It's not light bulbs, it's energy consumption, and of course by association - greenhouse gas emissions. Cuba actually led the charge by banning the sale and import of incandescent in 1995. Brazil and Venezuela also started to phase them out in 2005, and the European Union, Switzerland and Australia started to phase them out in 2009. Argentina, Russia and Canada are all planning phase-outs by 2012, and Malaysia is slated for 2014. The United States isn't technically phasing out incandescent light bulbs, but has set minimum efficiency standards for lighting which de facto get rid of most current incandescent designs. These minimum standards in the US will phase in between 2012 and 2014.
Next will be the flat panel television screens, as
evidenced by California statues which require most television sets sold in California consume 33 percent less electricity by 2011 and 49 percent less by 2013.
“Californians buy four million televisions each year, and they deserve the most energy-efficient models available,” said Karen Douglas, who heads the energy commission, the primary energy policy and planning agency.
Deserve, I tell you. They
deserve it. Whether they want it or not, they
deserve it.
“It’s going to dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions from appliances that people use every day and they still get to watch TV,” said Matthew Lewis, spokesman for ClimateWorks, an energy and climate change policy foundation.
Yay, "they still get to watch TV."
On the other hand,
while the rest of the country has increased its per capita electricity consumption by 40 percent over the last three decades, California’s consumption has remained flat, leading some environmentalists to view the state as a model for the rest of the nation. So there's that.
Flat panel TVs and incandescent light bulbs. You'd think they learned a thing or two from the feel-good, good-intentioned legislation of the
Great Toilet Fiasco of 1995, where all homes would use low-flow toilets and flow-restricting shower heads, which of course, would save just buckets full of water. Well, now that all toilets in the U.S. flush with no more than 1.6 gallons of water, a University of Arizona study showed that people just flush twice, using the same or more water than before. And we all know about the truckstop covert shower head replacement campaign that has rendered useless any water savings the low-flow shower heads might provide.
CFL bulbs use less energy, right? If everyone uses CFL bulbs, energy consumption will drop, right. Well, yes and now. CFL bulbs cost three times more to produce, take more energy to manufacture and 80 percent of them are made in China, meaning they are shipped across the globe on oil-guzzling tanker ships. Awesome.
Making matters worse, CFL bulbs contain mercury and are considered an environmental hazard to homes and businesses. The U.S. Environment Protection Agency offers guidelines on how to clean up broken CFL bulbs. The guidelines are three-pages long and, according to the EPA Website, will be updated as more information becomes available.
According to the EPA, the
minimum actions that should be taken once a CFL bulb is broken include: open doors and windows for 5-10 minutes, shut off the air conditioner or heater, scoop up broken material and place it in a glass container with a metal lid (like a Ball jar), use duct tape to clean up the remaining particles and put the used duct tape in a glass jar with a metal lid. If you vacuum the area, you must remove the vacuum bag when you are done, put it in a sealed plastic bag and get it out of your house. Rubber or latex gloves and a respirator should be worn at all times while cleaning the effected area.
You should let the house air out, without the AC or heater going, for “several hours.” The next "several times" you vacuum the area, you again should don gloves and a respirator and open windows and doors for "several hours", turn off the AC and heater and seal the vacuum bag in a plastic bag. Most states, the EPA says, have specific guideline for where you must go to dispose of the sealed plastic bags and glass jars with metal lids.
