snapped shot

now in ap-approved text mode

 
What happened to the pictures? Exhibit A, Exhibit B
Will they ever come back? Yes and no

Dim Bulbs

Brian C. Ledbetter · Tuesday, March 13. 2007 07:39
The European Commission
Apparently, this childhood taunt is a fitting depiction of European bureaucrats, who are busy trying to ban incandescent bulbs throughout the European Union. Of course, in typical Enviro-nazi fashion, the ban is being pushed without much of a valid reason. To wit:

  • The "Compact Fluorescent" bulbs which the European Commission is pushing are no more efficient than incandescent ("standard") light bulbs over a long period of time
  • "CF" bulbs can't be placed in enclosed light fixtures, microwaves, refrigerators, etc, which makes them somewhat of a hassle for homeowners
  • The "non-steady" light put out by the "CF" bulbs takes longer to reach full strength, and after it does, it produces a flicker that is noticeable for a large portion of the population
  • These "environmentally friendly" bulbs are manufactured using mercury vapours, which are already considered "environmentally unsafe" in a landfill, and thus requires an expensive recycling process
  • It's been said that the life of a CF bulb is shortened significantly if it is switched on and off regularly, in the same manner as a "standard" incandescent bulb


Of course, if Europe wants to bankrupt itself in the name of some ill-defined and unreachable "principle," who am I to say that they should stop?
permalink · Environmentalism · Comments (3) · Trackbacks (0) · digg this
 

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments [RSS]
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Here is what a handful of random people think about this article. But first, the fine print:
The opinions expressed here, even where approved for display, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this website, the management, or any other entity or organization, with the exception of the Vast Zionist Conspiracy. Those opinions we represent in style, yo. Please keep the language in these comments clean, as this is intended to be a family-friendly, work-friendly website. Comments not compliant with this policy will be edited for content where necessary. Abusive or otherwise illegal comments will be reported to the proper authorities, up to and including the aforementioned Vast Zionist Conspiracy. The Management cannot and will not be held responsible for commenters making a spectacle of themselves, even if The Management are the said commenters in question. In other words, don't take yourself so seriously, folks. We're all here to discuss the news, and more importantly, to have fun. Now go get yourself into some OCD treatment program—you obviously need it if you actually read all of this mess.

captainfish on 2007-03-14 00:33 #1
*yeah, this whole forced migration to toxic bulbs is ludacrous. Bulbs are much more expensive and it is illegal to just throw them away; forced to pay a fee to dispose of them. While there are some benefits to using them, in side lamps, table lamps, overhead lamps and lights, etc.. but otherwise,, incadescents are still very necessary and the only real option.
Reply  
anonymous on 2007-03-14 12:55 #2
*CFs can indeed be placed in enclosed fixtures. I have one as my porch light.

They also don't produce any noticeable flicker because they use electronic ballasts with a frequency far above that of the 60Hz line frequency. Your old-style fluorescent with a magnetic ballast did sometimes produce noticeable flicker.

As far as the life of a CF bulb if it is switched on and off on a regular basis, I have on in my garage and two in my laundry room that are never on for more than a few minutes. They've only been there for 5 years...
Reply  
anonymous on 2007-03-14 13:05 #3
*One additional thing about CF bulbs:

I replaced the incandescent in my droplight with one. I got sick of replacing the bulb because it would blow if I dropped the light, and I got sick of the heat it produced when I worked close to the light (as, for example, when I'm trying to see under the dashboard of a car). I suppose a "rough service" bulb would have fixed the first problem, but not the second one.

Since I replaced the bulb in my droplight with a CF, it hasn't blown and it doesn't get nearly has hot.

I guess I could've gotten a whole new fluorescent droplight but putting a $3 CF bulb in my existing one is cheaper.
Reply  

Add Comment

E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

HTML-Tags will be converted to Entities.
Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
Standard emoticons like :-) and ;-) are converted to images.
BBCode format allowed