Australian government rocks!
Scythe
Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 46NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation, Reinforced - Silver
Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 46NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators, Constellation, Reinforced - Silver
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Banning incandescent light bulbs.</div><a href="http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/20/1632204" target="_blank">http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/20/1632204</a>
Saw this in the newspaper yesterday, saw it on slashdot this morning. I was thinking about this not a month ago as I went around and replaced most of the incandescent (filament) light bulbs in our apartment with compact fluorescent ones.
This has gotta be the boldest move in favor of a new technology that's been made in a long time. Those old, hot, inefficient filament-based light bulbs will be off the shelves faster than you can say "five percent efficiency" (assuming it takes three years for you to say that).
It's good to see a government passing some good, solid, grass-roots energy-saving laws despite the inevitable backlash that'll come from senile old biddies that've used incandescent light bulbs their whole lives and goddamnit they're not about to change. Here's hoping this decision is made in other countries too.
--Scythe--
Saw this in the newspaper yesterday, saw it on slashdot this morning. I was thinking about this not a month ago as I went around and replaced most of the incandescent (filament) light bulbs in our apartment with compact fluorescent ones.
This has gotta be the boldest move in favor of a new technology that's been made in a long time. Those old, hot, inefficient filament-based light bulbs will be off the shelves faster than you can say "five percent efficiency" (assuming it takes three years for you to say that).
It's good to see a government passing some good, solid, grass-roots energy-saving laws despite the inevitable backlash that'll come from senile old biddies that've used incandescent light bulbs their whole lives and goddamnit they're not about to change. Here's hoping this decision is made in other countries too.
--Scythe--
Comments
1981... 1982... 1983...
LOL U GOT RED STUF IN YOUR SIG, DUZ THAT MEN UR A REPUBILCAN?
You fail to see the reference. Good day.
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I wasn't aware that incandescent lightbulbs were a mainstay of Orwellian dystopias...
...My room is in the basement of this building and I appreciate the 'inefficient' heat given off by my light sources.
No way that was a 1984 reference. Somebody please explain the connection, aside from "LOL SOMEBODY SAID GOVERNMENT LETS SAY 1984 COZ I R SMRT"
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I believe the connection was more like:
ZOMG, government's got my burny light bulbs, they'll take my freedom to write stuff next!
Which still makes no sense.
<!--quoteo(post=1608230:date=Feb 21 2007, 01:30 PM:name=Swift)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swift @ Feb 21 2007, 01:30 PM) [snapback]1608230[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
You fail to see the reference. Good day.
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lewl
Heh, leave it to the "Environmental" groups to say "Screw conservation, just give us your money!".
I rewired my garage last Summer and filled each socket with fluorescents. They work fine but they take too long to warm up.
I wasn't aware that incandescent lightbulbs were a mainstay of Orwellian dystopias...
...My room is in the basement of this building and I appreciate the 'inefficient' heat given off by my light sources.
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It's not the lightbulbs, it's the government telling you what you can and can't stick in the sockets. The next step would be mandating that people turn off lights when they're not in a room, or during daylight, or while they're asleep, and the next step is herding everyone in to specialized dark rooms 2 hours each day in order to save on power. Finally we just cut out the middleman and kill everyone who uses more than 1.5 times the average amount of electricity. Global warming will be solved!
It's not the lightbulbs, it's the government telling you what you can and can't stick in the sockets. The next step would be mandating that people turn off lights when they're not in a room, or during daylight, or while they're asleep, and the next step is herding everyone in to specialized dark rooms 2 hours each day in order to save on power. Finally we just cut out the middleman and kill everyone who uses more than 1.5 times the average amount of electricity. Global warming will be solved!
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Personally, I think a tax would be far more effective (if people really want to have lights that don't take 2 seconds to turn on instead of instantly, let them pay for them); plus incandescent lights do have exciting uses as heat sources while providing light (...which is why I appreciate my incandescent bulbs, especially in winter).
The extrapolations being drawn from this law are too extreme, I think. It's not like the Australian police is going to bust into everyone's hope and strip search it, looking for any traces of incandescent bulbs or something. You just don't let stores sell them any more and you're set. Not having incandescent bulbs available for purchase could just as easily be equated to attempting to purchase DDT in the US (...despite the fact that far more lethal and carcinogenic pesticides now exist - but we don't care about them). Or a multitude of other things you can't buy in certain countries because of environmental regulations (hey, I want an SUV that pumps out enough CO to choke twenty babies in a medium sized garage within 20 minutes, but that doesn't mean I can buy one...).
<!--QuoteBegin-ZOMG - Australia is FASCIST!+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ZOMG - Australia is FASCIST!)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->"We are introducing new energy efficiency standards and these old lights simply won't comply, they will be phased out and basically over a period of time they will no longer be for sale," Mr Turnbull said. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
=/=
INCANDESCENT LIGHTS WILL GET YOU ARRESTED
Not having incandescent bulbs available for purchase could just as easily be equated to attempting to purchase DDT in the US
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Funny you should mention that...
