Via Planet Gore, this report on the closing of the last light bulb manufacturing plant in America, courtesy NBC – otherwise known as the “media wing of the parent company”.
Read the background at the link, including this consumer buying habits fact check.
Perhaps Taibbi’s lack of outrage was due to ignorance of basic facts. “Consumers are changing their buying habits on their own,” he tried to explain, claiming that compact fluorescents are now the consumer’s choice of bulb.
No, they aren’t. In fact, 85 percent of light bulbs sold in America are still traditional bulbs. Because they are cheaper. Because CFLs don’t last as long as advertised. And because CFLs are hard to dispose of.
Yup, whenever I pick up a few boxes of incandescents to top up my basement stash, they’re the ones that are nearly sold out.
I know what I need to do this morning … light bulb run … Canadian Tire, Home Hardware … and right after breakfast!
Yes, I always make a point of clearing the shelves of incandescent light bulbs at my local WalMart. I have a nice stash at home now.
93 cents for 4 @ 100 Watts. Let there be light!
I rarely leave the grocery store, WalMart, or Canadian Tire without buying light bulbs. Several years supply boxed up in the basement.
it really is true i went to co op and baught a whole bunch of incandecent bulbs wel i should say what was left of them and right next to them row upon row shelf upon shelf of the “twisty bulbs” . a pack of 4 100 watt “twisty bulbs” was almost 17 buck’s as a posed to 1.99 or something like that for the environmentally freindly incandecent bulb’s .
just weird!!
Of course when China stops making the incandescent bulbs …
Great post! Puts things into perspective.
Through the ages, the Ruling Class has worn many different and wierd hats. Who would have ever thought that weather and climate would be their latest tool.
Perhaps it all started with some wierd, bearded Markist sitting in his tenured University office. Upon hearing someone mutter the phrase
“Everybody talks about, but nobody ever does a thing about the weather.”
He exclaims ‘THATS IT !!!!’. A solution looking for a problem.
Let’s see now. The problem is …. global cooling. No, it’s ozone. No, it’s global warming. No it’s water crisis of some kind – ask Maude or Liz.
There will never be a screwy bulb in our house, we’ll use candles first. Like many others we are stockpiling NORMAL bulbs.
Fat arse Gore, Lizzy May, Maudie Barlow et al can screw their twisties where the sun don’t shine.
The screwy bulbs are very fitting, they match up perfectly with their screwy minds.
Don’t forget the bulbs for the fridge and stove.
I have finally gotten around to reading Atlas Shrugged and this light bulb scenario seems to be right out of the book.
Yep. We’ve been stockpiling incandescents for several years now, since supplies started becoming inconsistent. Mind you, when the bridge tech CFLs finally get replaced with reasonably-priced LED area lighting (another 5 to 10 years, I suspect), I’ll switch happily to the LEDs.
CFLs blow.
Been using the twisty bulbs for years now. I have no problem disposing of them…just drop in trash can. Just picked up a pile of them for $.46 each, I hate changing lightbulbs, so these last a lot longer.
screw the imaginary mercury.
When idiots issue commandments: “Thou shalt keep dozens of fragile containers of mercury vapor in thy home.”
This is one of those issues I’m only annoyed about for the “legislating change” angle. I think that was a really stupid thing to do, given the “hazardous waste” thing–which is, according to the “green” perspective, totally worth the putative consumption beneft. I can’t understand that logic. Even worse, no one is taking up the cause of all the abandoned mercury-filled thermometers in the landfills! The horror!
For myself, my anecdotal evidence supports the claim of lower electricity consumption. I doubt the CFLs will last as long as advertised, but I’m still using, save one bulb that kept flickering on me from the start, the same CFLs I bought when I moved to Calgary over four years ago. Your mileage may vary. I haven’t had to try one outside in -30 weather, though.
I am curious, though, as to where the regular bulbs have been getting made from about 1990 on, whether this “last plant” thing is a legitimate complaint, or if production has been consistently moving off-shore from long before CFLs were being pushed by the green agenda.
I call them “turd bulbs” not “twisty bulbs”.
For me, their principal offence is the oddly ethereal light they give off.
