Safe Speed Forums

Walking home at night is about to get a lot more creepy. Local councils are saving money by cutting the street lights to save money and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Where are the 40/50 Watt CFL's that can give decent light output equiviilant to the old 150/200 watt light bulbs??

Power Factor is a complicated formula to measure power quality that doesn’t mean much to anybody but engineers right now, but this ratio is going to play a major role in the transition to energy efficient lighting. Power Factor is a way for utility companies to assign a value to the balance between active power and reactive power, and the ramifications of this ratio are going to be a high priority have an impact on our utility bills and our wallets in the near future.

In the simplest terms, High Power Factor is good and Low Power Factor is bad when it comes to Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL). Power Factor determines power quality, and when Power Factor is reduced the result is increased dirty or unproductive energy – something utility companies can’t accept because it costs them money. As the global transition away from the incandescent bulb accelerates during the next few years and CFLs become the most prevalent lighting application on the planet, consumers may be surprised to learn that the introduction of a massive volume of energy efficient CFL bulbs with low Power Factor could ultimately cause household energy bills to go up.

While CFL bulbs are more than 70% more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs, CFL bulbs draw electricity differently than incandescent bulbs. While the use of a relatively small number of CFL bulbs with low Power Factor may have an imperceptible impact on overall power quality, research conducted during the past few years indicates that plugging in tens of millions of low Power Factor CFL bulbs could significantly reduce power quality and require expensive corrective actions by utility companies. Those costs would inevitably be passed along to the customer in the form of Power Factor correction penalties.

When the system of street lighting on the road is not lit and it is dark the road will effectively become unrestricted. Happy days for Safespeed members.

I believe this is a gross misrepresentation of we call for; Safe speed call for abolition of speed cameras, not for the abolition of speed limits. Please refrain from such wantonly antagonistic posts.


I absolutely do not want to see urban areas become derestricted.

So what would you do if you came across such a road that was not urban?

Would you assess the maximum speed to be that where you could stop in the distance you could see to be clear?

If you have a system of street lights on a road at spacing 200yards or less then it is a 30mph speed limit ....

...whether or not all those lights are illuminated

By your logic the default 30mph limit would only be applied in the hours of darkness

it could be that 40/50 Watt fluorescents just aren't compact http://www.the-energy-saving-shop.com/produkt.php?pm_id=1100&campaign=Froogle_GB

and cfls just are not very efficient

A single 2ft 18W triphosphor tube is much brighter than the 22W CFL in my hall, not that it is very compact as it is about 7 1/2 inches long.


DCB - I just knew an astronomer would not be able to resist

From the discussions we have had in the past, part of the definition of a system of street lights is "to illuminate the carriageway during hours of darkness". The logic being that if they don't do that then they are no longer street lights, if they are no longer street lights then the 30mph limit no longer applies, even during the day.

(By contrast, I have some CFL's in outdoor lighting units that have lasted over 10 years! they are ok as long as they are in a cool enviroment, the bulb is installed the "wrong" way up, and they are only switched on once a day and then left on for a number of hours before being switched of again. None of which applies for the typical domestic enviroment)

....the failure of a single light would render the speed restriction ineffective?

...power failure...

But what I want is a 200 watt (or equivilant) dimmable. So I can have a bright light for when I need to see what I am doing and a dim one for when I dont. The greenie solution appears to be a dim one all the time so I am being continually reminded of the virtuous sacrifices that I am making to save the polar bears!!

At 35 quid a pop those bulbs in the link might save just enough energy over ther lifetime to cover the purchase cost, probabally not even that! CFL's in a domestic enviroment dont seem to last much longer than any other lighbulb. 2000 hrs is a good result. the 15,000 claimed is pure fantacy. (And when CFL's die they frequently catch fire IME, not very nice! dont leave them on unattended!)

However, it could get tricky, for example on urban routes where posts may not be easily distinguishable against foliage and trunks. I think it would be reasonable to say that an offender in that circumstance could well have a case.

This could get philosophical; is a lamp that never lights actually a lamp?