Incandescent light bulbs get the ax in China

[one...two...tree 2,762]

China, following similar action by the United States and Europe, announced it will eliminate incandescent light bulbs over the next five years. It’s a move that will not only help cut greenhouse gas emissions in the polluted nation, but could have a dramatic effect on the global energy efficiency lighting market as well.

The government will ban imports and sales of 100-watt and higher incandescent bulbs beginning Oct. 1, 2012, the Associated Press reported. The ban will be extended to 60-watt and higher bulbs beginning Oct. 1, 2014 and to 15-watt and higher bulbs in 2016.

China is one of the largest producers of incandescent light bulbs in the world, one-third of which are used domestically. And lighting is estimated to account for some 12 percent of China’s total electricity use. Meaning, by the cutting out incandescent light bulbs, China will save 48 billion kilowatt hours of power a year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 48 million tons, according to the AP.

Of course, there’s the market impact as well. Chinese households will have to buy energy efficiency bulbs, meaning a huge opportunity for lighting companies, especially those that already have manufacturing facilities there.

[via: Associated Press]

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Global warming is a hoax but even at that I am a cheapskate when I can be and incandescent bulbs would be way too expensive if they were FREE. The new CFLs are much improved from the old ones and cheaper. I expect the LEDs to phase those out and probably something better shortly after that. I have no more incadescents in my house and have not for a few years. CFLs perform poorly in cold weather so try Metal Halide lamps for outdoor lighting.

Incandescents now have very limited practical uses. Some I can think of are for museum display lighting or art display lighting or theatre lighting where one can get much better control of the focus and color rendition. Incandescents can add a brillance to some objects that CFLs cannot match. I look for LEDs to replace that purpose.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Steven supports commies? Who knew? Oh wait. We all did. Never mind.

[Ban Hammer 13,502]

so what - they produce fluorescent bulbs too.

[luckytxn 2,265]

Doesn't surprise me at all that the U.S. is also banning them and mandating what we can buy and use. Good enough for communist China good enough for us.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Doesn't surprise me at all that the U.S. is also banning them and mandating what we can buy and use. Good enough for communist China good enough for us.

I personally think incandescent bulbs still have a purpose in the market. Despite being more expensive energy-wise they still have their uses. Not happy about forced removal.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Doesn't surprise me at all that the U.S. is also banning them and mandating what we can buy and use. Good enough for communist China good enough for us.

I am against mandates myself. But I am also not stupid. I use CFLs because it is stupid not to.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I personally think incandescent bulbs still have a purpose in the market. Despite being more expensive energy-wise they still have their uses. Not happy about forced removal.

There uses in residential applications (where they are the BEST choice) are very few.

If you have some artwork you want to highlight , then yes, incandescents, most likely the quartz variety, will do that best. For about anything else the CFL or another type of lamp (high pressure sodium or metal halide) will be better, cheaper and last a whole lot longer.

Incandescents also work well with dimmers and CFLs not so much. But dimmers are really kind of silly anyway. As they are nothing more than variable resistors the merely hold back current and deposit it in a heat sink, reducing the light output but not changing the energy consumption. At 7 lumens per watt, incandescents are already abysmally inefficient and you want to make them worse?

Candlelight is better.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

There uses in residential applications (where they are the BEST choice) are very few.

If you have some artwork you want to highlight , then yes, incandescents, most likely the quartz variety, will do that best. For about anything else the CFL or another type of lamp (high pressure sodium or metal halide) will be better, cheaper and last a whole lot longer.

Incandescents also work well with dimmers and CFLs not so much. But dimmers are really kind of silly anyway. As they are nothing more than variable resistors the merely hold back current and deposit it in a heat sink, reducing the light output but not changing the energy consumption. At 7 lumens per watt, incandescents are already abysmally inefficient and you want to make them worse?

Candlelight is better.

For artwork, Halogens are still pretty standard (in the MR16 size), though I've started to see warmer LED MR16s in the last two years. What i'm talking about are specialized fixtures where the bulbs themselves are the focal point. IE with a cafe that has say more of an industrial look, its nice to see those larger bulbs that show off the glowing filament from a purely aesthetic point of view.

[Kang 22]

Global warming is not a hoax. The source of greenhouse effect id what is in question . Even astronomers could not deternine if it is the fault of humans or nature. You see volcanoes do emit lots of carbon dioxide. Our atmosphere naturally traps infrared therefore hearing the earth. If someone comes up with a definite answer in what causes global warming take it with a grain of salt