I stayed in a hotel one night where all the lighting was CFL. It made everything seem blanched and pasty. Made me think I was in the German Democratic Republic around 1980. Ugh.
The inventor who comes up with an inexpensive, durable lighting system that emulates the warmth of incandescent bulbs will make a fortune.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has detailed and lengthy instructions on how to safely dispose of compact fluorescents and how to deal with an accidental breakage in your home. You almost need a Haz-Mat team.
Ah yes, they are so environmentally-friendly. Doofus McGuinty has banned the sale of incandescent bulbs in Ontario as of 2012. How long before the health system starts to record a mysterious uptick in cases of mercury poisoning?
Rick, just read the Environment Canada instructions of what to do if you break one the CFLs. We live in a cold climate and the heat from incandescent bulbs is not wasted.
I have not kept an accurate log, but it seems that we are replacing CFLs just about as often as we replace the incandescent ones. So the cost of lighting the home is much greater unless you can find reasonably priced ones. The burnt out CFLs just go in the trash along with the regular bulbs.
The only people making money on the CFL deal are the ones pushing this green agenda. I think we have been had.
Garth may be right. The LEDs might be the answer. Until then, hopefully our supply of incandescent bulbs will last.
Regrettably, that’s not the only light that is going out in America.
I’ve got a half dozen salt lamps in the house. They only work with the heat of incandescent bulbs.
Good thing I’ve got a hoard of incandescents of all types.
I read somewhere that there are vans in the UK going or set to go around with infrared detectors to find energy scofflaws and fine them.
There will be political consequences when people can’t get incandescents anymore and the Irritable Climate Syndrome scam becomes common knowledge.
Inspired by Dave and for Rick (and my own information) CFL cleanups.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/prod/cfl-afc-eng.php#toc5
Tried a couple of the screwy kind … ended up with a couple of short-lived bulbs and one where the base heated up until it smelled like a solder factory in the room. Took a couple of days to clear that odour and half a second to clear those common-sense-benders out of the house.
We’ve been watching the LED lights for a number of years and occasionally invest in one or two. Prices are definitely working their way down and they work all year ’round — even here in northeast Alberta!
Save a Chinaman from mercury poisoning … GO LED!!
From what I understand part of the “safe” disposal of the CFL bulbs includes wrapping the used bulb in layers of newspaper to keep it from breaking.
Like that will do any good when the bulldozer runs over it in the dump.
“The inventor who comes up with an inexpensive, durable lighting system that emulates the warmth of incandescent bulbs will make a fortune.”
Or we could just stick with incandescents as they’re inexpensive, durable and give off a warm light.
Here’s another thought – we could let the market decide. Make and sell incandescent, CFL and LED bulbs and let consumers buy the ones that suit their needs.
Mail all your broken CFL s to fruitfly guy, postage due. Make your problem HIS problem.
“Mail all your broken CFL s to fruitfly guy, postage due. Make your problem HIS problem.”
~eastern paul
Mail them to Jim Prentice, MP.
incandescents work at 50 below and in an oven.
they work on AC which may or may not be undergoing a brownout, they work on DC so in an dire emergency you simply string enough car batteries to get the light level you need.
they work with old fashioned dimmer switches WITHOUT additional cost, they come in a huge variety of wattages from nite lites to flood lites. you can ‘aim’ them by purchasing the spot light type reflector.
they have the required wave length for photography uses, they do NOT pollute once they have given out.
etc etc.
JMHO…They have just made it inconvenient to obtain incandescent bulbs for GENERAL household use. The availability of the incandescent will remain a choice for efficiency & COMFORT…Incandescent work in AC or DC, and are made, simply, across a wide voltage range & physical Shape….100’s of types can be ordered from the web
BTW: Color Temperature has a “Proven” Physiological effect… Most of the mathematical Formulas commonly used may be traced to the “subjectively” (Human JND) developed by German research into Film & Television… If you don’t like the Color Temp, that fact can be reasonably scientifically validated.. YES there is something wrong with the design…
Class Action?
CFL bulbs are a perfect example of how many people in society, cannot wait, literally *cannot wait*, for the government to tell them what to do.
