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Longer-lasting light bulbs: it was complicated

Technology Connections · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Engineering & making (other)Repair, teardowns & right to repairMicroeconomics & behavioral economics

What it is

Technology Connections examines why light bulbs have the lifespans they do, including the real history of the Phoebus cartel. He shows that bulb life trades off against brightness and efficiency rather than being simple planned obsolescence.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN's go-to link for correcting the lightbulb conspiracy myth, giving an engineer's view of the lifespan versus efficiency tradeoff.

  • 9 people recommended it
  • 7 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2023, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “highly recommended if you want an engineers perspective, with no 'great conspiracy' hype.”

    Engineer's view of the lightbulb cartel without conspiracy hype.

    samat, 2024-07 · Strong recommendation · in “The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy (2014)”

  2. “TL;DW: (if I rember correctly) Bulbs with shorter lifespans are generally more energy efficient.”

    Explains why shorter-lived bulbs were more efficient.

    audunw, 2023-08 · Recommendation · in “List of the longest-lasting incandescent light bulbs”

  3. “Technology Connections does a thoughtful deep dive in to this story”

    Thoughtful deep dive on the bulb lifetime tradeoff.

    TaylorAlexander, 2023-10 · Recommendation · in “The Anatomy of a Smart Bulb”

  4. “You can watch about the history of it on Technology connections.”

    History of the bulb lifetime versus brightness tradeoff.

    PaulKeeble, 2023-10 · Recommendation · in “Apple's Blue Ocean”

  5. “Nice video from the well known channel Technology Connections”

    The bulb cartel was real, but with legitimate reasons.

    mmkhd, 2024-06 · Recommendation · in “How to get stuff repaired when the manufacturer don't wanna: take 'em to court”

  6. “It wasn't as simple as them wanting to make more money”

    Shows bulb lifespan balanced light output, efficiency, and longevity.

    Youden, 2024-06 · Recommendation · in “How to get stuff repaired when the manufacturer don't wanna: take 'em to court”

  7. “Actually Technology Connections made a great youtube video on this”

    Running bulbs cooler extends life but hurts light efficiency.

    torginus, 2024-08 · Recommendation · in “East Germany invented 'unbreakable' drinking glasses”

  8. “Technology Connections explained this well in a video about a year ago”

    Lifetime limit sits near the sweet spot of lumens, life, energy.

    RulerOf, 2024-11 · Recommendation · in “The capacitor that Apple soldered incorrectly at the factory”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: incandescent bulbs, phoebus cartel, planned obsolescence, efficiency, lighting

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