Banning Incandescent Light Bulbs?

[tcseacliff]

Simple trick, if you feel like it: Put a suitable diode in series of the bulb. that way it gets only one half-wave of the AC. The reduction in light output is acceptable, but the bulb will last multiple times over. You can get suitable diodes for a few bucks per 100 or more.

And if you really feel like it, also add a suitable NTC in series. That is a resistor that decreases resistance the hotter it gets. Due to it being in series it will heat itself. That implements a soft-start for the bulb then (most of the time incadescents "blow out" when switching them on, due to the high current inrush to the filament).

Implementing both can give you bulbs that last virtually for your lifetime in your home, at a price of a few cents per pop. Assuming you are willing and comfortable to use a soldering iron...

Greetings,

Chris

they sell those. they are little button shaped devices you put into the socket then put the bulb in . it stops that "rush" that blows out the filaments. they are pretty expensive, and hard to find, but they supposedly do extend the lif of bulbs in this manner.

 

[mhaze]

they sell those. they are little button shaped devices you put into the socket then put the bulb in . it stops that "rush" that blows out the filaments. they are pretty expensive, and hard to find, but they supposedly do extend the lif of bulbs in this manner.

No, let's just ignore those little things.

 

[MattTheTubaGuy]

On the subject of recycling, I work as a recycling sorter (the machines do most of the work, but they are not perfect).
Incandescent bulbs = glass and metal. in theory, it should break, the glass goes out with the rest of the glass, and the metal will end up with the steel or aluminium (not sure what metal it would be)
CFL lights = glass with white powder attached to a whole bunch of circuitry encased in plastic and with a metal attachment on the bottom.
once again, the glass should break, but this leaves a fairly useless chunk of metal, plastic and electronic components, which I really have no idea how it would be possible to recycle.
I'm pretty sure they are NOT supposed to go in the recycling bin, but the ones that do go in the rubbish.

I really don't see what is so bad about incandescent bulbs. any electricity 'wasted' would heat up the house, which in a cold place (like NZ) is a good thing. also, the power used for lighting would be a small fraction of the total, which includes cooking, TV's and other electronics, and heating water.
personally, the colours doesn't really make much difference because I spend way too much time in front of my computer screen!

 

[DC]

exactly! my neighbor has them, so he is greener than me! well, so what! I pay for the use of my incandescent. so, they are saying we are all paying for incandescent,extra power to run , blah, blah. why does my use of bulbs cause problems for everybody, but my neighbors use of them does not benefit me inversely?

I would like to see the market dictate the use, not the government forcing a market on every one. look at the electric cars, if I am not mistaken, the public has spoken. why can't both bulbs be put on the shelf and see what happens? not fair to ban one and tell everybody the banned ones are not selling well? crap!

You are causing more Co2. this has huge consequences, so its a good thing the old stupid technology gets banned. one of the many small steps we have to take to combat AGW.

 

[mhaze]

On the subject of recycling, I work as a recycling sorter (the machines do most of the work, but they are not perfect).
Incandescent bulbs = glass and metal. in theory, it should break, the glass goes out with the rest of the glass, and the metal will end up with the steel or aluminium (not sure what metal it would be)
CFL lights = glass with white powder attached to a whole bunch of circuitry encased in plastic and with a metal attachment on the bottom.
once again, the glass should break, but this leaves a fairly useless chunk of metal, plastic and electronic components, which I really have no idea how it would be possible to recycle.
I'm pretty sure they are NOT supposed to go in the recycling bin, but the ones that do go in the rubbish.

I really don't see what is so bad about incandescent bulbs. any electricity 'wasted' would heat up the house, which in a cold place (like NZ) is a good thing. also, the power used for lighting would be a small fraction of the total, which includes cooking, TV's and other electronics, and heating water.
personally, the colours doesn't really make much difference because I spend way too much time in front of my computer screen!

Thanks first for noting there is actually no "recycling" of CFL bulbs, that is just green double talk.

On your second point you are absolutely correct. Not even considering the good (or bad) aspects of the heat output fraction of the incandescent bulb would result in wrong results. Particularly since it's not difficult at all to heat a room a bit with a few floodlights, and not turn on the central AC/furnace.

 

[tcseacliff]

this is one of those phoney Al gore type , chicken little issues for the wackos. it is the tungsten production they have the beef with, which then then ties in with disposal , which then leads to other links of how uncaring for the environment we are.
how little children in bare feet are rummaging through OUR discarded electronics and bulbs, and other evils we have unleashed. they are so good at this. look at this president, he is the poster boy for the green movement, makes them tingly, or it could be they are "tingling' from the evil bulbs in the trash!

