Australia says lights out to incandescent bulbs

[jsinger]

"Australia has announced it will ban incandescent light bulbs in three years in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, becoming the first country to do away with this technology, which has been in use for more than a century."

"Lawmakers in two U.S. states — California and New Jersey — and in the United Kingdom have also proposed bills to ban incandescent bulbs."

[businessweek.com...]

Next they'll be banning coal fired computers

[edited by: encyclo at 5:05 pm (utc) on Feb. 20, 2007]
[edit reason] added link to article [/edit]

[rj87uk]

Very interesting and great for the greater good! What side effects if any?

Next they'll be banning coal fired computers

Better idea would be to put four mini wind turbine's on our houses roof's to power the PC, TV & lights! I would do that for the greater good and also the good of my pocket.

[martinibuster]

The downside to the California initiative is that they want to replace incandescent bulbs with fluourescent. Fluourescent light is limited in spectrum and throws an unnatural gloomy light. Bothered my eyes. Hate it.

Most of my home uses Halogen lights. Not sure if they're good or bad for the environment but they throw a better light.

[jsinger]

Offices and schools have used fluorescent lighting for decades.

One problem is that fluorescent fixtures take a fair amount of power to light up. Not ideal for bathrooms or closets, for example, that are used for brief periods.

These energy savings deals rarely work as advertised. Our city hall tried to save money by turning down the temperature. So workers brought electric space heaters to work. Very inefficient plus the extra load nearly burned down the 100 year old building.

[engine]

A great idea, as long as the government there helps in some way or another. With incandescent lamps costing only a few pence, and a compact fluourescent costing more than ten times that cost, there's not a great financial incentive to switch. Most folks aren't bothered about the energy-saving aspects as it's the outlay for the new compact fluourescent lamp which puts most off.

The colour of light output from the newest compact fluourescent lamps is now much better than when they were first introduced. I found some excellent alternatives for our home, and, bar only a few specialist lamps, there are no incandescent lamps in regular use.

Halogen do use a little less energy than incandescent lamps, but are relatively expensive to buy.

LED lamps are now becoming much better and these offer the highest energy saving possibilities. There's still a little way to go yet before they will be cost-effective and practical, but it won't be long.

[jcmoon]

I myself have compact flourescents in my home, in nearly all fixtures that'll take them. They sometimes have a pinkish tone, but generally mine offer light near the same as normal light bulbs.

I'm also looking forward to seeing LED lighting become more prevalent, and more inexpensive. The numbers I've seen show that LED beats fluorescent by a wide margin.

I'd also like to see wind turbines (perhaps solar shingles, too) on people's homes. Long ago farmers all had windmills to take care of some of their needs ... it'd be great to see this technology make a comeback to meet our current energy demand.

[Essex_boy]

Cods wallop!

The weather change is part of a larger variation which we dont really understand yet, this is total rubbish.

Just another excuse to tax

[edited by: Essex_boy at 8:37 pm (utc) on Feb. 21, 2007]

[Rugles]

The warming aside ....

Essex, do you like breathing clean air... or dirty, chunky brown air?

[edit_g]

They are actually doing something about it. I'm in Sydney, and we had someone come to our door and he said that, if we wanted him to, he would exchange all our lightbulbs with compact fluourescent ones. We said yes, and he did. Free of charge, paid for by the government.

They still won't sign the Kyoto treaty though... :(

[httpwebwitch]

wow, can you invite that guy to my house to replace my bulbs? Last year I replaced every bulb I own (about 25 of them) with a compact fluorescent, for about $3 a pop

I am hoping LED fixtures penetrate the home lighting market, soon.

According to today's 11:00 news, some politicians in Canada are talking about doing the same thing - banning incandescents. I'm OK with that just as long as I can still get a replacement buld for that little one inside my oven.

[jecasc]

Fluourescent light is limited in spectrum and throws an unnatural gloomy light.

I do not think that this is a problem anymore. Compact fluorescent lamps are now available in a wide spectrum from 2700K to 6500K. So if you want the normal somewhat yellow light-bulb light, no problem.

[KenB]

For me the things I have never liked about florescent bulbs is the 60Hz buzz I sometimes see from them (yes I see it just like I see the 60Hz flicker of a CRT monitor),the buzz I sometimes hear from them and the inability to dim them.

For me being able to control the level of light in a room is extremely important. What I'm hoping for is a "smart" generation of LEDs that allow one to control light levels in a room. I really think that florescent bulbs will be replaced by LEDs as the primary alternative technology to incandescent bulbs within the next several years so I'm really looking to leapfrog over florescent lights.

[Essex_boy]

Another problem I have with them is that if im in a room with tubes and computer screen is on I tend to fall asleep!

[Rugles]

>>>>>I'm in Sydney, and we had someone come to our door and he said that, if we wanted him to, he would exchange all our lightbulbs with compact fluourescent ones. We said yes, and he did. Free of charge, paid for by the government.

That is very impressive!

I guess they have been planning it for a while if they already have the supplies and the manpower in place.

Good Job Australia!

[simey]

Fluourescent lighting gives me very very bad migraines. Guess i'd have to buy black market bulbs or find halogen or LED's.

[ronin]

The weather change is part of a larger variation which we dont really understand yet, this is total rubbish.

Errmm... no, seriously, Essex_boy, on an evening when you're not busy get a copy of "An Inconvenient Truth" on DVD and watch it.

If you still hold this same opinion by the time you've finished watching the documentary then I'll accept that's your considered opinion.

But at least watch the documentary.

[MatthewHSE]

I sure hope the U.S. doesn't do anything like this while I'm still on this earth. We already have enough regulations - do they have to tell us what kinds of light bulbs we can use too?

I'm in Sydney, and we had someone come to our door and he said that, if we wanted him to, he would exchange all our lightbulbs with compact fluourescent ones. We said yes, and he did. Free of charge, paid for by the government.

Where did the government get the money to pay for that? Surely those "free" light bulbs didn't come out of your taxes! ;)

[GaryK]

Are there going to be light bulb police? Will your neighbors be encouraged to inform the government if they see you using unapproved bulbs? Is there room in our jails for light bulb offenders? What's next? Will I no longer be able to keep my air conditioner set to 65F?

[edited by: GaryK at 3:36 am (utc) on Feb. 27, 2007]

[edit_g]

>Where did the government get the money to pay for that?Surely those "free" light bulbs didn't come out of your taxes!

well, considering the other crap my taxes get spent on.... ;)