Wow, you have a certain mindset and you don't want to change it.
> Standardization would be much easier for LEDs
No, it would be just as hard because LEDs are very new and the perfect format is not known yet. It'll be a decade or more before anyone can think of standardization.
> The additional cost may be negligible.
No, the additional cost will probably double the cost, and require extra material and energy to make it.
> That may be true now, but I personally don't care. Given the choice between replacing an entire bulb and replacing a small piece for slightly less, guess which one I'll choose.
Like I said, a certain mindset and you don't want to change it. Even if this is worse for the environment you would still prefer this? It's greenwashing, it provides no benefit, but it makes you feel better that you didn't throw something away.
You would pay more for the initial bulb, and the new component will cost more than a new bulb - so you pay more twice. And of course you are not paying for nothing, you are paying for extra material and extra manufacturing energy.
> Ultimately the cost of the electronics and the LED will be cents. Think about what's happened to LED flashlights. The cost of the aluminum and plastic fixture is fixed.
The plastic fixture costs cents. The expensive part is making it, not the raw material. This will be true even in some future where high power LEDs are cheap.
I'm not really wedded to a conclusion or "mind set" here. I just don't buy your assertions, which you seem to have pulled out of your ars :)
My proposition is pretty simple: I would like to see LED light bulbs adopt some of the same modularity used in other LED lighting products such as flash lights and bike headlights. I don't have to throw away an entire headlight in order to upgrade, and I don't want to throw away heavy aluminum light bulbs either. I have no idea if there's a market in this, but Nate's money is on the table.
Now, if you you really knew this subject well, you might have pointed out that cooling requirements are pretty specific to the type of LED and driver, and are likely to change rapidly, thus making current shrouds and heat sinks subject to imminent obsolescence. Or you might have pointed out the possibility that remote phosphors will catch on widely, which would seriously complicate the whole arrangement. Or you might have pointed out the fact that the economics of manufacturing mass-market lighting appears to favor arrays of cheap LEDs over single expensive LEDs, which would obviously make modularity difficult or impossible.
If indeed modularity would double the cost of a bulb, as you say, then that would obviously kill the idea as well. If you would be so kind, please provide a citation for this.
> Standardization would be much easier for LEDs
No, it would be just as hard because LEDs are very new and the perfect format is not known yet. It'll be a decade or more before anyone can think of standardization.
> The additional cost may be negligible.
No, the additional cost will probably double the cost, and require extra material and energy to make it.
> That may be true now, but I personally don't care. Given the choice between replacing an entire bulb and replacing a small piece for slightly less, guess which one I'll choose.
Like I said, a certain mindset and you don't want to change it. Even if this is worse for the environment you would still prefer this? It's greenwashing, it provides no benefit, but it makes you feel better that you didn't throw something away.
You would pay more for the initial bulb, and the new component will cost more than a new bulb - so you pay more twice. And of course you are not paying for nothing, you are paying for extra material and extra manufacturing energy.
> Ultimately the cost of the electronics and the LED will be cents. Think about what's happened to LED flashlights. The cost of the aluminum and plastic fixture is fixed.
The plastic fixture costs cents. The expensive part is making it, not the raw material. This will be true even in some future where high power LEDs are cheap.