 

[KoihimeNakamura]

... what?

 

[tcseacliff]

... what?

it was a bad post. what i was saying is the tree huggers who started the ban were getting all hyped up over the tungsten in the bulb, mostly , the pollution caused by the manufacturing of the tungsten, which was tied in with efficiency and wasted energy. then there was a tie in with recycling and how our CRT tubes are not recycled properly, and we are causing issues in the third world with our negligence!
I like my incandescent bulbs !

 

[TheL8Elvis]

it was a bad post. what i was saying is the tree huggers who started the ban were getting all hyped up over the tungsten in the bulb, mostly , the pollution caused by the manufacturing of the tungsten, which was tied in with efficiency and wasted energy. then there was a tie in with recycling and how our CRT tubes are not recycled properly, and we are causing issues in the third world with our negligence!
I like my incandescent bulbs !

The law passed by Congress and signed by Bush in 2007, among many other things, set energy efficiency standards for *some*-- not all --standard size and type light bulbs. The energy inefficient standard size bulbs that don't fall into one of many categories of exceptions will be phased out from 2012 to 2014.

Those tree huggers ?

 

[richardm]

the tree huggers who started the ban were getting all hyped up over the tungsten in the bulb, mostly

I'm pretty sure that they were actually all hyped up by how wasteful of electricity incandescent bulbs are rather than anything else. Across the EU alone it's estimated that 39 terawatt-hours of electricity will be saved annually as incandescent bulbs are phased out. While most of our electricty is coming from fossil fuels, the burning of which emits greenhouse gases, this is seen as a worthwhile goal.

I like my incandescent bulbs !

Me too, but the CFLs are improving and LEDs are both improving and becoming cheaper.

 

[Blue Mountain]

I'm pretty sure that they were actually all hyped up by how wasteful of electricity incandescent bulbs are rather than anything else. Across the EU alone it's estimated that 39 terawatt-hours of electricity will be saved annually as incandescent bulbs are phased out. While most of our electricty is coming from fossil fuels, the burning of which emits greenhouse gases, this is seen as a worthwhile goal.

A question to the forum participants about the heating effects of incandescent lamps. It seems to me that any time you have a day where the outside temperature falls below approximately 15 degrees C, people want to start heating the interior of their homes. (This statement ignores the effects of solar gain.) Incandescent bulbs would contribute to that heating. Does that then reduce the need for heat from other sources such electricity, oil, and natural gas?

Of course there is a converse: in hot climates where air conditioning is the norm, using incandescent bulbs adds to the heat that the air conditioning must remove. So you're wasting energy twice: once to heat the air with the bulb and again to remove it. In the southern US, where I suspect it's hot more often than not, that would be a lot of wasted energy.

But in a colder climate like Canada, and also across Europe in the winter, is that much electricity truly "wasted"?

 

[mhaze]

A question to the forum participants about the heating effects of incandescent lamps. It seems to me that any time you have a day where the outside temperature falls below approximately 15 degrees C, people want to start heating the interior of their homes. (This statement ignores the effects of solar gain.) Incandescent bulbs would contribute to that heating. Does that then reduce the need for heat from other sources such electricity, oil, and natural gas?

Of course there is a converse: in hot climates where air conditioning is the norm, using incandescent bulbs adds to the heat that the air conditioning must remove. So you're wasting energy twice: once to heat the air with the bulb and again to remove it. In the southern US, where I suspect it's hot more often than not, that would be a lot of wasted energy.

But in a colder climate like Canada, and also across Europe in the winter, is that much electricity truly "wasted"?

All sources of heat in a home, including bulbs, computers, refrigerators, tvs, etc, "heat the home" and reduce the cold weather btu input required. You may or may not have some home heating system that is more efficient than electric heat - natural gas certainly is. Climate for a purpose like this can be called out in "degree days" per year, the number varies from 2000 for lower US up to something like 5000 for the US/Canada border.

Clearly, no "overall comprehensive rule" about the merits of incandescent bulbs is possible, but that's been ignored completely for the purposes of the green incandescent bulb ban.

Now you are mistaken when you say "of course there is a converse", because an air conditioner simply moves heat from one place to another. I think the energy for an AC to remove 100 watts per hour injected into a home through, whatever, say incandescent bulbs, is likely < 10 watts per hour. The only converse and it's not perfect is to compare an AC with a heat pump. But their efficiency goes down as it gets colder, so that can be disregarded.

Short story - it's easier, and cheaper to air condition, than to heat. Colder climates should always show more energy usage per person than warmer, everything else being equal.