The Nanny State vs. Light Bulbs, EuroVision 75(watt) Version

Via Instapundit comes this UK report of Europeans "panic buying" incandescent light bulbs before the ban on 75-watters goes into effect (last year, 100 watt jobs were pulled from the market).

The panic buying of light bulbs is expected to get worse when 60W bulbs are banned next year and all incandescent bulbs are phased out by 2012.

Incandescent light bulbs are being phased out in order to meet the EU's ambitious climate change targets to cut greenhouse gases by 20 per cent by 2020.

More here.

And in the spirit of recycling and keeping carbon footprints tinier than a Chinese courtesan's, take a look at last year's Reason.tv extravaganza, "Light Bulbs vs. The Nanny State," two minutes of warm, glowing analysis on the control freaks who have decreed, "Let there be less light":

Comments

[SugarFree]

Panic buying is stimulating.

[fresnodan]

First they came for the 150 watt bulbs, and I said nothing.
Than they came for the 100 watt bulbs, and I said nothing.
and finally, when they came for me, the dimest bulb, there was no one left to see where the f*ck they were going.

[-]

Is the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 still in effect? When should I start my own 100-watt stash? Too early?

[Madbiker]

It's never too soon. Think of the black market profits you could make.

[Seward]

FYI: Increasing efficiency does not lead to decreases in energy consumption.

[wylie]

Your maths intrigue and mystify me.

[Carol Browner]

Heretic!

[John]

That whole marginal cost thing is just racist.

[John]

The lights are going out in Europe and may not light again in our lifetime. Environmentalism is the new fascism.

[-]

That settles it. I'm becoming a hoarder. My dream is to get a feature on the TV show, but my cats and newspapers will be 100-watt bulbs. Mountains of them! Am I insane? Or just a "collector?"

[John]

It will be all fun and games until the SWAT team shows up and shoots your pets in a no knock raid of your illegal light bulb cash.

[-]

As long as the cameras are there, it'll be worth it!

[Sam Grove]

It's "cache", not cash"".

[Chad]

Fuck you, John. People are going to die if we don't force the use of energy-efficient light bulbs.

[Mr Whipple]

So, when are they going to ban kerosene and gas lamps? Candles?

[wylie]

2015, 2016, and 2027, respectively.

[wylie]

Glad that govts have decided to phase out the incandescents before LEDs have filled the niche.

But hey, we all dispose of our mercury bulbs properly, don't we? *crickets*

[Corduroy]

Hey, metal halides are more efficient than LEDs. That is, if you don't mind having a 1000W bulb glaring down on you while you take your midnight crap.

[Matt]

Uhh, what? Try touching a MH vs an LED while in use and then tell me which is more efficient!

[Corduroy]

It's true. Typical metal halides perform from 85 to 115 lumens per watt. LEDs currently on the market are at about 60 lumens per watt. Prototype LEDs have performed all the way up to 200 lumens per watt but have not made it to production.

The heat you're feeling is the radiant transfer from the metal halide filament to the casing. An LED that put out as much light as a 1000W metal halide would heat the casing just as much.

[SugarFree]

That is, if you don't mind having a 1000W bulb glaring down on you while you take your midnight crap.

Does little baby need a light on while he makes nighty-night poopy?

Shit in the dark like a man.

[Ska]

Famous last words said to several of Steve Smith's victims.

[SugarFree]

Thinking that Steve Smith is afraid of light or fire is a mistake many prolapsed anuses have made.

[Corduroy]

Spiders. I hate spiders. And clowns.

[SugarFree]

Clown Spider

[Mike Spinney]

Incandescent or CFLs: won't matter once our national power grid fails. I think I'll stock up on candles - unless burning wicks have already been outlawed due to the production of carbon dioxide and other resulting pollutants.

[wylie]

outlawed due to the production of carbon dioxide and other resulting pollutants.

Bzzzt, wrong. Survey says: candles will be outlawed for fire safety reasons.

[-]

Or tainted wax.

[-]

...or waxed taint.

[Mike Spinney]

Oh, snap.

[Mike Spinney]

How did we ever make it out of the Dark Ages?

[Pip]

I burn tea candles every evening in my dining room. You can get a box of 100 for abot $5 at Target. They burn for about four hours.

[Slut Bunwalla]

No homo, though, right?

