Ban On Popular Light Bulbs A Real Turn-Off

[LadyJ]

Shoppers are stockpiling traditional light bulbs while they still have the chance.

An EU ban comes into force on Tuesday making it illegal for retailers and wholesalers to import most of the old-style bulbs.

It means once stocks have run out, the only ones available will be the more pricey, low energy variety.

Roger King, who runs Hampton Hill Hardware in Middlesex, said: "I've taken orders this week for quantities in the 50s and 100s."

"People don't like being told what to do for a start. Many are concerned that they are not going to be able to see properly with the new type of light because it rapidly diminishes in effectiveness."

But the evidence suggests energy-saving bulbs have come a long way since they first went on sale.

While much more expensive, these days they are said to be as bright as conventional ones but use a fifth of the energy and last up to 10 times longer.

It is estimated that each bulb could save as much as £40 before they need to be replaced.

Energy Saving Trust spokesman, Richard Llloyd, said: "There is no time limit on when people have to replace their bulbs but the question would be: why wouldn't you?

"They save you money, they save energy, they could save one million tons of CO2, which is the equivalent of taking 70,000 cars off the road."

But one shopper at Mr King's hardware store was not impressed: "It's probably another big brother attitude, everybody trying to tell each other what they should and shouldn't be doing."

Another was happy with the change: "There are a lot of people who are very selfish and think about their lifetime but we have got to think about our children and our children's children."

The first bulbs to go will be conventional frosted or pearl bulbs.

Time is also running out to buy clear 100 watt bulbs. Lower wattage ones will be phased out by 2012.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Traditional-Lightbulb-Ban-Proves-Unpopular-As-Shoppers-Stockpile-Old-Style-Bulbs/Article/200908415371178?lpos=UK_News_News_Your_Way_Region_5&lid=NewsYourWay_ARTICLE_15371178_Traditional_Lightbulb_Ban_Proves_Unpopular_As_Shoppers_Stockpile_Old-Style_Bulbs

[jimeve]

hello lady,with Filipinos around, I don't need a light bulb to turn me on :D

[Northerner]

Well, a 40 watt bulb is replaced by an energy saving 9 watt bulb:Erm: So basically, they use less than 25% of the electricity of the old style bulbs. Meaning you spend less money on the bills:Erm: And they can last upto 9 years a bulb:Erm:

Yet people still refuse to use them because they look different:Erm:

:REGamblMoney01HL1:

[somebody]

Well, a 40 watt bulb is replaced by an energy saving 9 watt bulb:Erm: So basically, they use less than 25% of the electricity of the old style bulbs. Meaning you spend less money on the bills:Erm: And they can last upto 9 years a bulb:Erm:

Yet people still refuse to use them because they look different:Erm:

:REGamblMoney01HL1:

I have read and seen in the media and come across older people who have tried the new light bulbs and simply they cant read or see with the newer lamps. Many are people who wanted to use the newer bulbs as like you say many want to save all they can but if they cant read comfortably or the light is not good enough to see detail then you can see why they are concerned.

One tip is make sure your house is nice and Bright Check out the daylight bulbs which are a blue colour when Rizza comes over. Many of the daylight bulbs im sure are of the old style which will be banned soon.
If Like My Wife she comes over when its winter its quite a tough change and also the Wife noticed our lights often five off a weird yellow tinge which seemed odd to her. Small things can have big effects on people sometimes.

[beppe]

I have already turned to high efficiency lights. The overall performance is better. Next step will be LED lights, they are still pricey to make a change.

[IainBusby]

There doesn't seem to be any of the low energy bulbs around that are equivalent to 100w. They all seem to be 11w which is only equivalent to the standard 60w and for some areas of my house such as the hall, stairs and landing which have very little natural light they're just not good enough. To make things even worse, the 11w low energy bulb, supposedly equivalent to a standard 60w bulb, seems to me to be more like a 40w standard bulb.

I'm all in favour of saving energy, but I think they should look at ways of producing low energy bulbs which are brighter without making them much bigger. I think that then we might end up with something like maybe 20w and 25w low energy bulbs which might be more like the standard 60w and 100w that we are all know and love.

Iain.

[aromulus]

Saving energy, and consequently saving a few bob in the process is all good by me, unfortunately I did try the new bulbs in question, and I find them rather useless.

Like many others have already discovered, they are not bright enough, they give a silly glow that causes me slight headaches and I later found out that you cannot just bin them at the end, because they contain mercury, so they have to be disposed of with care.

