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Zo you think you can dance? Zbulbs dance contest!WIN A IPOD CLASSIC! June 2, 2009

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Zoinks! Its me Dr. Z! Would you believe that I now have my own dance contest? Zbulbs has decided to create a competition based on my “Dance of the 7 Spirals!”  You can win an IPOD CLASSIC!

http://zbulbsmedia.com/danceRules.htm

 

 

ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN
Zbulbs Dance of the Seven Spirals.

The “Dance of the Seven Spirals” Contest (“Contest”) is designed to encourage our customers and potential customers to become more involved in Zbulbs.com as an online provider of lighting products. Prizes will be awarded to those who submit the most creative and inspiring videos. Each video should appeal to Zbulbs audience, and each winner will be determined by the judges in their sole discretion, and in accordance with these Official Rules.

Winners selected monthly.

THE SUBMISSION: Create a video that is approximately 1 to 3 minutes in length. You may submit multiple Entries, so long as each Entry meets all requirements. Each Entry should be original, creative, and appeal to Zbulbs.com audience. Be creative! To enter you must register at www.zbulbs.com To do this you will need to register with YouTube. YouTube registration is free. Once you have completed the registration process and have created your video, upload it to your YouTube account, marking it as PUBLIC.

Go here full registration info:

http://www.zbulbsmedia.com/dancecontest.htm

Holy Lazer Light Bulbs Batman! Regular Light Bulbs Made Super-efficient With Ultra-fast Laser June 1, 2009

Posted by Dr. Z Bulbs in light bulb, List Article.
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Zoinks! Just when you thought incandescent light bulbs were out for the count, Lasers come to the rescue. Below is an article from Science Daily that talks about  super bulb!

Dr. Z

www.zbulbs.com

 

Ok Mr Y. Just hold that light bulb steady

Ok Mr Y. Just hold that light bulb steady

 An ultra-powerful laser can turn regular incandescent light bulbs into power-sippers, say optics researchers at the University of Rochester. The process could make a light as bright as a 100-watt bulb consume less electricity than a 60-watt bulb while remaining far cheaper and radiating a more pleasant light than a fluorescent bulb can.

 

The laser process creates a unique array of nano- and micro-scale structures on the surface of a regular tungsten filament—the tiny wire inside a light bulb—and theses structures make the tungsten become far more effective at radiating light.

The findings will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.

“We’ve been experimenting with the way ultra-fast lasers change metals, and we wondered what would happen if we trained the laser on a filament,” says Chunlei Guo, associate professor of optics at the University of Rochester. “We fired the laser beam right through the glass of the bulb and altered a small area on the filament. When we lit the bulb, we could actually see this one patch was clearly brighter than the rest of the filament, but there was no change in the bulb’s energy usage.”

The key to creating the super-filament is an ultra-brief, ultra-intense beam of light called a femtosecond laser pulse. The laser burst lasts only a few quadrillionths of a second. To get a grasp of that kind of speed, consider that a femtosecond is to a second what a second is to about 32 million years. During its brief burst, Guo’s laser unleashes as much power as the entire grid of North America onto a spot the size of a needle point. That intense blast forces the surface of the metal to form nanostructures and microstructures that dramatically alter how efficiently can radiate from the filament.

In 2006, Guo and his assistant, Anatoliy Vorobeyv, used a similar laser process to turn any metal pitch black. The surface structures created on the metal were incredibly effective at capturing incoming radiation, such as light.

“There is a very interesting ‘take more, give more’ law in nature governing the amount of light going in and coming out of a material,” says Guo. Since the black metal was extremely good at absorbing light, he and Vorobyev set out to study the reverse process—that the blackened filament would radiate light more effectively as well.

“We knew it should work in theory,” says Guo, “but we were still surprised when we turned up the power on this bulb and saw just how much brighter the processed spot was.”

In addition to increasing the brightness of a bulb, Guo’s process can be used to tune the color of the light as well. In 2008, his team used a similar process to change the color of nearly any metal to blue, golden, and gray, in addition to the black he’d already accomplished. Guo and Vorobeyv used that knowledge of how to control the size and shape of the nanostructures—and thus what colors of light those structures absorb and radiate—to change the amount of each wavelength of light the tungsten filament radiates. Though Guo cannot yet make a simple bulb shine pure blue, for instance, he can change the overall radiated spectrum so that the tungsten, which normally radiates a yellowish light, could radiate a more purely white light.

