Light-bulb nightmare
Boah. I can’t read it anymore. Starting 1st September the EU prohibited certain light bulbs from sale. Of course all the nature protecting parties are very happy because it safes a lot of power and it is very very very helpful for nature.
Sure. But has anyone of those nature-loving people ever used an energy-saving light bulb and realized that they are really crappy? And did they now that all but one of the available energy-saving light bulbs contain mercury which is quite harmful to the environment? Certainly not.
Still. I mean it is good to have this regulation in the end as it will save the power of four nuclear reactors at the end. But at which costs. I will be very unhappy if the light in my room is not livingly and I don’t want to turn on the light anymore. Of course the nature-guys will say now, you can buy cool led stuff. I have to admit those lights are quite cool as day-driving light in my future car but not in my living room where I want to have a romantic dinner with my girlfriend.
I really hope that the pressure on the vendors will be very high so they create usefull replacements for the legecy light bulb.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Yes, agree that the ban is wrong…
Re “saves a lot of power and it is helpful for nature.”
Supposed savings actually don’t hold up either, for many reasons:
Just a few examples here: CFL Lifespan is lab tested in 3 hour cycles. That does not correspond to real life usage and numerous tests have shown real life type on-off switching reducing lifespan. Leaving lights on of course also uses up energy, as does the switch-on power surge with CFLs
Also, CFLs get dimmer with age, effectively reducing lifespan
Power factor: Few people know that CFLs typically have a power factor of 0.5 – that means that power stations use up twice as much power than what the CFL rating shows. This has to do with current and voltage phase differences set up when CFLs are used.
Although consumers do not see this on their meters, they will of course have to pay for it on their bills.
This is explained with official links including to US Dept of Energy here: http://ceolas.net/#li15eux
Emissions?
Does a light bulb give out any gases?
Power stations might not either:
Why should emission-free households be denied the use of lighting they obviously want to use?
Low emission households already dominate some regions, and will increase everywhere, since emissions will be reduced anyway through the planned use of coal/gas processing technology and/or energy substitution.
For a full list why the ban is wrong, including the light quality and mercury reasons you give: http://ww.ceolas.net/#li1x onwards