What is Digg?142 Comments
- GawtMilk, on 10/12/2007, -10/+60"Why is the EU regulating lighting?"
To reduce wasted energy. I'm sick of this quasi-conspiracy theory *****.
If you can make a post or comment on a public website saying your government is over-oppresive, they aren't over-oppresive. - gronne, on 10/12/2007, -10/+56I wish making small sacrifices for the greater good wasn't so frowned upon by so many Americans. Changing your lightbulbs will not make you a communist.
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -8/+52"I wonder what Thomas Edison would say."
He'd say "What the hell took you guys so long?" - Nerfatron, on 10/12/2007, -2/+42The European decision prompted a flurry of jokes including this from a British BBC radio reporter:
"How many EU leaders does it take to change a lightbulb.
Answer: 27." - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+30I'm new to the fluorescent light bulb thing myself. For others like me here are the important points:
1. The contain small amounts of highly toxic mercury
2. Because of #1 you should call your township about how to dispose of them or bring them back to where you bought them when they are burned out. Do not put them in your trash.
3. Do not let #2 deter you from buying them. There are many coal fired power plants in the US
that belch out large amounts of mercury into our air. Fluorescent light bulbs use about 1/4 or less electricity, decreasing the demand on these older power plants, and pushing less mecurary up in the air.
4. In regards to #3 it does not matter where you live. Electricity from all power plants and sources ( like solar panels on your roof that you sell back to the power company ) is put into a communal pool called a "grid". You really can't be sure if you are using coal fired/mercury polluting electricity or not.
5. In regards to #3 there is a law to force new power plants and older power plants to install scrubbers to mercury out of the air. However, there is a loophole for older plants such that they do not have to install scrubbers until they do modifications/renovations/maintainer to the power plants that exceed a certain dollar amount per year.
6. Fluorescent light bulbs are much cheaper than they used to be. I recently bought a back of 6 for $14.
7. Fluorescent light bulbs can last up to 10 times longer than incandescent light bulbs. Apart from the savings you WILL SEE on your electric bill you will have the added perk of not having to get up on a step latter to get to some inconvenient spot to change your light bulb for an interval 10 times longer than you currently have to deal with now. - keyboardduder, on 10/12/2007, -3/+29He would tell you that he robbed the idea of the lightbulb and he stole AC from tesla. Also that people give him way ore credit than he needs
- Wolfboy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22skip the blog, read the source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSL0966634620070309 - jerbaker, on 10/12/2007, -9/+28"Industry and consumer demand has made these regulations _possible_"
Not quite. Governmental regulation made industry possible. Without governmental regulation Edison would have had no way to patent his inventions (Patent Office), no way to enforce them (Courts), and no way to get 100% of America a supply of electricity (Rural Electrification Project). What is wrong with these bizarre free market people? Industry doesn't happen in a vacuum.
And, yes, it does spend other people's money. Just like requiring your chimney to have a spark arrestor so you don't burn down the forest is requiring you to spend your money for other people's benefit. It seems the answer to my question in the first paragraph is that "free market" types are really actually lazy, selfish people who can't be bothered to left a finger for anything unless it directly benefits them in some immediate, concrete way. Why do you bitch about spending $2 per light bulb instead of $1 for the cause of reducing your lighting energy consumption by 75%???? - Fracture98, on 10/12/2007, -5/+24If a million people would just turn off their inefficient lights, we'd save enough electricity to light one million homes.
Oh, wait... - jerbaker, on 10/12/2007, -4/+21Compact fluorescents don't flash at 50Hz, it's more like 20,000Hz. How about you get one before commenting on their use?
- Bhima, on 10/12/2007, -7/+23This is a good plan... we all need pressure to move away from energy inefficient design... lights, autos, refrigerators, air conditioners... the works.
- krizhere, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16@JusticeRebel
Yes, whereas the US needs WalMart to make it happen, right? - vertinox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Bah!
