It is not being covered on the news today, especially in the local media, but the federal government announced today that the sale of “inefficient” bulbs will be banned by 2012. That is a 4 year and 8 months period before you will be unable to buy incandescent bulbs or other forms of energy-inefficient lighting, such as flood lights and stadium lighting.
Is this period to long? Is it just long enough to be seen as doing something while prolonging the problem? This is what many of the critics will likely be saying and they have a valid point but at least something is being done.
Some key points to remember is these bulbs cost on average three times as much, but last several times longer. Include that with the 75% savings in energy for lighting your home and it adds up. This is a just compact fluorescent bulb, we have not even considered LED bulbs which are becoming more available. I have a LED night light in the kitchen that produces the same light as a incandescent based light at a 80% energy savings.
Some hard-core environmental community members might be up-in-arms over the next few days since most compact fluorescent bulbs use mercury in their manufacturing. Compare that with what Australia estimates they will save in emissions – 800,000 tons over 5 years – by enacting their ban earlier this year. It is still an easy choice to make.
In the end I think anything that is more energy efficient is worth exploring, and until we develop a bulb that does not need replacing we will always have the problem of tossing bulbs out.
Of course, when the electrical company is selling WAY less because of all this saving, they will scratch their heads and wonder why they aint selling too much electricity. Oops, they will have to put up the price of electricity in order to make the same profits as before.
So your “savings” argument is invalid. Just the same with hybrid cars (and I do have 2 of them). When everyone starts getting 47 MPG, the price will go up because those oil companies need their income.
What should really happen is that everyone should buy a car that gets 6 MPG. That way, the oil will run out. Problem solved. Now something HAS to be done. The oil will run out according to the tree huggers. We either run out fast or run out slow. Lets Get “R” done!
@Alan
Of course, oil is a non renewable resource – the price will always go up. Electricity can be generated in a renewable fashion.
In any case these ‘bad bulbs’ are 2% of the energy consumption of the country. Some 50% of the energy consumption is in heavy industry, and that’s where the cuts for things like Kyoto need to be made. A bulb ban just looks good to the voters.
Nevermind the fact that CF bulbs contain mercury, a toxic metal. This increases the cost of recycling and also increases the health risks of having several of these things in the house – when they break, you don’t just sweep up the leavings. Leapfrogging to LED bulbs as they improve would be a better plan, IMHO.
Larry the Cable Guy needs to be eviscerated, live on TV. FOX would carry it, I’m sure…