I use low energy bulbs where appropriate, but the light is gloomy and I can't read by it in my bedside lamp. So I have to turn on two additional lights to do so... where's the saving now??
It also casts the rooms in this murky tinted gloom and is extremely depressing and as I live in a period property and all my light fittings are period, the bulbs look damn ugly and out of character.
It is a stupid and futile effort, but I make a point of buying additional 'candle' bulbs each week to stock up. I tend to use 40w and a max of 60w bulbs only and in side lights, so my footprint is pretty small anyway. But I agree about floodlighting of buildings - and, Health and Safety now dictate that any area potentially accessible by the Public (legitimately or not) MUST be well lit all through hours of darkness. Have you notice Pub car parks, Farms, Nursing homes, Playgrounds etc, all super floodlit these days???
I emailed my MP pointing out the limitations of CFLs and highlighting the problems which will arise in situations where it's not practicable to use them as direct replacements for filament bulbs. He appears to be sympathetic to the problem and has asked the Energy Minister to a response.
My small voice in the wilderness isn't likely to have any effect but if enough people do likewise it might do some good, as least it's not likely to make the situation any worse.
And ask him for evidence that every local authority has the appropriate arrangements to allow people to dispose of CFLs without them going to landfill (and by the way ask him to get a cost for provision of recycling facilities for CFLs in every borough...)
That was among the points I raised. But to have even the slightest hope of any result we need lots of MP's to be made aware of these issues. Now if the relevant government minister got as many messages as have been posted about CFLs in this group then perhaps he might just possibly give the matter some more serious consideration.
Don't bother, the govmint has no choice in the matter as it is an EU Directive forcing this. The fact the Directive was written by Philips and Osram and allows for the new "efficient" xenon filament bulbs patented by Philips and Osram and coming on the market soon which are a staggering 10% better than normal incandescent and 10 -
20 times the cost is immaterial. I'm sure the Urocrats were also not influenced by the 66% tax they put on CFL's entering the EU and it didn't have any effect upon their thinking.
20 million people can complain, it won't turn a hair on a Urocrats pate. It isn't as if we elect them.
Well, I don't buy most of those, but I believe it's important to reduce energy usage because we've run out of the resources, and are becoming horribly vulnerable to having our energy controlled by other countries. On a more global scale, I think this will be a cause for another world war and/or global recession. These will result in a serious drop in quality of life for most people in the West, and possibly the collapse of some of Western civilisation as we know it, as it will be unlikely to adapt in the time scales involved.
Agreed. I don't think I've had any GLS lamps in the house for at least 15 years, and very few filament lamps of other types. Almost everything is fluorescent.
I don't believe we have that control over the climate. I'd be much more concerned about the other issues I mention above.
The 'secret' is to bury the *****ds in paperwork! A letter to an MP should be noted by him/her, and then copied by him/her to a Minister or the Ministers PPS (Parliamentary Private Secretary). Probably three people involved, not much record-keeping. A letter to an MP and copied to the responsible Minister gets the MP involved, the Minister involved, his Ministerial office, his PPS and generates cross-correspondence between the parties, Probably a dozen people involved. Enclosures are entered on files, Internal Memos are generated and 'loose minutes' exchanged between the MP and the Ministry. A letter to an MP and copied to the responsible Minister (say Energy) and another Minister (say Health) gets the MP involved, both Ministers involved, their Ministerial offices,their PPS and generates cross-correspondence between the _all_ parties, Probably three dozen people involved. Files, Letters in-out of Registries .... it becomes not much fun for the (political) ministers and their (theoretically) impartial staff. Hopefully, you can see where this is going ... a letter to an MP is important, but a letter copied to every Ministry you think might be involved generates much more 'noise' and activity. {Even if it only gets a 'the Minister' is unable to assist ... response]
Well I eventually got a reply from the Minister. Naturally my email won't have any effect on the government's actions but the reply did provide a few interesting bits of information in the following quotes:
"On 27 September the Secretary of State announced a voluntary initiative led by the major retailers and energy suppliers that will see inefficient incandescent light bulbs phased out"
... so commercial bodies persuaded the government to support their money earning scheme, which is voluntary so the government don't get the blame for imposing it.
"The initiative has the strong backing of the major light bulb manufacturers"
... well, there's no surprise there.
"Since they were first introduced in the 1980's CFLs have been developed to match the quality and use of existing inefficient bulbs"
... so they've swallowed the claims of the manufactures, like 11W CFL (600 lumen when new) = 60W GLS tungsten (700 lumen).
There was one piece of information which at least confirms that halogens won't be affected (yet)...
"Retailers will not stop selling bulbs where no efficient alternative currently exists and householders should not need to change their existing light fittings ... I would like to reassure your constituent that we shall not be phasing out bulbs where no efficient alternative exists"
... so it looks like things like G4 and G9 halogen capsules should still be around for a while then. But I wouldn't be too sure about the future of GU10's though.
I'd raised the issue of mercury content and disposal, quoting as an example of the extreme measures people might be faced with. The reply contained a couple of interesting points:
"... there has been a substantial decline in the mercury content of CFLs over the last 30 years from around 100mg per bulb in the 1970's to around
4mg per bulb today... Industry is working to further reduce mercury levels ... there are already new products on the market with a content of less than 2 mg per bulb. Secondly, over the lifetime of both types of bulb CFLs actually produce less mercury. This is due to the fact that mercury is emitted from power stations during electricity generation and CFLs are more energy efficient"
... and, on the subject of disposal of breakages ...
"... care should be taken ... and the debris swept up and placed in a plastic bag. The area should then be wiped with a damp cloth which should then be placed in the plastic bag and sealed. The bag can be discarded with the normal refuse."
... so even if it is (or will be) illegal to chuck a CFL in the bin you can do so if you break it first.
That is a misrepresentation of the truth: it is only definitely true if the all the power is generated from coal. It certainly is definitely not true for hydroelectric, tidal, wave-power and wind power; and almost certainly not true for nuclear, and probably not true for oil and gas fired power stations. The minister should know better.
There's an abundance of them around in the shops, usually with lots of thin spindly arms with little 10W or 20W halogen 12V capsules at the end, e.g. Argos 0021993, 4324304 and 4323659. We've been looking for a central fitting for the living room (don't want downlighters or reflector spots) and would normally prefer something simpler with good old fashioned bulbs but if that means having to end up with CFLs poking out the end of the fittings then 12V halogens might be the way to go. There seems to be a distinct shortage of fittings designed to look right with CFLs.
G9 are mains halogen capsules, in 25W or 40W IIRC.
I tend not to like fittings where the bulb is visible at all. There's a distinct shortage of fittings I like, so I tend to make my own, and as such, they're designed to take CFL's.
My sentiments too. Many ceiling fittings seem to be designed as over elaborate and distracting ornamental "features" instead of a good unobtrusive source of illumination.
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