And yet, nobody get out of here alive.

vudukungfu: And yet, nobody get out of here alive.

You get yours baby, I'll get mine.

A little tritium, a little phosphorous... problem solved.

I like spending money so I don't burn to death. I like it very much actually.

You got-damned librul regulato-safteycrats put up exit signs everywhere to steal mah tax moneys.

we need to cut costs for the exit signs so you're all taking a 20% paycut for my bonus, and also an additional 5% cut for those signs I was talking about before

Codes can be ridiculous about where they have to go depending on the local code, but I'd rather have them. I wonder the cost and energy totals for keeping all of the unnecessary TVs that are on at sports bars 16 hrs a day.

So... For the rest of us, that's like eleven bazillion elephants, each pulling a school bus.

buzzcut73: sinanju: A little tritium, a little phosphorous... problem solved.

That's how it used to be done, but there's really been a push to get rid of those things because OMG THE RADIATIONZ!!

What about the Am-241 in smoke detectors?

LineNoise: I mean, is there anyone out there who still thinks you can light up in an elevator or a public building's lobby that you need to put a bunch of signs up?

They know, but the lack of one will spur an asshole smoker to light up like he just found some loophole.

thecpt: Codes can be ridiculous about where they have to go depending on the local code, but I'd rather have them. I wonder the cost and energy totals for keeping all of the unnecessary TVs that are on at sports bars 16 hrs a day.

Standby Power
Up to the middle of the decade, standby power was often several watts or even tens of watts per appliance, and amounted typically to 10% of the electrical energy usage of the average household

The switch to LED and sometimes even fluorescent from incandescent has been blocked by political stupidity.

LineNoise: I've always wondered that about the "No smoking" signs you see in planes, elevators, movie theaters, etc. I mean, is there anyone out there who still thinks you can light up in an elevator or a public building's lobby that you need to put a bunch of signs up?

And I know many planes now have the no electronic devices light instead of the cigarette one, but I have been on plenty of new planes that still have the cigarette one instead of or in addition to the electronic devices light. Does someone at boeing secretly hope smoking on planes will come back, and the light will be useful again?

Love the irony...

Yeah, brilliant. *Golf clap*

If you believe that we spend $2-3 billion annually to light up exit signs, you are retarded.

/and probably an Obama voter

People. PEOPLE! It's all about fire safety and evacuation routes.
Why do you hate ___________?

LineNoise: I've always wondered that about the "No smoking" signs you see in planes, elevators, movie theaters, etc. I mean, is there anyone out there who still thinks you can light up in an elevator or a public building's lobby that you need to put a bunch of signs up?

And I know many planes now have the no electronic devices light instead of the cigarette one, but I have been on plenty of new planes that still have the cigarette one instead of or in addition to the electronic devices light. Does someone at boeing secretly hope smoking on planes will come back, and the light will be useful again?

Oh you need those signs because some dumb armchair lawyer that wants to light up with sit there and make a thing that there is "No sign" I used to work in a parking lot that was in thir area that had parking at a premium so people would park in my lot I would warn them and they would would say thins like "There is no sign in front of my spot!" or "It's a public lot!"

Anyone else finding it hard to swallow that each EXIT sign consumes 300 kWh per year??? That is the amount of a small fridge!!

Animal crackers to any American who knows this reference.

stonicus: LineNoise: I've always wondered that about the "No smoking" signs you see in planes, elevators, movie theaters, etc. I mean, is there anyone out there who still thinks you can light up in an elevator or a public building's lobby that you need to put a bunch of signs up?

And I know many planes now have the no electronic devices light instead of the cigarette one, but I have been on plenty of new planes that still have the cigarette one instead of or in addition to the electronic devices light. Does someone at boeing secretly hope smoking on planes will come back, and the light will be useful again?

Love the irony...

I would point out the difference between an electrical (light bulb) and electronic (iphone) device, but that would just make me a jerk.

cowgirl toffee: buzzcut73: sinanju: A little tritium, a little phosphorous... problem solved.

That's how it used to be done, but there's really been a push to get rid of those things because OMG THE RADIATIONZ!!

I don't know why people would be complaining... I wouldn't mind having a third tit. :P

With that kind of rationalization we could solve every problem conceivable. Kudos.

Did a bit of research...

Link

They went WAY high on the energy consumption of the exit signs.

s1ugg0: I like spending money so I don't burn to death. I like it very much actually.

Yeah. That's money well spent.

The things I don't want to spend money on are extraneous military hardware programs and giving SS/Medicare to people who already have a ton saved up for retirement.

Those exit signs each contain two 25-W incandescent lightbulbs; they have to be wired to the emergency circuit and they can never, ever, ever shut off.

Even a relatively small (50,000 SF) institutional building like an elementary school or a medium-size church will have as many as 50 or 60 of these exit signs. 50 watts per sign, 50 signs, 24 hours a day, 365 weeks a year. Even in the summer, kids.

That's 21,900 kWh of energy per year. At $.08/kWh, that's $1,752 per year -- spent lighting exit signs in ONE mid-size elementary school building. In actuality, it's somewhat less than that, because as any janitor can tell you, these lights burn out pretty dang frequently. Remember that each sign has two? It's so that if one burns out, the exit sign stays illuminated until somebody can come around and change light bulbs. Facilities guys spend 4-8 hours a month JUST changing light bulbs in exit signs.