I'd replace all my house lights with LEDs if they weren't so damn hard to find or so expensive. Those things last 15 years and reduce electric bills by extreme amounts.
Unfortunately, LED bulbs are just a pain to find and you have to order them. - Broccoli, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16Finally a deadline to help reduce polution that isnt 30 years away.
- GreatDrok, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17I'm all for this. I switched most of the bulbs in our house over to cfls a few months back. Most of the bulbs were 60 watts so I replaced them with 11 watt cfls. One uplighter we had in the living room was drawing 200 watts even when dimmed to our preferred level. I replaced this with a 16 watt cfl and it is just as bright. The cfls don't have the hard white light that you get from strip lighting, they are a reasonable soft warm colour and the cost was very reasonable at £1 each apart from the 16 watt bulb in the living room. Cost about £15 to replace most of the bulbs in the house. With all the lights in the house on we would have been consuming closed to 1000 watts. Now it would be 126 watts total and generally we only have two or three on at one time including the 200 watt uplighter which would mean we were using about 320 watts much of the time and now that is down to 38 watts. It is such a cheap and easy thing to do it seems silly not to.
- tehbored, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15He didn't rob it technically, he just bought it and then told everybody that he thought of it in the first place.
- flump, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14"The British British Broadcasting Corporation?"
It doesn't say that. It says the BBC reporter is British. - HappyMax, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12California will be next. Then the rest of the U.S. will follow.
Just look at the spread of low water flow shower heads and toliets. - jerbaker, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13I'm more concerned about you with stools that require three flushes to go down. Fiber brother ... fiber.
BTW - Three flushes on a low-flow toilet is still half of what is consumed by an old toilet in one flush, so how's that? - overshoot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Actually, it is worse than that.
Regular light bulbs are about 5% efficient and halogen light bulbs are about 10% efficient. - weister42, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12We can one energy-saving fluorescent light bulb in our home and it has been running for 9 years. I have to change the incandescent light bulb in my room about once every 6 months. The US should of been all over this years ago.
- jeremy66158, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Here is something he said: "My main purpose in life is to make enough money to create ever more inventions.... The dove is my emblem.... I want to save and advance human life, not destroy it.... I am proud of the fact that I have never invented weapons to kill...."
- jerbaker, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14Until I see a double-blind test where you succeed more than 50% of the time in determining the source of light, I call *****. There is no possible way for the human brain to register anything different about the light from a compact fluorescent and an incandescent. If you really think you can perceive a 20,000Hz flicker then you've got other problems. Do you even have a plausible theory as to WHY you get headaches around compact fluorescent lights? Have you considered the possibility that it's just the psychological trauma you are suffering from having some dirty hippie technology in your own home?
About the second comment: Yes, I do believe in "***** anyone who has a problem with it." Seriously. - jlebrech, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8That's where North Korea is way ahead of us in that aspect, they have already banned all lighting whatsoever.
- HappyMax, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7@grommie "How's forcing people to drive hybrid cars as a next step?"
The government mandates fuel economy and emissions standards for cars and trucks already.
They forced leaded gasoline off the market decades ago.
Your slippery slope argument isn't an excuse not to do anything, we've already implemented many effective environmental regulations. - mcrosby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6You should call an electrician then - they last around five years average here. You don't have a dimmer on them, do you?!?
- flink405, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Russia does not want to join the EU.
Iran has to imports 40% its gasoline into the country. Iran will start rationing gasoline ASAP. Iran will probably no longer be an exporter of oil within a 10 years.
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article2347415.ece#2007-03-11T00:00:04-00:00
Germany and France (and others) do not want Turkey to join the EU.
It is very doubtful that China would "dump" all its dollars. There biggest trading partner is the U.S.
When will China switch to energy efficient light bulbs and stop the use of millions and millions of polluting candles, coal and wood stoves?
Did you know that every week for the next 5 years China will start the operation of a new coal burning (high polluting) power plant to meet the needs of the increasing electrical needs of its citizens? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5if he is a true inventor, he'd probably be disappointed that nobody improved his invention and put those improvements to use in so long.
