EU phases out light bulbs, returns to Dark Ages

[jim-00-4.6]

EU to phase out incandescent bulbs
global warming, blah blah blah, energy consumption, blah blah blah, pump up to $14 billion into the economy, blah blah blah, wait.. what??
how does changing light bulbs pump money into the economy?
oh, yeah.
because everyone has to BUY THESE NEW BULBS.
for $14 BILLION.
that's a lot of cabbage.
that's OK, because households will be able to save "up to $71 a year".
So, let's see, $14 BILLION divided by (up to) $71 = 197183098.59154929577464788732394
That's 197,183,098 households save enough in 1 year to pay for it. Sounds good.
How many households in the European Union?
And as soon as the utility companies see their income go down, their rates will go up to compensate for it.
So now we've added some additional mercury in the future waste stream, and not saved a single penny.
But it feels better, so it must be OK.

 

[jhmover]

Here's how good it is...everyone's stocking up before the ban.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090831/od_nm/us_germany_bulbs_1

 

[Lake_Bueller]

What nobody is saying is that your supposed to RECYCLE the flouresent bulbs. That is another COST of energy that isn't subtracted from the "savings".

 

[Eliot]

I read a good piece a few months back explaining why the new energy efficient bulbs are so wretched. The primary governmental focus was getting the bulbs prices down so they were a cost effective replacement for the incandescents.

No such effort was made regarding actual quality. The life span on the new bulbs is a crap shoot due to wildly varying production quality. The light quality is generally poor for the same reason.

 

[jhmover]

The fluorescent bulbs I have totally suck. While dim in the garage door opener, they don't puke like the incandescent ones do from the vibrations, that's all I can say that's good.

No one seems to worry about the fact they contain mercury, too and they no doubt won't get recycled, they'll get dumped into landfills, then create more pollution.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7431198

 

[jhmover]

OK I was looking for something else, came across this....kind of goes with getting rid of incandescent bulbs.......http://www.treehugger.com/

 

[jim-00-4.6]

The fluorescent bulbs I have totally suck. While dim in the garage door opener, they don't puke like the incandescent ones do from the vibrations, that's all I can say that's good.

they may just need another minute or 2 to warm up and come up to full brightness.
I have 1 over my sink that takes a solid 3 minutes to hit full brightness.

recycle my ass.
it's going in the garbage can when it dies.

 

[Blue]

oh boy, don't even get me started on this compact flourescent bulb bullshit! LOL.....

 

[brian4d]

Those damn things give me a headache.

 

[p m]

Hold your fire for a year or so.
I believe LED lamps will become more common - not those ugly-ass collections of DigiKey surplus bluish white LEDs packaged in a common shape and sold for $8-10 a pop, but hopefully a new generation of LED lights.

Like the LED 6054 replacements ($350 a pop now, but will come down soon).

Also, I wonder what does it take for LED lamp manufacturers to realize that they only have to mix very few amber LEDs along with bluish-white to bring the color temperature down to pleasant 3000-3500k.

 

[Durt D1ver]

Don't forget that you can use a dimmer with regular CFL bulbs. You have to buy the super special ridiculously expensive dimmable ones.

 

[az_max]

they may just need another minute or 2 to warm up and come up to full brightness.
I have 1 over my sink that takes a solid 3 minutes to hit full brightness.

recycle my ass.
it's going in the garbage can when it dies.

I have two like this over my eat-in kitchen counter. Have to turn on the 240w of regular bulbs at the same time until the others are up to brightness.

Don't forget that you can use a dimmer with regular CFL bulbs. You have to buy the super special ridiculously expensive dimmable ones.

I think you meant to say can't. they also don't work (well) with x10/lutron and crestron switches.

 

[MarkP]

Even better .....

Unintended consequences
Belmont Club

The Daily Mail describes how “a series of violent fridge explosions is believed to have been caused by leaks of ‘environmentally-friendly’ coolant.” The replacement for environmental unfriendly CFCs can apparently leak out of the cooling system and build up in the refrigerator, causing a dangerous concentration of explosive gases to accumulate.

The problem appears to result from a widespread switch to ‘Greenfreeze’ technology over the past 15 years and the use of isobutane and propane hydrocarbon gases as refrigerants.​

The saying that the ‘road to hell is paved with good intentions’ has probably been inspired by the result of unintended consequences, in which the cure is often worse than the disease. .....​

 

[ptschram]

The problem appears to result from a widespread switch to ?Greenfreeze? technology over the past 15 years and the use of isobutane and propane hydrocarbon gases as refrigerants.​

Holy shit! It's like 1900 all over again! Weren't flammable gas refrigerators outlawed YEARS ago due to the likelihood of this happening?

Not to mention that NFPA has all manner of standards that basically outlaw having nay propane in your house other than what's plumbed to the appliances.

 

[ptschram]

http://www.treehugger.com/

Talking shop with smart people?

I don't think so!

 

[jhmover]

That was posted for the comedy factor.

 

[az_max]

Holy shit! It's like 1900 all over again! Weren't flammable gas refrigerators outlawed YEARS ago due to the likelihood of this happening?

Not to mention that NFPA has all manner of standards that basically outlaw having nay propane in your house other than what's plumbed to the appliances.

A few flammable gasses were either recommended or in r-22 replacement products back when I was having a/c problems. My problem was there was a leak, and it was near the compressor. I could envision an explosion outside my bedroom because the propane leaked out and the compressor relay sparked. Needless to say, I passed.

BTW, large evaporator systems still use ammonia. I believe Anheuser Busch only upgraded their chillers in St Louis in the past year and a half. Can you imagine a 5000 gallon ammonia leak in a production environment?

 

[DiscoJen]

BTW, large evaporator systems still use ammonia. I believe Anheuser Busch only upgraded their chillers in St Louis in the past year and a half. Can you imagine a 5000 gallon ammonia leak in a production environment?

*gulp* I live exactly 2 miles south of AB. I can smell the hops if the wind blows just right.

 

[mbrummal]

*gulp* I live exactly 2 miles south of AB. I can smell the hops if the wind blows just right.

well, it would clean up the neighborhood a little anyways, wouldn't it?

 

[DiscoJen]

well, it would clean up the neighborhood a little anyways, wouldn't it?

Very true, everywhere I move the neighbors always say "there goes the neighborhood!"