Guo’s team has even been able to make a filament radiate partially polarized light, which until now has been impossible to do without special filters that reduce the bulb’s efficiency. By creating nanostructures in tight, parallel rows, some light that emits from the filament becomes polarized.

The team is now working to discover what other aspects of a common light bulb they might be able to control. Fortunately, despite the incredible intensity involved, the femtosecond laser can be powered by a simple wall outlet, meaning that when the process is refined, implementing it to augment regular light bulbs should be relatively simple.

Guo is also announcing this month in Applied Physics Letters a technique using a similar femtosecond laser process to make a piece of metal automatically move liquid around its surface, even lifting a liquid up against gravity.

This research was supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

New Dr Z Videos! The Dance of the Seven Spirals and a Carnival Shoot! May 21, 2009

Posted by Dr. Z Bulbs in light bulb, Light bulbs in pop culture, Weird Bulb News.
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Zoinks! Its me! Dr. Z! Boy oh boy we have a treat for you all now. Two brand new video’s of my adventures in and out of Lighthouse Labratories. See me perform my most mysterious Dance of the Seven Spirals! See Mr. Y learn his lesson when he mixes guns and bad lighting decisions! Watch and Enjoy!

zoinks!

Dr. Z

 

www.zbulbs.com

NY Times article-Industry Looks to LED Bulbs for the Home May 11, 2009

Posted by Dr. Z Bulbs in LED Lights, List Article.
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Published: May 10, 2009
Walk around the floor of Lightfair International, the lighting industry’s annual trade show at the Javits Center in New York last week, and you would be forgiven for thinking that lamps based on light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, had already filled our homes and workplaces.

Skip to next paragraph

Mark Lennihan/Associated Press

This lamp from Nexxus Lighting uses less than 8 watts and is said to be as bright as a 75-watt incandescent bulb. Price: $100.

LED bulbs and fixtures dominated nearly every booth on the show floor.

Now all the world has to do is catch up. Most people think of LEDs as the lights blinking from inside electronic devices. They are being used increasingly to light rooms, though few people have ever bought them.

“In the U.S., 78 percent of the public is completely unaware that traditional light bulbs will be phased out in 2012,” said Charles F. Jerabek, president and chief executive of Osram Sylvania, a unit of Siemens. By law, bulbs must be 30 percent more efficient than current incandescent versions beginning that year.

While the current crop of compact fluorescents could do the job, the industry is rallying around LED lamps for many applications. They say LEDs last longer than current bulbs and compact fluorescent ones and their energy consumption could eventually be less than fluorescent lights’. They can also be made in many shapes and sizes, which was evident at the trade show. Unlike compact fluorescents bulbs, they contain no mercury and they work well in cold weather. They provide a more pleasing light than fluorescents.

Manufacturers displayed LEDs incorporated into large warehouse, garage and street-lighting fixtures, flexible light ribbons, and replacements for the halogen reflector lamps used in kitchens and offices. Strips of flexible LEDs from Osram Sylvania put light in places where it could not otherwise fit. Later this year, the company will market tiny LED chandelier lights that use 6 watts instead of the 15 watts typical of an incandescent version. It says they will last 25,000 hours instead of 1,500 for an incandescent bulb. Also this fall, Osram, Lighting Science and Philips will introduce 25,000-hour LED lamps that look like traditional bulbs but use just 8 watts of electricity to produce the same amount of light as a 40-watt bulb.

Much of the industry’s effort is aimed at making LED lamps that emit as much light as a 60- or 75-watt incandescent bulb. Cree, a leading maker of LEDs, showed a new version of its LED ceiling fixture that uses 6.5 watts, compared with 11 watts for last year’s model, to create the light of a standard 65-watt lamp.

Even with the wide range of LED products now available, compact fluorescent bulbs will be the technology of choice for most consumers for years to come. That is a result of LEDs’ high prices — more than $20 for a 40-watt-equivalent bulb — and the difficulty in creating bright bulbs. “The C.F.L. market still has a lot of growth,” said Michael B. Petras Jr., president of GE Lighting, a unit of General Electric. Even so, the company is devoting 50 percent of its research and development money to LED-related technologies.

The advent of long-lasting bulbs means light bulb companies have to shift away from making most of their money selling replacement bulbs. Over the last several years, Philips has remade itself by acquiring several companies that sell lamp fixtures for homes and businesses.

The company expects its LED sales in the United States to increase to $200 million this year from $120 million in 2008, according to Kaj den Daas, president of Philips’s lighting group for the United States.

