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BERLIN (Reuters) – Germans, who sometimes see themselves as guardians of the environment, are hoarding energy-guzzling incandescent light bulbs ahead of a looming European Union-wide ban, the GfK market research agency said.
The Nuremberg-based GfK reported sales of incandescent bulbs had soared about 35 percent in the first half of the year ahead of a ban that starts Tuesday -- even though it was proposed by German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel in 2007.
Hoarding energy-guzzling bulbs ahead of EU ban - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090831/od_nm/us_germany_bulbs - broken link)
Well, I don't see why we can't have both, with a restriction on wattage. Some of those flouescent lights don't produce a pretty glow. And what about people who produce their own electricity ? I don't use anything higher than a 60 watt. Some of my lampshades are designed to clip onto a bare bulb. Some of those flourescents are curly q types. Halogen lights are garish. Can't they at least make a diffraction shade so that they don't blind people ? I am all for saving energy. I just think that lighting should be pleasant to look at. I am donating all of my 100 watters. I had an idea of placing them into holes in a wooden board, lined up with tiny colored lights behind them. A new recycled low watt party light ?
I can't stand fluorescent lights. Actually I don't like electric lighting in general and prefer oil and gas lighting, better for your eyes. But I don't mind the early carbon filament type lightbulbs and have both originals and repros. I think until the toxic waste problem with CFL's is worked out there shouldn't be a ban on other bulbs.
I heat with electricity so the incandescent bulbs are just heaters that produce useful light as a byproduct. I have an antique light floor light that uses the "mogul" big base bulbs in 100-200-300 watt size. These are already hard to get so I am building a supply. I do have some fluorescents but mostly in the basement where the glare does not bother me so much.
First of all, it's not a proven fact that CFL bulbs really save that much energy.
Here's simple experiment you can do, get one incandescent and one CFL that produce equal amount of light. Turn them on for about 1 minute then grab both.
All that heat you feel from the incandescent is wasted energy unless of course it's winter time, if it's summer and you have AC on it actually has to be offset.
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Second, what ever happened to people being allowed to have a choice?
I can agree but I really think it's no brainer, the cost of the bulbs have come down significantly. They last much longer and use less electric.
I replaced the majority of the light bulbs in my house with CFLs mostly due to the heat that incandescents generate. My house has 8 foot ceilings and you can really feel the heat coming off those things. Putting my clothes away in my closet was miserable until I changed the bulb. I would break into a sweat standing in that closet for more than a few minutes. Plus, you should not have a bare incandescent bulb in your closet anyway (due to heat, in some areas it is a code violation). The energy savings will be small, sure, but I think it is worth it. Plus a lot of CFLs are available in a "warm" finish that produce a pretty pleasant result. My boyfriend did not even notice that I had changed most of the light bulbs.
Here's simple experiment you can do, get one incandescent and one CFL that produce equal amount of light. Turn them on for about 1 minute then grab both.
Here's a simple experiment: Get one incandescent and one CFL that are supposed to produce an equal amount of light, place them next to each other in lamps, turn them on, and compare the amount of light actually produced.
This experiment shows why I do not have any CFL lighting in my home, and won't until they actually produce the amount of light the manufacturers say they do.
Here's simple experiment you can do, get one incandescent and one CFL that produce equal amount of light. Turn them on for about 1 minute then grab both.
All that heat you feel from the incandescent is wasted energy unless of course it's winter time, if it's summer and you have AC on it actually has to be offset.
Don't get me wrong. Virtually every bulb in my house is a CFL bulb. I'm all for conserving energy in every way possible.
But lights aren't the principle source of electricity usage in any home. Most sources say that lights make up between 10%-15% of the electricity bill. So even if we cut that amount in half, it's not a huge savings.
In addition, the verdict is still out regarding whether CFLs actually save as much energy as they claim. Also, quite a few people believe that the CFL bulb that claims to put out 75 watts of light puts out nowhere near as much light as the 75 watt incandescent.
The bottom line in my home is that we are saving somewhere around $2.00 - $3.00 per month by having all CFL bulbs. Of course, this is due partly to me being very fastidious about turning lights off when nobody is in a room.
Where we HAVE seen savings is in replacing our electric stove with gas, and installing an energy efficient washer & dryer, and refrigerator. In addition, I've super-insulated our house, we have a high-efficiency furnace & heat pump, etc. Our total utility bill (electric, water, garbage, recycle, electricity, gas) for our 4,000 square foot home averages just under $200 per month.
I can agree but I really think it's no brainer, the cost of the bulbs have come down significantly. They last much longer and use less electric.
I've had some CFL bulbs burn out in less than a month.
Not all CFL bulbs are created the same.
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