“Government did us in,” says Dwayne Madigan, whose job will terminate when General Electric closes its factory next July.
Madigan makes a product that will soon be illegal to sell in the U.S. – a regular incandescent bulb. Two years ago, his employer, GE, lobbied in favor of the law that will outlaw the bulbs.
Madigan’s colleagues, waiting for their evening shift to begin, all know that GE is replacing the incandescents for now with compact fluorescents bulbs, which GE manufactures in China.
GE owns NBC. NBC loves Obama. GE making money off of Obama?
The practical impact will be that over time it will simply contaminate landfills with mercury.
Even hardcore enviromentalists dont like these bulbs, we are being shafted.
Anyone still believes that China invests more money in the US economy, than what US trade deficit with China amounts to?
That would mean one of two things, equally unlikely: that China prints US currency or that China does not invest into any other country, which has trade deficit with them.
Recession in the West is permanent, as long as manufacturing happens in China. How stupid people have to be to not see that behind the smokescreens of global warming, war on terror, war on drugs, illegal immigration etc?
Taxes in the West are beyond prohibitive, business exodus is almost complete, and the public has to be blinded by manufactured crisis after crisis.
Wake up, dudes, you’ve been p3ned!
cant wait to buy contraband bulbs along with smokes at the local reservation.
a pack of players , two packs of 40’s , some hundreds , and toss in a fridge bulb.
thanks buddy.
When our civilization will vanish, the next one will find it lucrative business to mine our landfills.
Due to the simple fact that Canada’s season consist of 9 months of winter, 1 month of summer and 2 months of bad sledding….incandescent bulbs for interior lights is not a problem we need the heat anyhoo….and those twisty things don’t function well or at all for exterior light in cold weather.
Just more BS (bad science) and sillyness.
Besides the old fridgerator in the garage lets me exploit bargains at the grocery store and the surge from the garden.
If anyone really gave a shat about saving power, they’d switch to LED, although it could use some improvement in the color spectrum. I’ve read there are some improvements being made to mimic incandescent light.
I like incandescent light. I’m going to stockpile.
I’ve stockpiled 60, 40 and a few 100 watt lightbulbs – I’m probably good to go for the next 15 years – an most were bought at reduced prices as stores were clearing them out. The CF are awful to read with, and make everyone look like they are on the verge of death (which is the reason they last so long – nobody turns them on!)
What amazes me is that so few seem to care that CFL bulbs produce a vastly inferior light to incandescent bulbs. They are a step backward, not forward, but everyone is blinded “green”.
In addition, if you make use of dimmers in your home, of which we have plenty, energy savings are substantial.
CFL bulbs are one giant scam, and yet somehow people are fooled.
Eljay, I’m with you. I will stockpile. I estimate $2k will get me a 15 year supply for our home.
In addition, if you make use of dimmers in your home, of which we have plenty, energy savings are substantial.
Uhm, I hate to break it to you – but dimmers don’t use less power. They use the same amount of power but deliver to the appliance (ie. bulb) by varying electrical resistance.
I=V/R
Wind farms cause tornadoes !
Albert Gore ducks bet wager, puts money in pocket instead of where his mouth is.
Dimmers do not vary electrical resistance.
I don’t want to use the “b” word, but I will say that no one is forcing anybody to buy GE products. Granted, GE products are pretty hard to avoid though.
Another solution is to stockpile now, and start bootlegging incandescent bulbs later.
Bear, dimmers on AC circuits don’t simply put a resistance in series with the lamp. They contain a semiconductor switch called a Triac. The dimmer knob operates a potentiometer which controls the voltage level at which the Triac “turns on”.
If the Triac is biased for a low turn-on voltage, practically the entire AC cycle is passed to the lamp, and it burns at full brilliance. As the bias voltage requirement is increased, the lamps “sees” progressively narrower slices of the AC cycle, centered on the peaks.
Power losses in these devices are very low, not zero, but very low.
How long until we go with LED’s? India from what I hear is heading in that direction instead of twisty bulbs.
“What amazes me is that so few seem to care that CFL bulbs produce a vastly inferior light to incandescent bulbs.” —
I do — and I did not realize that stores were clearing them out since I have not had to buy bulbs for a while (already stockpiled) — I am going to stockpile more and quickly!
Installed fluorescent bulbs in the house 6 years ago, when we moved in. Never replaced a single one of them, except for the very 1st one, by GE, which I bought years ago for the apartment. It kind of lost its capacity gradually. My friends are amazed with how little it costs me in Hydro bill.
I am just mentioning that to keep debate balanced.
No complaints about the light quality too – we are probably a non-sensitive bunch.
But yes, I am concerned where will all that mercury go in the end. Fear it will be the ocean.
Bear you are quite wrong, as others have pointed out.
