European Union bans conventional light bulb

Awesome, true progress! The United States needs this type of legislation.

Wow, way to go Europe. (:
I swear that continent will save this world.

I don't like that they have to make people do anything but I think it may come to good ends. I would like to see people using LED lights more but on there own not by the hand of there government.

Makes sense to me.

When we banned leaded gasoline I'm sure there were a few holdouts who insisted it was "out of control government runing our lives." -- but we all seem to have adjusted to the change just fine.

Same with lead paint.

Same with absestos.

Same with DDT.

I don't think anyone can really make the arguement that lives would have been improved if we still used leaded gas, used lead-based paint, and sprayed all our fruits and vegetables with a highly toxic carcenogenic.

I wish they'd ban conventional light bulbs here too.

Think how much energy we could save.

they're not making them do anything...they're just banning products that aren't "safe" for us just as the FDA does with prescription drugs, etc.

Every day the case becomes better for moving to Europe. They actually regulate anti-trust laws, make companies prove their products are safe before they are allowed to sell them, have better health care, shorter work weeks/hours and every day are becoming more environmentally green. Sadly we still have a lot to learn.

There IS a mecury problem with these energy efficent bulbs.

Please don't eat more than 4-5 of them a day.

;-)

i like the energy efficient ones better anyway. They take time to warm up which makes them perfect for when u just wake up an feel like dracula.

Awesome! we need to do this in the US.

the next step is banning the sale of spray deodorants and only selling the roll-on ones.

well, that´s just my opinion...

I hate the type of light that fluorescent light bulbs give off, even though it has been improved over the past several years.

I'll be sad to see traditional light bulbs go away, but we all need to do what we can to stop the energy crisis.

Yay Mercury!

Well I'm glad somebody finally put their foot down about this.

Ironically, the idea to ban the conventional light bulb, was thought of when a conventional light bulb appeared over an EU magistrates head.

The U.S. Congress passed legislation a few months ago that bans the selling of conventional light bulbs by the year 2012. We were technically first to come up with this type of legislation, but their is taking effect before ours. You people should watch the news more often and be thankful for the Democratic majority in Congress.

I agree that no one wants to told what to do, but in a generation people will not even think twice once it's off the market... I don't mean to sound like a totalitarian hippy, but I say mandatory recycling next!

this is good except for the people who can't afford them

Arent the new ones like more expensive, than the regular ones? Anyway even though I like using things that are eco-friendly, I hate being forced to do anything.

I suppose all of you people who are afraid of being "forced" to change your light bulbs are extremely angry that you are being "forced" not to speed in your car. Being "forced" not to drive drunk. Being "forced" not to dump toxic chemicals into a river. Here's a quick civics lesson. We have laws. They help us to live in harmony together. We create them together as a society to decide what is best. If you don't like it, run for office, support someone who is, or stop complaining about it. Besides - why are you all so obsessed with old, stupid light bulbs anyway? I don't know about you, but I have no strong connection or relationship with any light bulbs, new or old. If you consider yourself an environmentalist in the "least" you should applaud this legislation. There is nothing forceful about it - and in the SHORT-run, it will save you money. These bulbs last YEARS longer and use WAY LESS electricity.

Let me shed some light on the issue… LED vs. CFL vs. Incandescent

The incandescent bulb is a dinosaur. Really the only thing it has going for it, in comparison to the two other options, is that the upfront price of an individual bulb is still comparatively low.

The LED bulb offers a lifespan of 60,000 hours versus the CFL’s 10,000 hours and the incandescent bulb’s 1,500 hours. So considering the LED bulb’s low energy expenditure, the cost (over its lifespan) is significantly lower than either of the other bulbs.

The LED is equipped with the longest lifespan, for all you energy-using phobes and there are no mercury issues, for all you toxic waste phobes. But the LED does have a little drawback. It features a very direct field of light, so standard floor and table lamps equipped with an LED offer streams of light aimed at the ceiling, which may not help with that book you're reading.

For those of you concerned about affordability, the cost of a new LED bulb is higher upfront compared to the other two options but over the life of an LED you are going to see savings. For example, when you compare LED and CFL bulbs at a standard $0.10 rate, you would save about $11 over 60,000 hours. If energy costs are at a higher $0.33 rate, then the savings jumps to $120 over the life of an LED.

So convert and go buy an LED and be cool like the Europeans.

I heard seafood has mercury aswell. I wonder how much it has though.

One-hundred years later, Tesla finally wins his rivalry with Edison. Haha!

I don't disagree something needs to be done - but what about the Mercury present in CFLs? In an ideal world, yes, we would recycle our CFLs, but it's not going to happen in the real world. What about LEDs?

sounds like europe for sure. but why would america ever want to be like those people? I mean seriously? recycle? conserve? save? these arent part of the AMERICAN language

Europe is kinda being smarter than the US with alot pf energy problems. Lets just hope that the trend spreads this way in legislation. I just recently changed out all my incandecent bulbs with flourecent ones and I think that was a good move on my part. What is the proper way to get rid of all these old light bulbs I have left over anyway? I mean I dont want to just throw them away, that sounds totally like an un-green thing to do, hehe... ah well


p.s. MRSsmithers, Big Oil does not need a blessing, I hope thats a joke. Your outlook is completely biased,its time to stop being superman and actually start getting involved with other people to really move forward in this "game" that WE ARE ALL PLAYING!!! I really hope that you only talk to people online cuz you are just embarassingly ignorant and single minded. Your brain is more of a BOS instead of a BIOS, yeah?

You have a strong argument, in some sense, but I dont think that that big dirty oil rig is anything to be proud of. Serioulsy, you may make alot of money off that black gold, and whoever else does too, but it wont hurt anything to learn and try new ides that are cleaner. If all this oil keeps being burned, its seriously gonna screw us all dude. c'mon start thinking about whatt going to happen in the future instead of what is happening now - because thats what we can change. Mabey your brain has slipped out of your head from all that oil-lube

Smithers, Scottish, you're both right.

Oil is what made America rich and gave it leverage to help the rest of the world.

But also, recognize that finding cleaner, more efficient sources of energy can only help us.

oil isn't really used to make electricity. that would be coal.

i think its better because now goverments are actually guiding us and forcing us to be green now they just need to cell water and fried used oil at stations and give us the products we need