Australia to Ban Old - Style Light Bulbs

[ewmayer]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/worl...-the-Bulb.html

Anbody here ever use compact fluorescents at home? I've just never liked the quality of light they produce - they lack the "warmth" of incandescents, in both the literal and the figurative sense. But perhaps some varieties are better than others in terms of quality of light.

Interesting that Australian PM John Howard (a.k.a. "The Aussie Dubya") is behind this legislation.

Full text of the AP article, in case the NYT link goes stale:

Australia to Ban Old - Style Light Bulbs

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 20, 2007

Filed at 7:28 p.m. ET

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- 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 fluorescent 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.

[akruppa]

I'm using almost only CF by now. They save a bunch of electricity and money, and the quality of the light is pretty good if you go for a decent brand. All modern CF have a color reproduction index (CRI) >80 (usually ~82), where 100 is perfect black-body radiation. If CRI ~82 isn't good enough for you, there are "full spectrum" lamps with 5 phosphors instead of 3, giving the lamp a CRI >90. They are slightly less efficient and noticably more expensive, though.

A nice thing is that they come in different light temperatures. I found 6000K very useful for working, as the very bright and cold light really keeps you awake.

I'm in France now, and there is electric heating almost everywhere in homes, so it doesn't really matter if I use old bulbs or CF, so long as it's cold enough that I need heating. But I guess I'd rather buy a few cheap computers and use their heat for keeping my flat warm rather than light bulbs, that way at least I get some number crunshing done.

Alex

[M29]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/worl...-the-Bulb.html

Anbody here ever use compact fluorescents at home? I've just never liked the quality of light they produce - they lack the "warmth" of incandescents, in both the literal and the figurative sense. But perhaps some varieties are better than others in terms of quality of light.

Yes, I think I can shine some light on this!

I can strongly recommend General Electric's 6500K 26W energy saver bulb.

See page 11 of this 18 page PDF:
http://www.gelighting.com/na/busines...luorescent.pdf
Order Code 85397

Compared with other fluorescents, the difference is like night and day!

Unfortunately, the lamp contains Mercury so one must pay attention when disposing. See www.lamprecycle.org

Seriously, this is the best fluorescent I've owned. I intend to replace all of mine with this 6500K, 1600 lumens bulb.

But what to do with all my old "yellow" fluorescents? Maybe buying them wasn't such a bright idea after all?

[geoff]

The first compact-fluorescent bulbs I bought cost $30 each, electricity was about $0.10/KWh, and they still worked out cheaper than incadescent bulbs.

Now they cost $3 each and electricity is $0.18/kWh.

[akruppa]

Originally Posted by geoff

Now they cost $3 each and electricity is $0.18/kWh.

If you go for quality, they'll probably be a little more expensive than $3, but the extra money is worth it. Make sure the CF uses an electronic ballast instead of a conventional inductive one. It eliminates flicker, improves efficiency and lamp life. Also, the name brands usually put more effort into reducing the amount of mercury used in the bulbs than the cheapest manufactureres do.

Alex

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by M29

Unfortunately, the lamp contains Mercury so one must pay attention when disposing. See www.lamprecycle.org

So does that mean the bulb is subject to relativistic perihelion shift?

And what does the Lampre pro Cycling team have to do with this? It seems like a strange marriage ... Then again, leg power = energy-efficient transportation, so maybe that's the connection.

Serious question: is the light from 2700K-rated bulbs significantly "warmer" than the the 6500K?

I'll have to see if Target carries these next time I'm there .

[akruppa]

Yes, very. The 6000K stuff is really hard, cold light. Good for working, but not so much for a romantic dinner or a comfy evening with the TV on.

Here's a pic of a 2700K lamp (on the wall) and a my 6000K (in the globe thing).

Alex

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by akruppa

Here's a pic of a 2700K lamp (on the wall) and a my 6000K (in the globe thing).

I believe "sconce" is the word you're looking for, as in: "Whilst eating a scone on the nonce, I glanced askance at a sconce that was askew, perchance."

Thanks for the pic - assuming both kinds are similar in terms of efficiency (lumens per watt), I'm definitely going for the lower-temp ones, since in my case I already have regular fluorescents in my household work areas.

[akruppa]

The 6000K is slightly nasty - the blue tint isn't really as strong as it seems on the pic, but a bluish hue is definitely there. A good compromise is 4000K, which is also available in CF. It is the most neutral white color in bulbs, and is what most people probably would want in their work spaces.

In terms of efficiency, the 2700K, 4000K and 6000K are very close. There are special colour temperatures i.e. for Seawater Aquarium that need a lot of UV, where you can buy up to 15000K, although not as a compact bulb. Those very high color temp flourescent lamps have noticably lower efficiency.

Alex

[Citrix]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/worl...-the-Bulb.html

Anbody here ever use compact fluorescents at home? I've just never liked the quality of light they produce - they lack the "warmth" of incandescents, in both the literal and the figurative sense. But perhaps some varieties are better than others in terms of quality of light.

The flourescent light is good while studying, able to resolve small words more easily. While watching TV etc, I prefer the filament bulb.

Though for illumination purposes people should switch to flourescent light as it saves electricity and $.

[Uncwilly]

There are several problems that I am aware of regarding CF's. (not CFC's, that is a different issue.)

1.) Noise, the high pitch buzzing/whine. I have a relative that can't stand them. I have some over my vanity and at night they quite noticeable.
2.) Flicker, some of us, especially those of us with certain conditions are irritated by the flicker. School children sometimes suffer. While it is shorter than the 1/40 of a second figure, it is still noticable. Put a flourescent lamp over a ceiling fan and I go .
3.) Physical size/shape/format. The space under my ceiling fan was designed for a 100w standard bulb. I can't find a CF that looks good, fits, and is bright enough. The 100w equiv. bulbs look nasty or are monsters that hang way down. Smaller bulbs are too dim. I have a nice looking table lamp that a CF can't fit into. Either a standard or the new halogens will fit. I also am trying to find some CF's that fit into some 'cans' and other enclosed fixtures. The built in reflectors prevent the CF's from fitting.

LED's seem to have advantages to CF's.
I have given serious thought to building some LED lamps. These would work well in recessed fixtures, they would throw all the light in the desired direction. I have even thought about starting a company to produce LED lamps that physically match incandesents (or are smaller). The 100-120Hz flicker can be taken care of with a filter. With a multi component LED lamp, the color can be tweaked by inclusion of various LED colors.