Here's a perfect example of what Britain has become. In the United States, Congress passed a law effectively banning 100 watt incandescent light bulbs. The result was bellowing outrage by the public, demands for the laws repeal, actual repeal bills in the House, stockpiling of the threatened bulbs and work-arounds by at least one state to allow their continued manufacture and sale. Odds are, this is a ban that could well go the way of metrification and the 55 mph speed limit; both of which were given the two-finger salute by the people and promptly died.In Britain? The once-rulers of a mighty empire, architects of the Industrial Revolution and co-inventors of the incandescent lamp face an absolute ban on 60 watt bulbs thanks to a decree from their unelected masters in Brussels–and decide to just sit in the dark.
At least, that's what the BBC claims and given that half of what the BBC reports is wishful thinking from the Inner Party, you can take it for what it's worth. Mind you, a meekly submissive populace as the desired goal of the Political Class, of which the BBC is a major player, is bad enough even if it isn't true.
7 comments:
If there is will, there is way.
In Finland, the incandescent lamps can perfectly well be sold as "heating elements" if the words "lamp" or "illumination" are not mentioned. After all, they convert 95% of the input energy into heat.
All in all, the incandescent light bulb is one of those gadgets I really will not be missing any more than I miss Windows 95. I wish they could be phased out ASAP. They are fragile, break easily, are horribly inefficient, create waste heat and their spectrum leaves much to be desired.
Ironmistress;
The same holds true for the new CFBs, except that they are also more expensive, and contain an average of 2mg of mercury each. Which is a lot of Hg, actually.
Here in Ohio, if one breaks, you are supposed to call HazMat. As for disposal (and their service life is slightly less than an IB in normal use cycles), you are supposed to deliver it to a licensed Hg disposal unit.
We have exactly one around here. It is at the local hospital, and is tasked with handling Hg from medical sources, notably X-ray development. Asking them to also handle an influx of CFBs every day is a good way to overload the system.
Most people just toss the dead CFBs in the trash, the same as they do IBs. This means they end up in an incinerator (putting gaseous Hg in the air) or a landfill (putting Hg into the soil and ground water). As someone who has dealt with the stuff in the lab, neither one sounds too great to me.
The CFB is a classic example of an answer to a question nobody asked. The deep-ecos' enthusiasm for it says a great deal about their ignorance of science and their fanaticism about their Utopian dreams, but doesn't speak well of their common sense.
cheers
eon
Hey, if I'm going to have to use those ridiculous curlybulbs, does that mean I can have my mercury batteries back?
Here in Finland, each and every retailer is compelled to receive and collect the used and broken curlybulbs from consumers. They are then collected and delivered to toxic waste processing center in Riihimäki. The processing costs are included in the bulb price.
The whole issue boils down as a question of organizing things.
But perhaps actually compelling the capitalist to do something which is beneficial to the whole society but what he would not voluntarily do is socialism.
Ironmistress;
It would be more accurate to say that what can be made to work on the small scale is difficult to duplicate on a large scale.
Finland is about the size of California with about the population of Minnesota. Ohio is about one-fifth the size of Finland geographically, but twice the population.
Now imagine trying to get 11 million people all to agree to do the same thing.
No, I can't imagine it either.
cheers
eon
Hm, inconvenient, expensive, highly toxic, and produces ghastly-colored light that makes turning in at sundown sound like not such a bad plan. Sounds great---where can I get me some?
If this ridiculous law isn't thrown in the trash where it belongs, I hope Heat Bulbs catch on in this country.
Our political masters here in Australia banned the old-fashioned light bulb a couple of years ago. All you can find in that style now are 4ow and less (seems they haven't figured out a way to make those in the new -alluring-mercury style yet), anything over that is all new-school. It all went ahead without a whimper - a few of us complained via letters to the news and our fairly elected representitives but alas - our masters knew better....and yes, the light quality is terrible. Talk about keeping us in the dark!
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