LEDs: How a little blue light changed the world
6/14/202654 min
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A flashing wristband at an NFL game sends Ed Conway down an unexpected economic rabbit hole.
LEDs were supposed to be one of the great technological and environmental success stories: a revolutionary technology that uses a fraction of the energy of traditional light bulbs. But is that what they've become? Or are they just an example of humankind’s insatiable desire for stuff? After all - we’ve just started lighting up more of the world than ever before.
Ed’s journey takes us from a small chemical factory in rural Japan where inventor Shuji Nakamura spent years battling explosions in pursuit of the world's first blue LED, all the way to Victorian Britain and the economist William Stanley Jevons whose ideas still shape the way we think about energy and consumption today.
Along the way, Ed explores one of the biggest questions in economics and climate policy: The Jevons Paradox. When technology becomes more efficient, do we actually use less of it, or simply find new ways to consume more?
Sky News Insider requires a paid subscription and is available to UK listeners aged 18 and over. Find out more and subscribe at skynews.com/stuffmatters.
The Stuff Matters series producer is Jake Otajovic. The production team includes assistant producer Valeria Rocca, specialist producer Aoife Yourell, and video producer Charlie Bell. Our bonus episodes are produced by Soila Apparicio. The editor is Philly Beaumont, and the commissioning editor is Paul Stanworth. Sound design and mixing by Luke Hatten. Original music for the series composed by Klong and Ed Conway.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 1· Soundbite0:00
[upbeat music] Sky News, the full story first.
Ed Conway· Host0:05
Hello, Ed here. Now, before we get going with our very first episode, I wanted to tell you about our subscribers club. If you end up enjoying the podcast, I hope you will, you can also become a member and get access to what we're calling More Stuff Matters by becoming a Sky News Insider. With that subscription, you'll get each new episode a week ahead of everyone else. In fact, you could listen to our second episode straight away. But you'll also get exclusive bonus episodes. There's a community forum where the Stuff Matters team will be spending time and exclusive Q&A episodes in which I'll be answering your questions. To subscribe, go to skynews.com/stuffmatters. You can find the terms of the subscription in the show notes. All right, let's get on with it. [crowd cheering] A while ago, I was in Detroit, and I went to an NFL game at Ford Field Stadium.
Sandra Peart· Guest1:09
Where this afternoon it's the Detroit Lions and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Ed Conway· Host1:13
It was an indoor stadium, about sixty-five thousand people, lights everywhere and so much noise.
Sandra Peart· Guest1:20
What did you- Total mayhem, and it was brilliant First down.
Ed Conway· Host1:25
[crowd cheering] But as I was there with all this chaos around me,