Light Bulb Hoarding
Europe’s ban on incandescent light bulbs goes into effect today. Not surprisingly, there have been reports of stockpiling of the old, eco-unfriendly light bulbs for allegedly “aesthetic” reasons. But my guess is those incandescent bulbs will be modestly profitable on Europe’s black market. Capitalism can’t be stop, only driven underground.From the New York Times:
Under the European Union rules, shops will no longer be allowed to buy or import most incandescent frosted glass bulbs starting Tuesday. Retailers can continue selling off their stock until they run out.While some Europeans are eagerly jumping on the bandwagon, others are panicking and have been stockpiling the old-style bulbs for aesthetic or practical reasons. Others are resigned to the switch, if grudgingly.
Hat tip www.linkiest.com.
Comment by RobB on 2 September 2009:
Well I am an American ant to think that this type of nazism is happening is absolutely insane. We don;t need new light bulbs, we need a new government – one that recognized constitutional TREASON! This is tyranny. That is why I am advocating the stockpiling oif anything and everthing before these bulb nazis can get thier fascist paws on it. Maybe we should tell them just were they can stick those bulbs! EU is a terrorist organization anyway. They hate freedom and have earned their punishment in hell.http://robhood.us/weblog.php
Comment by Paul on 2 September 2009:
This was frustrating news for me.CFLs are being mandated to help the environment. What they don’t realize is that most compact fluorescents end up in land fills because people don’t want to pay to recycle them!
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Comment by peter in dublin on 3 September 2009:
Yes Mike, there is a lack of logic in many ways with this ban….The strange and unpublicised EU and industrial politics that went on before the ban took place:
http://www.ceolas.net/#li1axOverallEuropeans, like Americans, choose to buy ordinary light bulbs around 9 times out of 10 (light industry data 2007-8)
Banning what people want gives the supposed savings – no point in banning an impopular product!If new LED lights -or improved CFLs- are good,
people will buy them – no need to ban ordinary light bulbs (little point).
If they are not good, people will not buy them – no need to ban ordinary light bulbs (no point).
The arrival of the transistor didn’t mean that more energy using radio tubes were banned… they were bought less anyway.Supposed savings don’t hold up for many reasons:
Just a few examples here:
CFL Lifespan is lab tested in 3 hour cycles. That does not correspond to real life usage and numerous tests have shown real life type on-off switching reducing lifespan. Leaving lights on of course also uses up energy, as does the switch-on power surge with CFLs
Also, CFLs get dimmer with age, effectively reducing lifespanPower factor: Few people know that CFLs typically have a power factor of 0.5 – that means that power stations use up twice as much power than what the CFL rating shows. This has to do with current and voltage phase differences set up when CFLs are used.
Although consumers do not see this on their meters, they will of course have to pay for it on their bills.
This is explained with official links including to US Dept of Energy here: ceolas.net/#li15euxHeat benefit from using ordinary incandescent light bulbs
ceolas.net/#li6x
Room heat substantially rises to the ceiling (convection) and spreads downwards from there. Another half of more of supposed switch savings are negated in temperate climates, as shown via the above link with US and other research references.Conversely,
if energy use does fall with light bulb and other proposed efficiency bans and electricity companies make less money,
they’ll simply push up the electricity bills to compensate:
(especially since power companies often have their own grids with little supply competition)
Energy regulators can hardly deny any such cost covering exercise…Emissions?
Does a light bulb give out any gases?
Power stations might not either:
Why should emission-free households be denied the use of lighting they obviously want to use?
Low emission households already dominate some regions, and will increase everywhere, since emissions will be reduced anyway through the planned use of coal/gas processing technology and/or energy substitution.A direct effective way to deal with emissions (for all else they contain too, whatever about CO2):
ceolas.net/#cc10xThe Taxation alternative
A ban on light bulbs is extraordinary, in being on a product safe to use.
We are not talking about banning lead paint here.
Even for those who remain pro-ban, taxation to reduce consumption would make much more sense, since governments can use the income to reduce emissions (home insulation schemes, renewable projects etc) more than any remaining product use causes such problems.
A few euros/dollars tax that reduces the current sales (EU like the USA 2 billion sales per annum, UK 250-300 million pa)
raises future billions, and would retain consumer choice.
It could also be revenue neutral, lowering any sales tax on efficient products.
ceolas.net/LightBulbTax.htmlHowever, taxation is itself unjustified, it is simply better than bans also for ban proponents, in overall emission lowering terms.Of course an EU ban is underway, but in phases, with reviews in a couple of years time…
maybe the rising controversy of it will influence American debate?
Comment by RobB on 3 September 2009:
Maybe we should just ban the EU and our government instead of light bulbs. Everyone knows that this whole stupid “global climate change” propaganda is just another population control tactic as well as a power grab. We have to fight for our rights wefore we lose them entirely. Ban government, not freedom! http://robhood.us/weblog.php
Comment by Tudorman on 4 September 2009:
I laughed out loud and read the post to my wife when I saw this. I’ve been doing the same thing for nearly a year now. I’ve got several hundreds of incandescent bulbs stashed away.