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Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Outcandescent Bulbs


After a good run of 125 years, incandescent bulbs are to be phased out in Australia over the next three years. Incandescent bulbs remain very inefficient, converting only about 5 per cent of the energy they produce into light.

Today's compact fluorescent lights last up to 6000 hours — or four to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs — and use about 80 per cent less electricity. They are significantly more expensive, which is the rub.

According to the Government, phasing out incandescent globes over the next three years could save about 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year by 2012 and as much as 4 million tonnes in 2015.

Hopefully we won't end up with old people going back to candles to avoid the large capital cost of converting fixtures. We just did three of our rooms, which worked out to be $50 per fixture, rather than $5.

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