[Rich]

Shouldn't we mandate the use of incandescent lights in cold weather? You know, for increased heating efficiency?

[I am not the government's ATM]

Several cities replaced incandescent traffic signal lamps with LED's and soon found that snow accumulated in the niches and rendered the signals useless. No one thought about the heat from the incandescent lamps effectively melting the snow.

[Bill]

That's good news. Who knew this was also a stimulus bill? Now this will create jobs for traffic light cleaners who can be on call 24 hrs. a day in the winter to melt the snow from the signal lights.

[Thom]

Of course they will become unionized and demand not that they be on call employees, but that they work in three shifts, 365 days per year. It will be spun as a public safety issue.

[Tulpa]

There's a new invention called a space heater, and you don't have to have it turned on whenever you need light.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm suspending a miniature sun in my living room. Full spectrum lighting, helps me and my family generate vitamin D. Can't beat that!

[-]

Fluorescent or incandescent? They're great for indoor plants as well.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm fusing hydrogen atoms.

[SugarFree]

And you could get some fresh neutrinos for once. Neutrinos go stale faster than hippie bread.

[Pro Libertate]

You're always quick on the uptake, SugarFree. We're selling neutrinos on eBay.

[SugarFree]

Just be careful. Left-handed neutrinos are legal everywhere, but the laws on right-handed ones are a mis-mash at the state level.

[Pro Libertate]

Nah, neutrinos are easy to hide. And to ship. Not my problem if people at the other end can't catch them. That's why I collect payment in advance.

[SugarFree]

Just like you to not care if people have a light-year of lead to catch your neutrinos.

Heartless capitalist monocloid.

[Pro Libertate]

Lead? Look, I'm not Margaret Mead. I can't waste my time catering to primitives who are so coarse as to use matter to stop neutrinos.

[SugarFree]

Magnetic bottle elitist!

[Pro Libertate]

Magnetic bottles? Ha!

[SugarFree]

Go back to Pottery Barn, Nancy.

[Pro Libertate]

Sorry, my minisun is flaring. Must raise the radiation shield.

[Pink Floyd]

Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun.

Let There Be More Light.

[Bill]

Sorry, that has been phased out as well. Big fines if you are caught. Where do you live again?

[Vee Moo]

LOL, NEver quite thought of it that way before. Makes sense.

online-privacy.it.tc

[Shits and Giggles]

Go to your Lowes, Home Depot etc... and accidentally on purpose drop a CFL on the ground then watch for the HAZMAT team to clean it up.

Fucking dimwit enviromentals are going to be the death of civilization!

[Mr. FIFY]

Better yet, do that at a public school. They flip the fuck out and herd the kids to the doors like there was a hurricane roaming the hallways.

[Mr Whipple]

They should at least give people a choice. If you wish to use incandescents, you should have to peddle a stationary bike connected to an electrical generator to make up the difference.

[Bill]

Nope. Produces more CO2.

[Duracomm]

Did anybody else notice this rage inducing quote from the article

Jurgen Sturm, general-secretary of the European Lamp Companies Federation, insisted that the energy saving alternatives not only last longer and save money in the long run, but will improve in quality and range over the next few years.

Translation.
We know the light bulbs we are forcing you to buy are crap but they might improve in the future.

And it gets better.

Members of the lamp companies probably worked with the bureaucrats to ban the cheap, effective lightbulbs.

Because the lamp makers make more money on the crappy substitutes nobody bought until the competition was banned.

[R C Dean]

will improve in quality and range over the next few years

I'm sure they will. Nothing motivates companies to invest in R & D and innovation like having the state ban their competition.

[JJ]

Hopefully there will be competition between the makers of the new lamps. All we can hope for.

[Neu Mejican]

A subtle form of Luddite bias against new technology?

[SugarFree]

Maybe it's a simple preference for the light quality of incandescents. I know if I was being forced to buy a product of lower quality for more money by legislative fiat, I'd definitely stock up on my preferred model. And have. I spend enough time under fluorescents. I don't want to have to come home to the damn things too.

[Pro Libertate]

My mind is oscillating in time with the fluorescent lighting at work.

[TrickyVic]

If the freedom to choose can be applied to terminating a pregnancy, why can't it apply to lightbulbs?

[Suprashoesweb]

Supra Cruizer
Supra TK Society

[Simon]

LED lights are becoming more and more popular in the market.
LED High Bay Lights
LED High Bay