Have we foodies inadvertently kept a coal fired power station going?

VintageLED are proudly Melbournian.  We love our single origin in a chic cafe in the morning and multi-course degustation with matching sommelier chosen beverage in a fine diner in the evening. A great article recently published in Broadsheet highlighted the ubiquitous nature of the cafe and restaurant design in Melbourne...

"Polished timber, white tiling, Edison light bulbs. Once innovative, these familiar elements are now ubiquitous to the point of parody in Melbourne’s cafes and restaurants.

But there are reasons why they have been so widely embraced in Melbourne and elsewhere. As Paul Hecker explains, it’s a look that works well day and night; it’s casual and warm; it suggests history and appeals to a sense of nostalgia.

It even makes the customer look good, as the warm yellow glow of an Edison bulb is more flattering than an LED. And practically, the materials are inexpensive and easy to access."

The focus of the article was the copy cat nature of project developers and the design features they chose, but one of the key design elements - carbon filament Edison light bulbs have inadvertently increased energy consumption across the city.  Every cafe that used to have half a dozen twirly CFL light bulbs has been redesigned and re-invigorated to include 20, 40 or even 60 hanging light bulbs - given the fact that many Carbon filament light bulbs put out about the same amount of light as a candle - if you have a large space you need more.

Now we agree that the ambience created by the glow of these lights is warming and flattering to us as customers, no one likes to sit under a blue light to eat and drink. But every day when all the cafe, restaurants and bars open and all these lights get switched on - lets say 5,000 maybe at 40W each - that alone is more electricity than one 200W unit at Hazlewood Coal fired power in the LaTrobe valley can supply.

So maybe when super warm Vintage LEDs are available its time to stop the boys shovelling so much coal?  

Just saying.