than their field of vision must be to adopt a group of lower class households, get them to change their light bulbs and agree never to dream of a large TV. That seems to be the only way the Jones' will ever make any impact on their greenhouse gas output.
The worse of it is when you don't remember what it was that upset your train of thought, the thing that overheated the grease just won't show itself. Days or weeks can pass by and eventually your mind learns to deal with it, accept the thought is gone and try to reinvent the lubrication system to get round whatever it was.
Just when you start to see blue skies and a glorious surf the answer hits you right between the eyes, disappointment that the idea or thought wasn't the next big thing is soon overcome by the fact that that particular load has finally been released.
So what was this conumdrum that kept me awake for days and days, sent shivers of greyness to every corner of my pre-midlife crisis brain. Nothing dramatic I am afraid but no less confronting...
Plasma Tvs are all the rage, I will point out the writer does not own one nor shares in companies that make or sell them (this is purely due to a lack of need rather than a religious or ethical belief). But it occured to me that these things must use a bit more power than the avergage Cathode Ray style if not only because of their size.
However this thought alone was not enough to worry my adled brain for more than a few moments. It wasn't until I was accosted in the shopping mall by a rather attractive young lady (yes I'm a bloke, I don't stop for guys), telling me in great detail how much money I could save by buying new light bulbs and chucking the old ones out.
I was a bit side tracked by her rather quirky smile, her eyes spoke volumes that I would love to hear but unfortunately her mouth, tempting as those lips were, was talking without distraction about light globes.
Simply put the average normal light globe costs about $134 per year including replacements as they blow, whereas a Compact floro costs only $32 per year and amazingly a new LED style costs only $21 per year.
Having taken as much punishment as I could I left the girl unsatisifed, partly as a punishment for her beauty which I now feel quite guilty about, afteral it was me that labeled her in this way and not her anything she encouraged. However the figures started to sink in and I had to discover why these two seperate ideas with numbers had developed a crush on each other inside my head.
It appears the average size Plasma (no not the kick ass wall that everyone seems to dream of, the ordinary joes version) uses a staggering 350w per hour compared to a conventional TV that uses 70w per hour.
In an average house one might expect to find 3 or 4 lights on when needed, each one of these average globes uses 60w per hour.
So some maths :
Plasma Tv 350w less conventional tv 70w = 280w per hour extra power to account for
This equates to turning off 4.5 conventional lights that would otherwise be on !
or
Changing 20 conventional lights that would ordinarily be on to compact floro lights
or
changing 46 conventional lights that would ordinarily be on to be LED lights
It is very important to stress a light must ordinarily be on, one could easily switch all the house lights on and then before sitting down to watch the big game, ceremonarily counting them as one turns them off to save greenhouse gas emissons.
Despite being told I am not your average joe public by a fair stretch I still can't imagine too many people would have 4.5 lights on that they don't need on, turning them off would be simple good house keeping as opposed to saving the planet.
The simple solution for anyone wanting to watch a picture bigger than their field of vision must be to adopt a group of lower class households, get them to change their light bulbs and agree never to dream of a large TV. That seems to be the only way the Jones' will ever make any impact on their greenhouse gas output.
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Summer Banks
Romance Writers
Comment by Arun On Technology