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The historical cost of light

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Before modern lighting, we used to go to sleep when night arrived, waking briefly for an hour or two in deep into the night before retiring again until the morning. Today, darkness poses no constraint: one can finish work in the evening, cook dinner, and still have hours more to read, or study, or watch television. But light was not always so easy to procure. It is, in fact, astounding how little effort an hour’s worth of light costs us. Let’s try working for your light. Each pixel you scroll through is equivalent to a second of work for an average waged worker in America. Let’s see how long it takes you to afford an hour’s worth of light in 2020. Easy, there! If the few pixels you just scrolled through were equal to the wages you’d earn for a second of your time, you’d already have over 10 hours of sweet illumination. Feels effortless, doesn’t it? Let’s rewind to the 1800s, where light is more expensive. How long do you need to scroll in order to be able to afford an hour of light now

The historical cost of light Skip to main content The historical cost of light How difficult was it to obtain artificial light before the 19th century? Well... By Ilia Blinderman Month 2019 Time worked 00:00:00 Hours Minutes Seconds Story + Code by Ilia Blinderman Design by Jan Diehm Whoa, it's dark in here! Better turn the light on. Scroll down to turn the light on That’s better. We often forget how much artificial light influences our lives. Before modern lighting, we used to go to sleep when night arrived, waking briefly for an hour or two in deep into the night before retiring again until

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