A cinematographer's take on the LED takeover. Found this video through a Tom Scott newsletter.

https://youtu.be/y51VUsotZe4

This is really cool movie! Impressed by in-depth technical knowledge of the author. But a cinematigrapher *has* to know everything about light!

Hope neon is not endangered in USA. Here in Astana almost all outdoor neon signs are gone now, except the letters at the entrance of Khan-Shatyr mall. Still some real neon tubes inside here and there. Some pockets of HPS streetlights remain too.



 

This is an awesome movie (though it makes me sad) - thanks for sharing the link!

Neon lighting is still very popular around here. I haven't yet seen an LED neon replacement in an outdoor application. As for HPS, it's still seen sometimes in rural areas and parts of Hillsboro, but most of it has been replaced with LED. Many parking lots still use MH and sometimes HPS, though.

I am at the point now to where I am happy to see HPS being phased out.  To me the Orange light is not very useful.  I would have rather they kept things MV but when HPS is replaced with 3000-4000K LED, it looks great. 

Neon lighting is still very popular around here. I haven't yet seen an LED neon replacement in an outdoor application. As for HPS, it's still seen sometimes in rural areas and parts of Hillsboro, but most of it has been replaced with LED. Many parking lots still use MH and sometimes HPS, though.

Still quite a bit of HPS on Bethany Boulevard and other places in Hillsboro I drive through regularly. I'd agree that neon is still common here, and probably will always be around in certain applications. It did slightly irritate me that they converted the old Burlingame Fred Meyer sign to LED when they restored it, but at least they did a good job of it.

In the gentrified parts of the Netherlands, you occasionally come across spectacular new neon installations. For instance the Vegan Junk Food Bar in Amsterdam has brand new signs made.

I know not all of their stores have the actual neon stuff, but the one at the Reguliersdwarsstraat has an identical one to this one. It's cool to see actual authentic true handmade glass stuff popping up here and there, because it's so much nicer than the LED "neon" tubes that i hate being called "neon". Nothing beats the glossy shiny look of actual glass tube.

I just watched this video.... Hopefully in the future there will be a movement to restore vibrancy in the world.... we need a revolution. but first the normies must realize en-masse what we have lost/are losing.


it is unlikely we will every get mercury and sodium back or even incandescent.

but maybe one day we will see a push for the colors they used to emit. perhaps neon will see a resurgence...


maybe one day in the far far far future when everything is nuclear/solar/wind powered and energy shortages are history.. efficiency will not matter anymore and decorative sodium and mercury street lighting will come back. I will likely be dead. some future person may look at this comment in the way back machine and laugh at this bleak point in history.

Energy will always matter. Neither wind, nor water, nor solar are without impact on the environment. Even from just operating them, even when neglecting the impact of their buildup and decommissioning (which is anything but negligible as well). So it will always make sense to use the energy economically.
Regarding light colors, I don't think the any general illumination will ever depart from having the light anywhere other than resembling blackbody or daylight (or something between).
We may see some push towards longevity, as with light sources like LEDs the design for long and reliable life does not directly conflict with efficiency as it does with incandescents and to some extend many HID, even the contrary - making LEDs run colder not only makes them to last way longer, but also more efficient. Today it still conflicts with the demand for resources to make them (in other words they are still expensive to make, both in money, as well as in environmental impact), but that part will still improve. I think we are already at the point where the light source itself is not always the weakest point of the installation, we will see more and more a situation, where a lantern will be torn down or rebuild for every possible reasons (body corrosion, "outdated" look so remodeling of the space,...) but not because the "nonreplaceable" light source has failed in it.