Dimmers can save a substantial amount of electrical power. There are often times where I don’t need lights on full bright, but I still want some lighting, and a dimmer does the trick.
Also, dimming an incandescent bulb increases its lifespan quite substantially.
In addition to their poor light qualities, I find CFL bulbs useless for room-level architectural lighting. You cannot focus the light from the bulbs.
The actions of General Electric typify the rent-seeking whore image described by Milton Friedman as businessmen (along with academics) as the two biggest threats to capitalism. The worst thing one could do to the current mind-set of GE would be to inflict laissez faire on them. And they are not alone.
Forgot to mention that GE Lighting are all union shops. Think that may have some bearing on the business decision to re-locate to China?
I have boxes of incandescents. Lurking.
I will not sell for a reasonable amount.
Maybe I should learn how to make them. Can it be harder than making beer?
ron in kelowna,
The Goreacle is the master of avoiding accountability for his assertions. Has he responded yet to Lord Monckton?
http://www.ewire.com/display.cfm/Wire_ID/3765
Everyone needs to contact GE and let them know what you think of this tragedy. Only by putting pressure ont them, tea party style, will they ever think twice about this in the future.
Posted by: Aaron at August 31, 2009 12:48 PM
I tried those as well, most burnt out within six months at five bucks a pop. We just turn off the lights when we aren’t in the room. Put my light bill up against yours any day!
You are supposed to wait 10 min before turning them on once turned off, if you do that they will last the 10,000 hrs or whatever. Almost imposible to do, I dont consider that normal usage
The stupid Feds jumped on the bulb bandwagon taking the econuts word they save money they don’t. Two decades from now we’ll all be experiencing strange deseases caused by Mercury exposer and low light levels.
Dimmers do not vary electrical resistance.
Posted by: Vitruvius at August 31, 2009 11:39 AM
You mean modern dimmers do not vary electrical resistance.
I seem to recall using a giant variable resistor for dimming a spotlight in high school. Good times.
Seems like a lot of people have a bone to pick about this CFL issue.
Get on the blower and call you $#@#@$% MP… send him emails and get the this point across.
CFL Bulbs are a scam and only fools and ignoramuses believe that these things are a solution to any sort of problem. Other than providing UV for grow-ops …. and then why use the mini-lamps?
PS … I’m stocking up.
With hundreds of dollars invested in fixtures and controls that do not work with CFLs…..
I buy a package of bulbs every time I go to the store. Make the wife do it too.
Just might go to a wholesaler and buy a crate full.
And for the record … to the person who suggested that LEDs are a solution …. they are not and there is NO way to get over the monochromatic nature of these lights. The only thing LEDs are good for is marker lights and indicators.
Florescent bulbs suck for reading and daily use, but are a good back up low energy bulb for emergency uses.
Buy 220v incandescent bulbs from Europe when you can, they screw into the North American sockets and will last 10 times longer on the 110v circuits.
🙂
Bob, I did not know that I had to wait for 10 sec. Still, 6 years and counting, every one of 25 bulbs that we use around the house. 2 bulbs are incandescent in the spots we don’t use for too long, like laundry room and stairwell. They are lasting just as long.
I have a life supply of candescent bulbs to last out the green fascist movement. I have lots of carbon emitting candles as well. I’m set – that is, unless I get ratted out by a friend or neighbour.
Orwell was a prophet.
I’m not a good Christian, or as my late Dad used to say, I’m a “poor Christer.” But I have extensive mechanical and electrical experience. Our local church asked that I help them replace the old incandescent bulbs with the new corkscrews.
Some of the old bulbs we relaced on the 30 foot ceiling were dated with a black marker, “Jan. 87.” Others were newer.
A year after the fact, we’ve replaced 3 of the 12 corkscrews. (Sylvannia.) Note that we’re using 150 watt equivalent. At $7.99 a piece, how much did we save?? Zero!
Ps: If you want a really good “Edison” bulb, buy a traffic light bulb. They can’t use the corkscrews in stop lights, because they’re much too slow igniting.
If you have >12′ ceilings you can’t go wrong with metal halide in terms of efficiency and light quality.
Also, as a bonus, you have the option of farming indoors if you choose. That’s pretty green isn’t it? 😉
PS: traffic lamp bulbs come in odd wattages. Ex: 90 or 120 watts. I’ve seen 67 watts and 69 watts as well. You can easily tell a traffic light bulb –the filament is mounted vertically instead of horizontally. They last forever!!
The incandescent lamp will still be available in 2050.. as long as the price is economical. The domestic lighting market is not the only game in town for the incandescent bulb…
LED: It is not that long ago that the bonding between glass & metal was flawed resulting in premature failure.. If they can deliver “White Light” at a competive price & with increased reliability.. I buy