The story of CFL bulbs is as much a story of the psychology of the human species as it is the story of the lousy technology that they represent.
Anyone who has done their homework will know that CFL bulbs are an inferior product, yet remarkably most people happily accept what the government tells them without question.
I think it starts at the school level, where children today are taught *not* to think for themselves, and *not* to question any fact that is presented to them. A society that actually thinks for itself is problematic for a government that wants to rule them, hence it’s best to snuff out free thinking at an early age in the citizenry.
All the great inventions I grew up with – rotary dial phones, eight track tapes, floppy disks – have been uninvented.
I’ve been LED for over a year now. Buy mine on eBay for a reasonable price and have no complaints about the performance or the savings on the energy bill. 🙂
Is this going to bring about an entirely new appreaciation of the term “bulb snatching”?
Is this LED area lighting really gonna happen?
The arrival of LED clearnace/tail lights has resulted in trucks festooned in chicken lights….that many normal tungsten lights would pull as much juice as the starter….
No sign of the promised LED headlights yet….
This reminds me of the 1950s predictions of flying cars…..
Then the california etc emmisions systems which rendered everyday cars into gas guzzlers….
Then the claims that uni-body, front wheel drive, rack and pinion steering were superior…..if you are the car maker…..
What does it take for lefties to relise they have been bamboozled by big business?
andycanuck – thanks for the link. I knew they were trouble (and don’t use them), but I did not realize just how hazardous they are.
I’ve been gathering incandescents the last little while. Time to triple my efforts.
I have enough Incandescents to last a lifetime so I’m fixed there.
I’ll never have to pay the inevitable “green tax” they will have to levy on incandescents for safe disposal of the mercury vapor or for the handling and disposal of the chemicals needed for high output gallium arsenide LED lighting.
I’m guessing the Goracle is invested in the alternate lighting tech he has worked to legislate into mandatory consumption – same as the carbon banking and cap and trade software. What an evil turd!
“Or we could just stick with incandescents as they’re inexpensive, durable and give off a warm light.”
How dare you talk sense on this issue!
Incandescent bulbs have been on sale all month at the local coop….8 for $5.00.
I’ve stocked up.
I bought a bunch of “7 Year Life” flood light CFL’s for my condominium lobby (read: never turn off). I think the Chinese to English translation got messed up. It should have read “7 Month Life”… It’s hard to find the regular ones these days.
I still have incandescent flood lights and bulbs that were installed in 1999(in my condo), that are still going strong!!!
CFL = Crappy Fuddle-duddling Lights
Aside from lasting nowhere near their advertised lifetime, CFL’s have one nasty feature as they are the only widely available consumer product that is prone to catastrophic failure. I’ve now had 3 of these bulbs catch on fire. The fires have been limited to the electronics in the lamp base and a post-mortem disassembly revealed electrolytic capacitor fragments, burned transformers and well charred circuit boards. The fragmentation of the electrolytic capacitors was reminiscent of those that exploded on motherboards 10 years ago when a chicom company messed up on the electrolyte formula and fried an unknown number of motherboards around the world (I lost 2).
I think the best method of disposal of CFL’s is to mail them to Jim Prentice; he wants people to use them and he can get rid of the burned out ones. Also, mailing stuff to the house of commons is postage free.
Contrary to people who don’t like fluorescent lights, I much prefer this light to the red-shifted light of incandescent bulbs and most of my lighting is in the form of fluorescent tubes which, unlike the crappy CFL’s, last for many years. LED’s are very promising but to make them last their rated lifetime they will need a very clean source of power. Nothing fries semiconductors faster than line power spikes; easily handled by incandescent bulbs.
To make CFL’s last longer, I never turn off the fixtures in which CFL’s are installed as power-cycling them drastically reduces their lifespan. Using them creates less heat (although at the risk of greatly more heat if they start a fire) but I suspect never turning them off uses about as much power as if I’d used incandescent lamps. Of the latter, my stockpile is now requiring a lot of storage space and may have to start loading up the garden shed with them.
Well, government by edict is not going to be possible as long as there are people like Kate around to speak out against it.
As they say, you can’t have your Kate and edict too…