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Post by beth on Jan 8, 2009 3:21:27 GMT
I had no idea Europe was phasing out the 75 and 100 watt bulbs. Guess we'll be next. We bought a few of the spiral shaped, "energy saver" bulbs a couple of years ago. They were expensive! Supposed to last 3 yrs or more - they lasted 6 to 8 months. Why the end of the lightbulb is a dark day for us all Let its cool glass bottom caress your palm. Feels good, doesn't it? Now wrap your fingers around its hips and push the head firmly into the fixture. Then turn it anti-clockwise (gently, mind) until you can turn no more (or was it clockwise?). If you've got a bayonet cap, ignore the last sentence and consult a qualified electrician. Now, because you didn't turn off the power (you really should have), feel cool glass turn warm, become hot, and then really hurt. Even now the argon in the bulb is minimising energy evaporation from the gorgeous glow of tungsten filament. And - look! - the light approximates a continuous spectrum. Now remove your burning hand. Finally, you feel my pain. This month, 75W and 100W bulbs begin to disappear from sale as we switch to environmentally friendly, but dimmer, colder, uglier, often more expensive, eco-bulbs. From Bantry Bay to Bucharest, European ceilings today bear witness to a mass hanging signifying the end of the incandescent bulb. One by one those doomed lights will, as Edward Grey foresaw (he was actually on about something else), go off all over Europe. Meanwhile, eco-triumphalists will witter smugly about how the ban will save - what was it again? - 30m tonnes of CO2 yearly, which is nearly half the 2006 greenhouse emissions of Sweden. How dreary. Personally, I don't care about either half of Sweden's 2006 greenhouse emissions. I've gone too far, haven't I? But then, as Ingo Maurer, the German designer of light installations once said, the lightbulb is "the perfect union of technology and poetry". Like steam trains and space hoppers (which were, unreliable researchers tell me, modelled on lightbulbs), these pendulous pear-like fruits of the Industrial Revolution must die as ugly design extends its endless remit. Two questions remain. How many scientists did it take to invent a lightbulb? Only one, you reply, namely Thomas Edison. Yeah? What about the 19th-century Britons, such as Joseph Wilson Swan who devised the carbon fibre filament or Sir Humphry Davy who experimented with platinum filaments and carbon arc lamps? Researchers estimate that 22 scientists were involved in the lightbulb's evolution. What will future cartoonists draw above thinkers' heads to show they've had a eureka moment? No idea. I wonder what cartoonists used before lightbulbs were invented. Did they show Archimedes running naked from his bath above a thinker's hyperactive cranium? It seems unlikely. We'll have to invent something new. www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2009/jan/05/eco-lightbulbs-end
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Post by drewsmom595 on Jan 8, 2009 11:30:06 GMT
We have some of those "new" lightbulbs in our house. I don't like the light they give off...very strange shade to them -- almost like florescent light. And, when I flip the wall switch to turn them on, there's a delay of a couple of seconds before the light appears...very weird.
And I agree with you, Beth. They don't last as long as they claim.
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Post by sandywinder on Jan 8, 2009 16:43:17 GMT
We have two. I don't know how long they last though. When one goes I'll let you know. We have one in the hallway which is on from when it gets dark til when we go to bed. And one in the lounge which is used when the tele or the computer is on at night, which is quite a lot.
I agree though about the dictatorial powers of the EU. Surely personal choice and market forces are the best way.
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Jan 8, 2009 20:12:52 GMT
LED's are the future...better than incans or the new energy saving ones.
I'm sure that lighting an oil lamp was all very therapeutic and gave one a tremendous feeling of well being...but I don't want my house lit by them. Edit: Australia and states in the US are also phasing them out.
AH
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Post by sandra on Jan 10, 2009 6:40:17 GMT
I had one of those spiro energy saving ones in my lamp on my desk. One day It broke. The glass part separated from the base. It was still glowing. Very scary. I unplugged the lamp and waited a bit then had to try and unscrew the base. I put it and the glass part in a plastic bag and tossed it. I don't know how toxic it was, but I didn't want it in my house after that.
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Post by Patrick on Jan 10, 2009 13:06:06 GMT
There are a lot of stories "radiating" about these bulbs. From interference with other objects/radio/TV etc, through to people seemingly allergic to them. The light capabilities have come on in leaps and bounds in past years - but we have a supposed 100w equivalent in the living room and it's pretty poor - you certainly cannot put a lampshade on it!
Apparently there are enviro-friendly versions of the halogen bulbs - though I've yet to see one. Our halogen uplighter went kaput recently, we have to take it for repairs - the 100w enviro-bulb is no substitute for the 300w chappie!
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Jan 10, 2009 17:33:57 GMT
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Post by Patrick on Jan 10, 2009 18:00:44 GMT
Do you mind! Waving yer torch around in public like that.
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Post by drewsmom595 on Jan 10, 2009 20:58:37 GMT
I agree, Patrick. Those new bulbs give off far less light than the bulbs I'm used to. I know that it's our future, but this is one product that hasn't been improved through innovation IMHO.
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