The industry expects to sell more bulbs at a higher price. “Instead of $1.25 light bulbs, we’ll be selling $10 to $20 systems,” said Mr. Jerabek of Osram Sylvania. He also said today’s larger homes have many more lights than homes 20 years ago. And, as LED energy efficiency improves, he thinks consumers will upgrade their LED fixtures with lower watt versions.

Mr. Jerabek remembers the recent debacle with the introduction of low-price compact fluorescent lamps. Their poor reliability and unnatural light caused widespread dissatisfaction among consumers.

“It will be a huge injustice and setback if we allow the same thing to happen to LEDs,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/technology/11led.html?em

 

The Great Light Bulb Weeny Roast Experiment on Video! March 3, 2009

Posted by Dr. Z Bulbs in compact fluorescent, light bulb, Weird Bulb News.
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The first of many Dr Z video’s to come. Hot Dogs ! Light Bulbs! Mr Y tries a dangerous trick and lives to regret it! Can Dr Z save him? Watch this amazing video and find out..
ZOinks!

Dr. Z

www.zbulbs.com

 

Ed Hammer-Father of the Spiral Fluorescent Bulb February 5, 2009

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Gad-ZOInks! It me Dr Z. grandpoobah of the Lighthouse. I included a a wonderful article on the inventor of spiral fluorescent, Ed Hammer. One of my personal heros. Enjoy!

Dr Z

www.zbulbs.com

 

The Prototype for our beloved Spiral Fluorescent

The Prototype for our beloved Spiral Fluorescent

Father of the compact fluorescent bulb looks back
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News


May 8, 2007
Cheaper LEDs to light a green path?
January 19, 2007 Consumers with an eye to conserving energy may be snatching those swirly compact fluorescent bulbs off store shelves now, but 30 years ago they were barely a shade away from crazy.
“I was given a number of reasons why it wouldn’t work,” said Ed Hammer, a retired General Electric engineer who invented compact fluorescent while working at the company in the 1970s. “I was told it could be a little better than an incandescent bulb, but that was about it.”

Courtesy of Ed Hammer
Ed Hammer and the first
compact fluorescent bulb.
Critics said it couldn’t be done.
But by carefully spacing the
spirals, Hammer was able to
avoid reflective losses and
come out with a bulb that
could light a room. Instead, increasing energy costs have made Hammer’s invention a quickly growing part of the consumer market. Household CFLs operate on 13 to 25 watts of energy, far less than 60- to 100-watt incandescent bulbs, and thus have become a favorite with consumers trying to curb energy costs. The bulbs also last far longer than standard incandescent bulbs. Although the bulbs contain mercury and thus aren’t supposed to be thrown away with the regular trash, sales are climbing. Sales could climb further if legislation pending in various jurisdictions banning incandescents passes.

CFLs will face heated competition with light-emitting diodes, but right now the price of LED lights is fairly high.

GE assigned Hammer to work on energy efficient bulbs at its labs in Nela Park, Ohio, during the first U.S. energy crisis in the mid-’70s. His first invention was a standard-shaped 40-watt fluorescent lamp, called the F-40 Watt Miser, in 1973. To lower the power consumption, Hammer changed the gas used and tweaked various components inside the lamp.

Next came the CFL. Bulbs and fluorescent light, however, are not a natural combination. Fluorescent lights are ordinarily tube-shaped. Curving them into a bulb shape creates reflective losses, i.e. light that shines from one part of the tube gets deflected by a nearby spiral.

Through a lot of trial and error, he came up with a way to space the spirals far enough apart to minimize losses without also losing a bulb-like shape. Many manufacturers have tried different designs, but the shape Hammer coined remains dominant.

Hammer invented the bulb in 1976, he said, and primarily worked alone. (Editor’s note: the years reflect the time Hammer says he invented the bulbs, not when GE announced them.) The original prototype is in the Smithsonian.

Although executives at GE liked the idea, they decided not to market it at the time. CFLs would require entirely new manufacturing facilities, which would cost $25 million. “So they decided to shelve it,” Hammer said.

The electronics giant contemplated licensing the design. Unfortunately, the design leaked out. Others copied it before GE started a licensing program.

“That’s how it became widespread,” he said. Still, “it has been a big hit for GE.”

Hammer hasn’t done badly either. He has published more than 40 papers and was awarded the Edison Medal by the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2002.

The story of the EPA and CFL’s- Does the EPA like the CFL? Maybe we should ask the CIA? January 29, 2009

Posted by Dr. Z Bulbs in Definitions about product..
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The Secret is out! The EPA thinks CFL's are ZBEST!

The Secret is out! The EPA thinks CFL's are ZBEST!