Fortunately, there's a fix. LED exit signs. These guys cost $20 apiece, provide the same light output as the old signs, don't need to be changed for 5 years, and contain integral battery backup. Plus, they only use 3 watts of energy, instead of the 50 watts used by regular exit signs.

roadkillontheweb: The switch to LED and sometimes even fluorescent from incandescent has been blocked by political stupidity.

Many cities have tried that with traffic lights in the northern regions only to learn that led's don't melt the ice covering them so they had to add heating elements. The politically stupid works both ways.

And yet those signs are thoroughly useless to A) people who can't read; or B) people who don't understand English.

It's been proven time and time again that the red "exit" sign is terribly designed, in that it requires you to read and understand English, and to those who don't the last thing it looks like is "this way to safety" instead it looks more like a "do not enter" sign.

This is the international standard (which much like the Metric system ONLY the U.S. doesn't use).

Hmm, 6 gigawatts.. Is that before or after all the building managers spend $20 to make it the last time for 20 years that they need to change the bulbs.

I had a conversation with a restaurant owner where he had to put up ugly signs advising people not to touch halogen lamps built into a ledge. I pointed out that he could swap them out with LED's for a few hundred dollars and make things safer and ditch the signs. He looked at me like I was trying to explain Shakespeare to a beagle.

lunchinlewis: It's more the strobes than the signs around here. And cowboy fire marshals who like to be important.

We had to put three signs in an open galley kitchen....the kitchen was 300 sq ft with three exits open exits...the whole space was was 3000 sq ft, 20 ft ceilings and 150 ft of the space were glass walls and doors. Excessive for one room?

Hee hee. Joke's on them. If the core explodes, there won't be any power to light that sign!

I'm tired of being crushed under the jackbootheel of Big Fire.

roadkillontheweb: The switch to LED and sometimes even fluorescent from incandescent has been blocked by political stupidity. market forces.

When people want to start using compact florescent bulbs and LEDs to save money, they will. If they don't want to, it's not government's place to force them to do so.

Also, how this is relevant to 'exit signs' is not readily apparent. It's not like exit signs are typically powered by 120 watt incandescent bulbs. They're almost all in commercial building which are generally already using high efficiency lighting. Even old exit signs that are powered by incandescent bulbs use tiny 15 watt bulbs. You're not going to save much electricity switching those to CFL or LEDs.

Was this posted to the politics tab or something? The nanny staters got in here pretty damn quick.

And the NERVE of the government to illuminate highway signs 24x7 regardless of traffic! SEAT THEM NOW USA USA USA!

Tritium exit signs. They actually contain glass tubes filled with tritium gas in lines in the shape of the letters, like unpowered neon tubing (not as bright as neon though). But tritium does have a half-life of only 12.3 years, and thus the glow doesn't last the life of the building. Also tritium is one of the most expensive substances on the planet, but it doesn't use much.

But they're totally unpowered. Just hang it and it's done. No wiring.

Pantubo: If you believe that we spend $2-3 billion annually to light up exit signs, you are retarded.

/and probably an Obama voter

That is certainly an eloquent and well reasoned argument.

Another waste of money:

cowgirl toffee: Snowflake Tubbybottom: cowgirl toffee: buzzcut73: sinanju: A little tritium, a little phosphorous... problem solved.

That's how it used to be done, but there's really been a push to get rid of those things because OMG THE RADIATIONZ!!

I don't know why people would be complaining... I wouldn't mind having a third tit. :P

With that kind of rationalization we could solve every problem conceivable. Kudos.

Awwww... thanks. It would also be great if guys have a third penis as well.

So two isn't enough for you?

Snowflake Tubbybottom: roadkillontheweb: The switch to LED and sometimes even fluorescent from incandescent has been blocked by political stupidity.

Many cities have tried that with traffic lights in the northern regions only to learn that led's don't melt the ice covering them so they had to add heating elements. The politically stupid works both ways.

TFO is about exit sign in commercial buildings! Not stop lights.
Exit signs are not normally in freezing locations in commercial buildings and work great there.
I live up north and yes they do not work well on stop lights but they work great on street lights and canopy lights. and more appropriate uses are being found for them every day. My biatch is the people that are protecting their Edison bulbs with their gun collection to keep the guberment from taking away the 100+ year old technology.

You can reduce this down by a factor of 10 just by mandating the use of LEDS. The initial cost will be mitigated in five years. But most businesses and schools aren't gonna go there with out a push. This is also true of YOUR own light sources. The more we buy LEDs instead of CFLs (which has it own problems in disposal), the cheaper they'll become.

The REAL drain is the damn transformered power sources we have for cell phones, shavers, can openers, and a million more 'battery-operated' portable devices. The transformer ends up plugged into the wall for its lifespan and sucks juice 24/7 whether we're charging anything or not.

...and indicator lights. Why is there a light on the TV when its shut off? Why is the coffee maker indicating when its the middle of the night and ya'll are sound asleep.

/waste...it's wasteful