Light goes out for incandescent bulbs (in Europe)

EurActiv ^ | Published 31 August 2012; updated 03 September 2012 | Leo Hickman for the Guardian, part of the Guardian Environment Network

[Olog-hai]

After more than a century lighting up the world, the switch will be flicked off across the EU for the final time on incandescent bulbs on Saturday as the phased ban on their sale is completed.

From 1 September, a European Union directive aimed at reducing the energy use of lighting means that retailers will no longer be allowed to sell 40-Watt and 25-Watt incandescent bulbs. Similar bans came into effect for 60-Watt and 100-Watt incandescent bulbs over the past three years. The restrictions are predicted to save 39 terawatt-hours of electricity across the EU annually by 2020.

Earlier this year, the UK government said the ban would bring an "average annual net benefit" of £108 million ($172 million) to the UK between 2010 and 2020 in energy savings. But the phase-out of incandescents has been met with resistance by some users who say replacement technologies, such as CFLs, halogens and LEDs, do not perform as well. Despite the substantial long-term financial savings promised, the higher upfront price of replacement bulbs has also been criticized by those opposing the ban. …

[Don Corleone]

Candles and caves are what the Socialist overlords have in mind for the peasantry. Candles and caves!

[narses]

+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

[bray]

Y’all attach those chains nice and tight; y’hear?

Pray for America

[ClearCase_guy]

"The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our time" -- Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon

[rcrngroup]

Thank you George W dumbass doofus Bush for signing this stupid piece of legislation in America to phase out incandescent light bulbs. Already 100W & 75W are no longer carried except for what the companies had in stock, next will be 60W and then 40W & 25W. The legacy of pandering doofus, stupid, dumbass GW Bush will haunt & destroy America every bit as much as the RAT bastard commie pig 0dumb0. GW Bush had every oppportunity to have gone down as perhaps the greatest American president if he had governed as a staunch conservative. Instead he was & always has been a liberal New World Order socialist masquerading as Republican conservative.

The two greatest inventions in the history of mankind, the incandescent electric light bulb and the gasoline combustion engine...otherwise we would be no different than the last 5000 years. And yet that isn't good enough for the liberal retards & environmento crazies..... they want to push America & the world back into the stone age, and only the elitists will have modern conveniences.

Thank you dumbass doofus GW Bush...your stupidity & idiocy lives on!

[Yardstick]

$172 million

This offensive act of social engineering to save a measly $172 million?

[dhs12345]

Think about this every time I have to flush a toilet twice maybe three times.

[mrsmel]

I’ve been stocking up on the regular bulbs for over a year now. I just about have a lifetime supply. Stupid politicians, they find the stupidest ways to “earn” their pay. We’d be better off if they did nothing and just left folks alone.

[Olog-hai]

Yeah, in the UK. Over ten years, which means an average of $17.2 million per year not counting inflation, which won’t mean all that much anyhow.

[Izzy Dunne]

Thank you George W dumbass doofus Bush

While I understand your frustration, it's important to realize that an idiocy this big cannot be held by one man alone.

The Republican House had a chance recently to reject this madness, and voted "Present".

[G Larry]

I should be good through 2020.

[mrsmel]

I also replaced all my toilets with the old-style high-capacity ones. Every time TPTB come up with a new stupid regulation, this is how I’m going to respond to the best of my ability.

[Baynative]

It is already proven that the CFL bulbs are not so energy efficient and contain excessive amounts of mercury. So, the idea of using them is being dumped. Politicians and energy non-profits not knowing what to do are jumping on the LED bandwagon that is already starting to fizzle.

Much of the world has seen the wisdom of magnetic induction. So is the the City of Carlsbad in California, but as usual we're being played by the beltway and NGOs.

[jocon307]

“Candles and caves are what the Socialist overlords have in mind for the peasantry.”

Absolutely true.

[lwoodham]

Shrugs, if I were a bulb manufacturer, I would just make 101 watt, 61 watt, 41 watt, and 26 watt bulbs

[Hotlanta Mike]

There will be big business in the black market as Asia, South America and Africa aren’t following this folly...

[AnotherUnixGeek]

The restrictions are predicted to save 39 terawatt-hours of electricity across the EU annually by 2020.

...and further make a mockery of the concept of individual freedom. Western Europe has become a land of two-legged sheep - or rather is simply reverting to their long history of a huge, sheep-like peasantry utterly controlled and ruled by a small, all-powerful ruling class which decides what the peasants may have and what is too dangerous for the peasants to meddle with. The only real difference is a higher standard of living.

But this is not to say we aren't getting there too. We're just a few years behind, and both the Democrats and the GOP are determined to see us there - the Democrats would like to do it at 100mph and the GOP is willing to do it at only 90mph.

[citizen]

You can find them online. Also, I read that the ban doesn’t apply to incandescent bulbs rated as ‘industrial’ rather than residential.

[ShovelThemOut]

Not only is the light-bulb a victim of these greenies, but so is the old style washing machine! You can hardly find a washer with an agitator anymore! (I know, there’s one in the WH) These new high-efficiency washers do not clean clothes worth a damn! And the amount of ‘water savings’ is on par with the amount of ‘electric watt savings’ of these new bulbs. It’s just the left shoving their way down our throats.