NO! You don’t need to talk to the CIA about CFL’s. But the EPA does know a thing or two about CFL’s (in case you don’t know what a CFL is ..it a Compact Fluorescent Light!)

So what does the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) think of CFL’s? Do they support the use of them? Do they believe we should use them to light our houses, homes, and businesses? Do they like their funny little shape?

The answer is :Yes. If you compare a CFL to a standard incandescent bulb, it offers many benefits. First and for mostit helps save energy and money. A CFL will use 75% less energy than a standard incandescent light bulb, and lasts up to 10 times longer if not more. If you replace a 60 watt incandescent with a 13 watt CFL you can see savings of at least $30 over the life of the bulb. These things pay for themselves! I think even the CIA ,FDA, and NBA could support something like that! The second thing about CFL’s is that they produce 70% less heat which means they can cut energy costs associated with home cooling! So EPA has found a find friend in the CFL..

ZOinks!

Dr Z

www.zbulbs.com

 

 

P.S. Energy star has a zany new energy calculator that you can use to calculate the money you are going to save by switching to a CFL. Check out it out at the linke below!

http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/bulk_purchasing/bpsavings_calc/CalculatorCFLs.xls

compact fluorescent light bulb on 3-way lamps January 26, 2009

Posted by Dr. Z Bulbs in Definitions about product..
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Dr Z(with magnifying glass) analyzes bulbs while Dr Y gets his freak on.

Dr Z(with magnifying glass) analyzes bulbs while Mr Y..I'm not sure what he is doing.

Gadzooks! Dr Z is back from a long weekend of light bulb shenanigans with my friend Mr Y. Now for those of you who haven’t met Mr. Y..He is a bit of a party animal.. So he not only brought over some of his paparazzi friends to photograph my labratory and some of the things I have been working on.. Very Top Secret.  Anyways I have included a pic from our gathering last weekend(shown above) I’ll post more later.. Anyways! One of the questions that came up during the weekend was  concerning compact fluorescents and  their use on 3-way lamps. For some reason Mr. Y would snicker everytime “3-way” was said and distract me from my response concerning this very important question. 

Can I use a compact fluorescent light bulb on my 3-way lamp?”  To start with check the package to see if it is made for 3-way application.  If a regular CFL is use in a 3-way switch, it will work on the middle setting and it should not damage the bulb. The 3-way switch should not alter the performance of the bulb. Of course the best thing to do is always use the right bulb for the right application.

Until next time..Keep using those bulbs!

Dr Z

www.zbulbs.com

CFL Lightbulbs in Plain English January 22, 2009

Posted by Dr. Z Bulbs in Definitions about product..
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Zoinks! Its Dr Z here gang. Comin at you live with a a zany animated video that really explains why CFL lightbulbs are so very groovy. Check it out!

Dr Z

www.zbulbs.com

 

 

Greenpeace Dimmable Lightgarden January 22, 2009

Posted by Dr. Z Bulbs in List Article.
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Dr. Z's garden of eden

Dr. Z's garden of eden

ZOinks! Its me Dr. Z, the Photon Maximus and bulb-a-holic!
So what is a “Greenpeace Dimmable Lightgarden” you may ask? No.. its not an obsucure psychedelic nugget from 1966. Thats a different kind of green if you know what I mean..heh heh cough*.. Anyways ..lets get serious! The Greenpeace dimmable lightgarden is actually a really cool presentation done by the people of Greenpeace to unveil the new dimmable CFL. Check out the article below to read more!

 Dr. Z

www.zbulbs.com

 

——————————————————————————–

September 24, 2007
GREENPEACE LAUNCHES DIMMABLE ECO BULB in London
by Kate Andrews

The UK’s first fully dimmable energy efficient light bulb was launched today, as part of a Greenpeace initiative at 100% Design London. Greenpeace commissioned top designer Jason Bruges to create an interactive garden of light, which responds to human movement through “touch pads” dotted around the installation. This is the first lighting project of its kind in the world to use fully dimmable, compact fluorescent bulbs.

Greenpeace explains:
“Energy efficiency is one of the most powerful tools we have for fighting climate change, and this installation will prove that going green doesn’t mean sacrificing good design. The bulbs themselves have been nominated in the “most innovative lighting” category at the 100% Design London awards, and the installation has been moved to the front of house feature space. It’s a sure sign that the exhibition organisers have realised that they have something new and exciting on their hands.”

Gad-Zooks! This makes me green with envy. Dr. Z needs a dimmable lightgarden!