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

[Karl Schaffarczyk]

>
>
>Turnbull's non-incandescent bulb promotion requires some answers before we
>even begin to accept his 800,000 tonne a year "greenhouse gas' saving.
>
>1. Since we are said to produce about 500 million tonnes of the stuff a
>year, the saving is bordering on the trivial.

agreed.

>
>2. And what is the energy budget on manufacturing one of these bulbs.  What
>is the cost in terms of energy input in manufacture, transport, retail etc,
>compared with energy saved.
>
>I suspect that it is considerably on the plus side, but I'd like to be sure.
>does anyone have any figures?

An extension to the same question - what about disposal? Bulbs do not 
take up much landfill, and using some glass, some tungsten, and maybe 
some other bits, are possibly recyclable.
The compact fluoros have electronics - cue images of chinese and 
indian villages with piles of computer waste, and locals setting fire 
to recover the precious metals, meanwhile releasing cyanide, C02 and 
other nasties.

>
>3. Moreover, what is the expected life of these bulbs.  People keep quoting
>4x that of an incandescent, but in my experience both types are very highly
>variable -- with new incandescents being much less reliable in recent times
>than they used to be.
>
>
>I bought a couple of the new fluro type about six months ago and one only
>lasted a month or so. The other is still going, but it is certainly not as
>bright as is claimed on the packet.
>

I find that in my kitchen, that I couldn't clean it properly with 
fluoro lights. I just couldn't see. I currently run with an 
environment-ruining array of six Quartz Halogen lights - 55w each.
Personally, I am happy to pay extra, even if a carbon tax is slapped 
on, so I can see properly. For me, I'd rather burn more dinosaurs 
than be sick. OTOH we have compact fluoros in most of the house, and 
water saving showerheads etc.

Does anyone know if all incandescent globes will be banned under 
Turnbull's policy?
Has anyone invented a non-incandescent floodlight yet which is effective?

>Until last year I had one incandescent bulb in my home (an American screw
>fitting) that had lasted nearly twenty years.  I was given it by a friend,
>who was an electrician, from his stock, so I can remember when it was
>installed.  Other incandescent bulbs in our house last only months.
>
>What would the manufacturing energy budget-saving be if incandescent bulbs
>were longer lasting I wonder?
>
>
>4. What happens when you put these bulbs on a thermister-dimmer circuit.  I
>haven't tried.  Does anyone know?

You need a specialised dimmer circuit. The thermister type will 
generally not successfully dim a fluoro.

>
>5. Were the old bulbs inefficient anyway?  In summer, the excess energy
>consumption will obviously emerge as heat. This will be warming up a hot
>house so that is clearly a waste of energy.  But in summer the lights are
>only for only half the time they are in winter, and usually we have less of
>them on at night because family members tend to be doing things elsewhere.
>
>In winter, any loss of light-generating efficiency will result in household
>warming and so part-substitute for other heating methods.  This means that
>there is no loss of efficiency at all.  And winter is the the major time we
>use lighting.
>
>So about 500,000 tonnes of Turnbull's 800,000 tonne saving in CO2 is not
>actually a saving at all.  To maintain the same ambient household
>temperature it will require thermostats to be turned up another notch in
>winter to compensate.

rubbish. That extra heating in winter will be offset by aircon not 
needing to work as hard in summer ;)

>Maybe they might legislate to require us to use fluoros in summer, and
>change to incandescents in winter.


Karl