Posted on 02/20/2007 9:38:04 AM PST by presidio9
The Australian government on Tuesday announced plans to phase out incandescent light bulbs and replace them with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs across the country. Legislation to gradually restrict the sale of the old-style bulbs could reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 4 million tons by 2012 and cut household power bills by up to 66 percent, said Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Australia produced almost 565 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2004, official figures show.
Prime Minister John Howard said the plan would help all Australians play a part in cutting harmful gas emissions: "Here's something practical that everybody will participate in."
In incandescent light bulbs, perfected for mass use by Thomas A. Edison in the late 19th century, electricity flows through a filament to create light. Much of the energy, however, is wasted in the form of heat.
Australia is not the only place looking to replace them with fluorescent lighting, which is more efficient and longer lasting.
Last month, a California assemblyman announced he would propose a bill to ban the use of incandescent bulbs in his state. And a New Jersey lawmaker has called for the state to switch to fluorescent lighting in government buildings within three years.
Cuba's Fidel Castro launched a similar program two years ago, sending youth brigades into homes and switching out regular bulbs for energy-saving ones to help battle electrical blackouts around the island.
The idea was later embraced by Castro's friend and ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who announced his own program to save energy and in recent months has given away millions of incandescent bulbs in neighborhoods nationwide.
Under the Australian plan, bulbs that do not comply with energy efficiency targets would be gradually banned from sale. Exemptions may apply for special needs such as medical lighting and oven lights.
Fluorescent bulbs are currently more expensive than incandescent bulbs, but use only about 20 percent of the power to produce the same amount of light and last longer, making them more competitive over time, advocates argue.
Environmentalists welcomed the light bulb plan, but noted than the vast bulk of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions come from industry, such as coal-fired power stations.
They urged the government to set national targets for emission reductions and renewable energy.
"It is a good, positive step. But it is a very small step. It needs to be followed through with a lot of different measures," Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Josh Meadows told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Howard has become a global warming convert, conceding in recent months for the first time that human activity is having an effect on rising temperatures.
But he has steadfastly refused to bring Australia into line with most of the world and ratify the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas reductions, arguing that doing so could damage Australia's coal-dependent economy.
This is how the global warming paranoia has been building. Everything is now blamed on global warming - floods, droughts, heat waves, blistering cold, thunderstorms, tornados, typhoons, hailstorms, excessive snowfall, no snowfall at all, first time snow ever (Kathmandu, Nepal), dormant volcanoes errupting, dormant volcanos not errupting, earthquakes, landslides, glacial melts, glacial build ups, animal migration, bird migration...
And there is no need to prove anything. Its just global warming.
errupt = erupt.
Actually, that brings up an intersting point. Is there any truth to the urban legend that actually turning on florescent lamps uses more energy than running them for an entire day. In grammer school, I had a teacher that would flick the lights on and off to get our attention, until she discovered that that was not green-friendly behavior.
Dimmer switched fluor. may be a problem but 3-way are out there.
I'm using 2 in my house. I think they are 60-100-150 watt equivalent.
The one thing I've noticed is there is a delay in the max brightness of fluor. bulbs. I'm noticing several seconds to a minute or so.
Yeah, but it's harsh, ugly light.
Advances in LEDs and fluorescents can produce matching lumens and similar spectra -- so you get the 'warmth' of incandescents.
Boy I havent seen that
There are several "color tones" available now in CFL bulbs. The warms do well in a home environment
Yes they are available. I recently changed a bunch of 65W R30 bulbs to a CFL equivalent. The issue is that they need to warm up for about 30 secounds to reach full brightness. However, theya re 1/5 the cost to operate, so when my kids leave them on...
All of our outside lights now have the new spiral bulbs. Yep, you can even get them in yellow (bug light):)
Yeah it can be with older ones which gave a Blueish hue. But the newer ones are made with 'color options' (temperatures) for different rooms. Like 'Daylight' for a closet.
Light is measured in Kelvin degrees. Daylight (sunlight at noon) is +/- 5200K. Fluorescent can now match that 'color' temp.
Household Incandescent (tungsten) bulb colors are 'cold' at +/-2700K, that's why its 'yellowish' (ever take an indoor picture with "Daylight film" without a Flash?)
The main problem is that we're just used to the yellowish color from tungsten light bulbs in our homes.
Where would I be without the Myth Busters? I wouldn't know ANYTHING for certain. Intuitively it doesn't make a lot of sense that turning on a florescent used THAT much energy, but I remember hearing that several times when I was a kid.
I understand that the urban legend is just that. I suppose flicking lights on and off will burn them out sooner. CFLs do take a second to light up. I am not an expert in this area.
I looked at power usage for a year at a church. The bill went up dramatically when there were evening services, the main difference being the lights being on.
And when you combine them with CFL, in cold weather the lights come on slowly to give an intruder a chance to get away..
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