Posted on 02/20/2007 12:50:57 AM PST by CarrotAndStick
CANBERRA, Australia - Australia will be the world’s first country to ban incandescent lightbulbs in a bid to curb Greenhouse gas emissions, with the government saying on Tuesday they would be phased out within three years. Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said yellow incandescent bulbs, which have been in use virtually unchanged for 125 years, would be replaced by more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs by 2009.
“By that stage you simply won’t be able to buy incandescent lightbulbs, because they won’t meet the energy standard,” Turnbull told local radio.
Australia along with the U.S. has refused to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol setting Greenhouse Gas reduction targets, calling instead for an agreement requiring energy-hungry developing countries like India and China to help combat climate change.
A traditional incandescent light bulb, right, and an energy-efficient compact flourescent bulb
Turnbull said the banning of incandescent bulbs would help trim 800,000 tons from Australia’s current emissions level by 2012 and lower household lighting costs by 66 per cent.
British and Californian lawmakers also have been lobbying for bans on incandescent lightbulbs, which lose much of their energy as heat.
Australia’s conservative Prime Minister John Howard said he would not adopt any Greenhouse targets which hurt the country’s resource-reliant economy.
Australians are per head among the world’s biggest greenhouse gas producers, but climate change issues are shaping up as major concerns for voters in national elections due later this year as severe drought grips the country.
Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
Does Australia plan to exempt incandescent bulbs used in any of the applications where fluorescent bulbs are not, and likely never will be, suitable?
I bought 5 of the things and they burnt out in less than 1 year. They cost me more than $5 per bulb. RIP OFF!!!!!
Did you use them on a dimmer switch? Those bulbs aren't meant for the dimmer...you get special CFLs that are usable on dimmers. That, and the prices on those things have crashed, AFAIK.
But this ban is indeed stupid, 'cause there are some places and some applications, where incandescents are prolly the only choice.
Bad news for some folks with epilepsy.
Most places you can’t use a fluorescent you can use a halogen.
There's nothing to prevent both incandescents and fluorescents being replace by LEDs, which are far more energy-efficient still....nothing, that is, apart from market forces.
I was deterred from buying them due to sticker shock at the price until I could buy a bunch at low low Costco prices.
Then I started using them in my 2 porch lights that I leave on all night, which really racks up the hours. With the incandescents I was replacing them quite often whereas with the compacts flourescents I am still on the original bulbs that I put in about a year ago.
I am very impressed with their longevity. Not one of the bulbs I have installed indoors has burnt out yet either.
Fluorescents would occasionally set off my brothers migraine headaches.
How much more greenhouse gases are expended in manufacturing the more complex CF bulbs instead of the simple-to-manufacture incandescent bulbs? What about disposal of the mercury vapor? Will they be declared hazardous waste?
Those low voltage halogens are nice.
You have a point there, but I believe these lamps typically last several times longer than the incandescents, on much less power.
I'll just buy the 2fer 99 cents ones and change them every year or so.
No. Modern CFLs don't flicker.
Well that and COST!
LED replacements are very expensive and the "white" is not very.
Oooh aren’t we getting technical.
Yeah I knew that, but they are not “Edison Incandescents”. Very few people would ever call a Halogen bulb an incandescent because it is not a vacuum bulb like an Edison.
And if you wish to get truly technical any bulb that produces light while producing heat is an incandescent bulb which makes the compact florescent bulb an incandescent.
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