You will see that in a few years time, the gov will introduce a charge to have the darn things disposed of correctly.....:doh

I have a decent stock of old fashioned 100 and 60 watts bulbs to last me forever....:D

[KeithD]

I think we have a few thousand, will sell them on the black market in 10 years for £50 each :icon_lol:

[joebloggs]

I think we have a few thousand, will sell them on the black market in 10 years for £50 each :icon_lol:

From tomorrow, the 100-watt incandescent bulbs that have been the gold-standard of illumination for more than a century, will become contraband

Any retailer who fails to uphold the ban can be shopped to the authorities and face a hefty fine and criminal record.

Given the behaviour of some eco-zealots, one can all too easily imagine this happening.

Look forward in the coming months to tales of hapless market traders and back-street electricians being snitched upon by righteous green activists and hauled off to the courts as if they were heroin dealers.

No doubt there will soon be armies of light-bulb enforcement officers recruited to police the ban, to join the legions of Europe’s jobzillas.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1210150/MICHAEL-HANLON-Making-illegal-sell-100-watt-light-bulbs-simply-dimwitted.html

another reason to :action-smiley-081: the EU :D

[Alan]

Another nail in our RIP common sense coffin!! I DO agree that saving energy and saving the planet etc.. is the way we have to go - but I also agree, these ridiculously over-priced 'bulbs' give off very poor light and do indeed, also, give me headaches!

Al.:)

[joebloggs]

Another nail in our RIP common sense coffin!! I DO agree that saving energy and saving the planet etc.. is the way we have to go - but I also agree, these ridiculously over-priced 'bulbs' give off very poor light and do indeed, also, give me headaches!

Al.:)

some places have them on offer Al, i've bought some from Morrisons not long ago, 11w ones, buy 1 get 3 free, so i think it cost me a £1 for 4, i've also bought some more 11w ones for 20p each. :rolleyes:

but your right, if you buy one branded name one can cost £'s :doh

also the light given off is not as bright, so you need more of them :doh

i can see people selling 100w bulbs outside the ArndaLE AL, next to dodgy cigs, dvd's and perfumes from tomoz

[Arthur Little]

Yet people still refuse to use them because they look different ... Erm:

... or COULD it be because they take longer to fully illuminate? ... and, forbye, are "NO' BONNIE! :NoNo:

[Alan]

some places have them on offer Al, i've bought some from Morrisons not long ago, 11w ones, buy 1 get 3 free, so i think it cost me a £1 for 4, i've also bought some more 11w ones for 20p each. :rolleyes:

but your right, if you buy one branded name one can cost £'s :doh

also the light given off is not as bright, so you need more of them :doh

i can see people selling 100w bulbs outside the ArndaLE AL, next to dodgy cigs, dvd's and perfumes from tomoz

Yes Joe - I have bought the 'cheapos' in the past - on the box says lasts 4 years kinda thing - I think mine lasted 4 weeks!!! (As I seem to remember)

But yes - my dad believes in them and I think he pays about 7 quid for Philips or some other branded. Can't be sure of my facts here so please don't quote me.

Nevertheless, I still think a ripoff under the guise of 'You are saving the planet.'

Al.:)

[joebloggs]

Yes Joe - I have bought the 'cheapos' in the past - on the box says lasts 4 years kinda thing - I think mine lasted 4 weeks!!! (As I seem to remember)

But yes - my dad believes in them and I think he pays about 7 quid for Philips or some other branded. Can't be sure of my facts here so please don't quote me.

Nevertheless, I still think a ripoff under the guise of 'You are saving the planet.'

Al.:)

upto now, i think ive only replaced one of the low energy ones in about a year, and i think i've got about 10 being used here.

Nevertheless, I still think a ripoff under the guise of 'You are saving the planet.-

just like the car scrapage scheme, my misses 12yr old merc, how can scrapping a car that might pollute a 1/3rd more than a new lower emission car save the planet, what about the cost to the environment of a new car :doh

[IainBusby]

i can see people selling 100w bulbs outside the ArndaLE AL, next to dodgy cigs, dvd's and perfumes from tomoz

I was at a car boot sale last week, there were 3 or 4 guys selling the old ones and they seemed to have lots of stock. I'll bet they're still selling them at car booties in 10 years time and I'll bet it won't be long before there are places online where you can buy them in bulk (probably sent from some other country in EUROPE where they don't pander to every whim of the Brussels brigade). I think that the law of supply and demand will eventually scupper this stupid piece of legislation and it will end up as one of those things that we know we shouldn't do, but we all do anyway.

[IainBusby]

upto now, i think ive only replaced one of the low energy ones in about a year, and i think i've got about 10 being used here.

