60 watts to illuminate just one room used to be the norm. Now it sounds insane. Maybe losing the perfect color rendering index was a worthwhile tradeoff after all.
60 watts to illuminate just one room used to be the norm. Now it sounds insane. Maybe losing the perfect color rendering index was a worthwhile tradeoff after all.
Multiple 60w bulbs!
Chandeliers with 10 40w bulbs. Recessed lights - 4, 6, or 8 75w bulbs. It’s crazy!
500w or 1000w street lights too. That’s one reason we can absolutely have street level charging, if the owner of the lights plays along.
Street lights use sodium-vapor fluorescence rather than incandescence, which was actually more efficient than LEDs until a few years ago (and I believe that low-pressure sodium-vapor still is and only high-pressure sodium-vapor has been surpassed by LED tech).
So there isn’t all that much power freed in replacing existing street lights lamps with LED.
However that tech doesn’t really work well for lower power application such as home use, hence why people used to have 60W incandescent lamps at home or their fluorescent lamp equivalent (which is around 20W) that were replaced by first 10W LEDs and now even lower as LED light bulb tech has improved.
at least where i live, two-button light switches are called “chandelier switches” because they were originally used to control a single chandelier using two live wires and one neutral. having all the bulbs powered would make the room too hot, so they made a single lamp into two circuits.
also, fun fact, dimmer switches used to be a big file hazard because the current they had to dump from big light fixtures meant they would heat up inside the wall which could make the insulation catch fire.
Some places only permit electric utilities to sell electricity based on kwh usage, so it’s tough unless the electric company also owns the street lights. Otherwise you pay an hourly “parking” rate, not one based on electric consumption