- CraigJ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Where I live, (Arizona) after rebates (instant) they are almost free. Costco had 8 packs that were $12, $3 after the rebate. That is about .40 each... However,
I have a number of dimmable fixtures and good dimmable CFLs are still quite expensive, upwards of $10 per bulb... - mcrosby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Europe has done most of those things already!
- MioTheGreat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9"8. They take a minute to get to full brightness"
Some bulbs do, but I have a few that don't. - b3mus3d, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4nerfatron-
to be fair, they're changing a LOT of lightbulbs :P - skiboy352001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Here is an article about him from today's NYTimes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/business/yourmoney/11edison.html?pagewanted=all - dagnome1984, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Using an old 3 gallon ***** with gray water saves more than using those new ***** that use 1.(whatever) gallons of fresh water. Gray water would be water that has been used in showers, sinks, ect. Why use clean water to flush your *****?
- decipherd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4your ignorance is laughable.... there are also a 'wealth' of CFLs out there in many shapes and sizes including ones that look very similar to traditional incandescents.
- Stevethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I didn't need EU to change my lamps, I did it myself since it is in my best interests. It's always good to save some more money ....
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -15/+19Oh yes, those toilets so efficient that you now have to flush three times to actually clear the bowl, thus using more water than the old toilet?
What the Hell is wrong with you people who all of a sudden think Legislation is the Answer for everything? - Renton, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9But then you wouldn't use enough energy and the oil companies won't get their money. You don't want the good people at Exxon to go hungry, do you?
- wipeout140, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5How hard is it link to original source not just to somebody's blog like engadget this time
- zxcvmb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If that is the case, why do you need the government to make you change your other bulbs?
- kd1s, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3In the U.S. those little conservation charges we pay on our electric and utility bills help subsidize the cost of CFL's. My entire house is on CFL's now and there's literally no difference in light with the soft white CFL's, but the difference in my monthly electric bill are astounding. It dropped by $150 a month.
The one thing that does concern me about CFL's is that they use mercury. Disposal could be problematic. - martinnn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4> The invisible hand of the free market is a wonderful thing and it works.
Define "works". If EU really proceeds with this, energy inefficient lights will be switched of here by 2010. When the production volumes goes up, the prices for these lights will drop. Do you really think that everyone would switch to energy inefficient lights before 2010 if it wasn't for a change in the law? These lights have been around for some time now. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3--------------------------------------------------------------------
tehbored wrote:
"I wonder what Thomas Edison would say."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Probably something like
"It took you people over about a hundred ***** years to change technologies. WFT?! - garg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I hope they also are planning for an easy way to recycle these mercury filled bulbs. In areas with no easy recycling facilities they should just have a prepaid box that could be mailed back to the manufacturers who could recycle the dead bulbs.
- decipherd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3i live in a particularly damp terrace, all of our lights are fluroescents and we have had no problems whatsoever. The one in the bathroom is just as bright as it ever was..
- etoiles, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5The 'invisible hand' works in a perfect world where people are informed and reasonable...that is not the world I live in.
- johnsatre, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I can most certainly tell the difference between a fluorescent and an incandescent bulb, and i have tried all brands and qualities. i would love to be able to use fluorescent bulbs, but they really bother me. if you cannot tell the difference, or if they don't bother you, that's great, congratulations. there's no reason to argue with people that have problems with fluorescent bulbs, and certainly no reason to force them to use fluorescent bulbs in their own homes.
there are plenty of other methods to conserve energy, laws forcing a specific kind of conservation isn't the way to do it. responsible politicians setting a good example would be a better start than this hyped up green law of the week. - Ebulating, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Ever notice how every store and business is lighted by fluorescents? they are smart enough to do the cost analysis and know how much electricity they save. My parents have completely switched to fluorescents and they shaved about $30 to $40 a month of of their electric bill.
- shawnanigans, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Except the electric chair. Which he did do discredit Tesla, who he ***** over hard.
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