The Law Of Unintended Consequences Strikes Again

There have been plenty of times throughout our lives when we've done something we thought was a good idea that, in the end, had some unintended consequences. Sometimes those consequences have been good, sometimes neutral, and far too many times bad to varying degrees.

We see this all the time when it comes to laws, budgets (personal and public both), relationships, and a whole host of other areas too numerous to list.

And so it also happens with new energy saving technology.

I doubt anyone out there reading this hasn't seen the LED traffic signals that are seemingly ubiquitous these days. It makes sense for municipalities to use them in place of the old incandescent lights because they use a fraction of the electricity of the old lights. The LED traffic lights also last longer than the incandescent lights, meaning less maintenance is required because they don't need to be replaced very often. These two factors save towns and cities lots of money, both in energy and labor. But there's also a downside that didn't become apparent until this winter.

They don't produce enough heat to melt the snow which can block the traffic signal's red, yellow, and green lights.

"We had a snow storm here [in Utah] that got piled into some of the exterior traffic light shields.  These lights use LEDs. Not long ago, the traffic lights used 60-W incandescent lamps that gave off enough heat to melt any snow that blocked the colored lenses. I guess the LEDs just don't generate enough heat. An unintended consequence of using LEDs, at least in areas that get snow."

Oops.