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><a href="http://www.jpands.org/vol9no3/edwards.pdf" target="_blank">DDT: A Case Study in Scientific Fraud</a>
J. Gordon Edwards, Ph.D.
Value of Pesticides to Humanity
ABSTRACT
The chemical compound that has saved more human lives than
any other in history, DDT, was banned by order of one man, the
head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Public
pressure was generated by one popular book and sustained by
faulty or fraudulent research. Widely believed claims of
carcinogenicity, toxicity to birds, anti-androgenic properties, and
prolonged environmental persistence are false or grossly
exaggerated. The worldwide effect of the U.S. ban has been
millions of preventable deaths.
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I think I'll start my stockpile of incandescents now.
But DDT isn't exactly related to incandescent lightbulbs.
But DDT isn't exactly related to incandescent lightbulbs.
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They can both be mashed into a powder and sold as cocaine, so that's enough of a relation for me!
No doubt specialty incandescent globes will still be available for things like incubators and heat lamps. Many new houses now don't even have that many traditional light sockets, instead they have creatively used flourescent or low-voltage downlights which are not only more efficient, but safer, last longer, and look loads better to boot.
so finally a good decision from the howard government. now if they'd just do something about the coal industry.
flourescent downlights which look loads better to boot.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Personally think fluorescent lights look like crap... but really who cares, right? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
I'm just not sure what's worse: A possible contaminant, or an alleged greenhouse gas.
<a href="http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=21087&hed=Could+California+Ban+the+Bulb%3F" target="_blank">1. They didn't think this up first</a>
<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8N91B800.htm" target="_blank">2. New Zealand does them one better</a>
3. Big whoop. Austrailia also happens to be the largest exporter of coal in the world, and Howard doesn't give much of a rats ###### about any serious changes.
As for phasing it out
What I'd suggest wouldn't be phasing out the incandescent lightbulb.
Merely tax it such that incandescents cost the same as compact flourescents.
After that,
If people REALLY want their incandescents, let em <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
<!--quoteo(post=1608287:date=Feb 21 2007, 06:20 AM:name=lolfighter)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Feb 21 2007, 06:20 AM) [snapback]1608287[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
"Oppressive governments" is probably an over-reaction. Personally, I'm more interested in those lightbulbs. The conventional ones are a bit of glass, bit of metal. That can be recycled, and even if it's not it isn't something that creates massive pollution. Those fluorescent bulbs, there's... well, fluorescent stuff in 'em. I don't know how easy that is to handle, and how much of that is going to end up seeping into the water table. But then again, fluorescents have been in widespread use for a long time, so even if it's a problem, it won't be a new one, it'll just become a bigger one.
I'm just not sure what's worse: A possible contaminant, or an alleged greenhouse gas.
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Uhm no, you can't recycle incandescent lightbulbs.
I mean you could theoretically, but I doubt any place exists for it.
Especially considering it's near worthless in terms of reclaimed material.
Really how much are you expecting our of something which costed you 25 cents when it was a working product?
Uhm Compact Floursecent Lights can last for 10 years each
Incadescents? A couple months.
They both get junked either way.
As for hazardous stuff the inside is usually painted with phosporous and sometimes bits of mercury.
Long as you don't dice it up and snort it like heroine you should be fine.
...also, flourescent materials are gases, so I don't forsee them doing much 'seeping' into your groundwater. As a further 'also', I feel a direct transferrence of electricity->heat (with useful light) makes perfect sense, and anyone who doesn't like incandescent bulbs hasn't lived in a room that never makes it above 65 degrees (...and no more than 55 in the winter).
...I'm also fairly sure that modern flourescents don't contain mercury vapor anymore...but they might.
HURR HURR HURR
"How many government officials does it take to change a lightbulb?"
HURR HURR HURR
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Oh Mantrid, you delightful rogue you.
Personally think fluorescent lights look like crap... but really who cares, right? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
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i meant low-voltage downlights look good, not flourescents. bare flourescents look ######. However with some creative carpentry and lighting design you can hide the ugliness and they can be quite decorative.
I'd still like to have the legal ability to purchase filament bulbs if I choose to. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
Tax, lol. That would just end in the same result but over a longer time period. No one will buy them if you taxify them to death. If things don't sell they don't get made. :o
A "slight price increase" will have no results.
Edit: Also +1 to Howard is a fail.
PS: My desklamp has been going for about 6 years (fluorescent)
I'd still like to have the legal ability to purchase filament bulbs if I choose to. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
Tax, lol. That would just end in the same result but over a longer time period. No one will buy them if you taxify them to death. If things don't sell they don't get made. :o
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Hence why you hike the price of the filament bulbs, rather than banning them.
It achieves the same results, but it creates a little bit of extra scratch for the government, and allows people the legal ability to purchase filament bulbs if they so choose.
Here's to a day and age where changing lightbulbs is seen as progressive.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Everything is relative.
Sadly, you have to question if this is whats progressive, then how far gone is the other side?