Cleaned by Capitalism XII

by Don Boudreaux on September 5, 2009

in Cleaned by Capitalism, Complexity & Emergence, Energy, Environment, Everyday Life, Risk and Safety, Seen and Unseen, Standard of Living

I love light bulbs!  Before the electric light bulb, people at night used gas lamps (which were dangerous), fuel lamps (which were dangerous and dirty), and — for most of the time prior to the 20th century — candles (which also were dangerous and dirty).

Not only does the light bulb provide reliable and ample light, it does so without polluting our homes’, workplaces’, and play-places’ interiors.  And being much safer than candles, fuel-burning lamps, or gas lamps, light bulbs are much less likely to ignite fires — fires that would burn down not only the buildings in which they started but also risk burning down surrounding buildings.

Comments

101 comments    Share Share    Print    Email

Previous post:

Next post: