[LINK] Here's one that will snag a few

[Ivan Trundle]

I'm amazed at some of the claims and counter-claims here on Link in  
relation to incandescent lighting, low-voltage lighting, and halogen  
lighting (and LED lighting too).

Lighting power consumption in households (not businesses, since this  
was the focus of Turnbull's piece to camera) is miniscule compared  
with the consumption by domestic air-conditioners, washing machines,  
dryers, hair-dryers, and clothes dryers. An audit of household  
consumption would demonstrate this. But one of the hidden costs in  
all these audits in the 'cradle-to-grave' cost of production and  
destruction - and no studies have been able to show what the true  
figures are for new lighting technologies.

However, putting this aside, household consumption is trivial  
compared with business consumption.

For those in an interest in the matter, energy audits are being  
carried out on the top-250 energy consuming companies in Australia  
(those using more than 0.5 petajoules per year), in a program  
administered via a government initiative.

The organisation that I work for is involved in this program at the  
moment. The amount of savings that can be made here are simply  
staggering, and some good ideas have floated to the surface already  
since the program's inception. Why these don't make the headlines are  
beyond me (shareholders are the only ones to see the benefit  
directly, yet these 'savings' affect us all).

Big business consumption only proves to demonstrate that changing  
domestic light bulbs is of little significance. All measures help,  
but the numbers show that this is a political move, not an  
environmental initiative.

Corporations that use more than 0.5 PJ of energy per year are  
together responsible for more than 60 percent of the total amount of  
energy used by businesses, and around 40 percent of all energy used  
in Australia. 0.5 PJ approximately equals 139,000 MWh, 13 ML diesel,  
9000 tonnes of LNG or 10,000 tonnes of LPG, and is approximately  
equivalent to the energy used by 10,000 households (figures taken  
from the program, and published in the government's energy white  
paper, Securing Australia's Energy Future).

Knowing that the current Federal government is scrabbling around to  
find hard data on a wide range of environmental issues at present  
(senior public servants here in Canberra acknowledge privately that  
there is little or no data), it is hardly surprising that stunts like  
this are making the headlines.

Turnbull's promotion of flouro lights is no silver bullet, for sure.  
If they were, we would be embracing their use everywhere, and would  
have done so years ago. I'd even be using them in my household.

I'm with you on this, Jan - it truly is policy on the run.

iT

--
Ivan Trundle
http://itrundle.com ivan at itrundle.com
ph: +61 (0)418 244 259 fx: +61 (0)2 6286 8742
skype: callto://ivanovitchk