Nevertheless, I still think a ripoff under the guise of 'You are saving the planet.-

just like the car scrapage scheme, my misses 12yr old merc, how can scrapping a car that might pollute a 1/3rd more than a new lower emission car save the planet, what about the cost to the environment of a new car :doh

I think that the car scrappage scheme in the UK was introduced more for the benefit of the car industry than for the benefit of the planet Joe.

[Arthur Little]

From tomorrow, the 100-watt incandescent bulbs that have been the gold-standard of illumination for more than a century, will become contraband

Any retailer who fails to uphold the ban can be shopped to the authorities and face a hefty fine and criminal record.

Given the behaviour of some eco-zealots, one can all too easily imagine this happening.

Look forward in the coming months to tales of hapless market traders and back-street electricians being snitched upon by righteous green activists and hauled off to the courts as if they were heroin dealers.

No doubt there will soon be armies of light-bulb enforcement officers recruited to police the ban, to join the legions of Europe’s jobzillas.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1210150/MICHAEL-HANLON-Making-illegal-sell-100-watt-light-bulbs-simply-dimwitted.html

another reason to :action-smiley-081: the EU :D

:doh Yet another example of the crass legislation imposed on Society by this 'Nanny State'! Remember a few years back when our centuries-old practice of pricing everyday commodities according to Imperial Weights & Measures, i.e. stones, lbs. & ozs. ... gallons, quarts and pints ... yds., ft. & inches, &c. was, by law, to be scrapped in favour of the likes of kg., litres & metres, etc., etc., etc. And traders who deviated from this crazy European directive faced hefty fines or [for repeated "offences"] even withdrawal of their licenses?? :omg: What next ... ?

[jimeve]

:doh Yet another example of the crass legislation imposed on Society by this 'Nanny State'! Remember a few years back when our centuries-old practice of pricing everyday commodities according to Imperial Weights & Measures, i.e. stones, lbs. & ozs. ... gallons, quarts and pints ... yds., ft. & inches, &c. was, by law, to be scrapped in favour of the likes of kg., litres & metres, etc., etc., etc. And traders who deviated from this crazy European directive faced hefty fines or [for repeated "offences"] even withdrawal of their licenses?? :omg: What next ... ?

What next, the Euro, won't be long now Arthur and prices will rocket too.:ARsurrender:

[KeithD]

The problem is they aren't green at all. We changed our 3 spotlights in the living room to the new light bulbs, and the effect is we need to turn the heating up to replace the heat the lights don't produce! :doh

[Alan]

The problem is they aren't green at all. We changed our 3 spotlights in the living room to the new light bulbs, and the effect is we need to turn the heating up to replace the heat the lights don't produce! :doh

Voila!!!! You could fry an egg on 'real' bulbs!! (If you were that way inclined, of course!)

Al.:)

[joebloggs]

The problem is they aren't green at all. We changed our 3 spotlights in the living room to the new light bulbs, and the effect is we need to turn the heating up to replace the heat the lights don't produce! :doh

penny:doh pincher scouser Keith, have you still got your knob hidden from your misses,:yikes: ....... from your central heating thermostat :doh

:D

don't tell me you've still got your misses sat around that one candle from last winter :yikes: :36_1_26[1]:

[Arthur Little]

What next, the Euro, won't be long now Arthur and prices will rocket too.:ARsurrender:

Aye, you're RIGHT there, Jim! :iagree: ... just as they did back in February 1971, when the UK became decimalised. I remember once, during a visit to Venice, a shopkeeper telling me about how much prices had risen since Italy replaced lira with the Euro.

Enough said!

[JimOttley]

There doesn't seem to be any of the low energy bulbs around that are equivalent to 100w. They all seem to be 11w which is only equivalent to the standard 60w and for some areas of my house such as the hall, stairs and landing which have very little natural light they're just not good enough. To make things even worse, the 11w low energy bulb, supposedly equivalent to a standard 60w bulb, seems to me to be more like a 40w standard bulb.

I'm all in favour of saving energy, but I think they should look at ways of producing low energy bulbs which are brighter without making them much bigger. I think that then we might end up with something like maybe 20w and 25w low energy bulbs which might be more like the standard 60w and 100w that we are all know and love.

Iain.

http://www.1000bulbs.com/30-Watt-Compact-Fluorescents/

An American site but you can get most of these here as well.

The 20W and 25W bulbs are pretty good generally and the frequency the operate at now is much higher so you don't get flicker headaches.

I like them problem I had with them was not being able to get really small ones that fitted my table lamps.

Like Joe I've bought packs of four 8W lamps for a pound!

There is a myth in the Philippines that Filipino inventor Agapito Flores invented the florescent light bulb in the 1930's but I believe it was actually invented in the late 20's by some Germans.

Jim