人人呼吁环保，人人着手节能，殊不知，在人们热烈投身节能的同时，问题又产生了——因为使用的是节能灯，所以不满足于照明条件而使用得越来越多，这样真的能节能吗？
Engineers are always plugging away to get better energy efficiency out of our products -- like cars that guzzle less gas or light bulbs that burn brighter on fewer watts. But even if we replaced all today's bulbs with energy-sipping LEDs, the world might not see any energy savings, according to a study in the Journal of Physics D. Because the more efficient lights get, the more light we tend to use. The researchers looked at light consumption since the year 1700. Even though today's compact fluorescents are 500 times more efficient than candles and whale oil lamps, what we spend on overall lighting hasn't gone down. It's just increased proportionately to our wealth. For the past 300 years we've consistently spent just about seven-tenths-of-one-percent of our gross domestic product on artificial lighting. And the researchers think this trend could continue, because many parts of the world still haven't satisfied their appetite for light. The upside is, more lighting means more productivity. But if the goal is green living, LEDs may not be a stand-alone solution. Instead, the authors suggest coupling those LEDs with energy policies that encourage smart lighting use. Now that's a bright idea.
工程师们一直在坚持不懈地开发更节能的产品——例如节能汽车和节能灯泡。但《物理期刊D》的一项研究表明，即使我们把现在所有的灯泡都换成节能的LED，地球的能源消耗仍不会减少。因为灯泡越节能，我们就使用得越多。 研究人员研究了1700年以来的照明耗能数据。尽管现在的萤光灯比当时的蜡烛和鲸油灯高效500多倍，但我们花在照明上的能源并没有减少，而是随着我们的财富相应的增加了。过去300年以来，我们一直将0.7%的GDP花在人工照明上。研究人员认为这种趋势会持续下去，因为世界上很多地方仍不满足于现在的照明情况。 乐观的一面则是，更多的照明意味着更高的生产力。但若我们的目标是绿色生活，并不能只使用LED。相反，笔者建议LED的使用应与鼓励使用智能灯的政策挂钩，这才是好主意。