You have been mislead about lightbulbs

The common narrative that the Phoebus cartel standardized lightbulb lifespans at 1,000 hours purely to drive repeat purchases is misleading. In reality, longer-lasting incandescent bulbs are fundamentally worse products: the physics of tungsten filaments means that increasing lifespan requires running the filament cooler, which reduces efficiency, brightness, and color quality. The famous Centennial Bulb in California, often cited as proof of planned obsolescence, barely glows and draws only 4W despite being rated at 60W — likely a manufacturing defect that made it useless for normal use. The cartel's enforcement existed because consumers irrationally preferred longer-lasting bulbs without understanding the efficiency trade-off, creating a race to the bottom. The real lesson is that every manufactured product involves invisible engineering compromises, and lightbulbs are not a good example of planned obsolescence.

Nguồn: https://maurycyz.com/misc/tungsten. 8sync News chỉ tóm tắt và dẫn link; bản quyền nội dung thuộc tác giả và nguồn gốc.