More complaints about energy-saving bulbs
BURNT HILLS, NEW YORK - Some U.S. energy experts say the push to lower the price of compact fluorescent light bulbs has led manufacturers to use cheap components.
"Somebody decides to save a little money somewhere and suddenly we have hundreds of thousands of (bulb) failures," said Victor Roberts, an independent expert in Burnt Hills, N.Y., who conducts failure analysis testing on light bulbs.
Compact fluorescent bulbs comprise 11 percent of the market for bulbs in the United States, but consumers increasingly complain the bulbs burn out early, The New York Times reported.
"In the pursuit of the holy grail, we stepped on the consumer," said Michael Siminovitch, an energy expert at the University of California, Davis.
Overall, the energy-saving bulbs are of good quality, but it's difficult to keep tight quality control on a cheap, mass-marketed item, many of which come from China, said Alan Feit, vice president of Feit Electric.
"While manufacturers try to inspect all incoming materials, one little mistake may cause a performance problem," Feit said.
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LONDON - "Mining" for the cryptocurrency is power-hungry, involving heavy computer calculations to verify transactions.
Cambridge researchers say it consumes around 121.36 terawatt-hours (TWh) a year - and is unlikely to fall unless the value of the currency slumps.
Critics say electric-car firm Tesla's decision to invest heavily in Bitcoin undermines its environmental image.
The currency's value hit a record $48,000 (£34,820) this week. following Tesla's announcement that it had bought about $1.5bn bitcoin and planned to accept it as payment in future.
But the rising price offers even more incentive to Bitcoin miners to run more and more machines.
And as the price increases,…
