Farewell to 60 watt bulbs – are you sad to see them go?

You are right about fluorescent tubes, Richard, and the earlier ones often contained much more mercury than CFLs. Thermometers and barometers contained very much more and although the use of mercury has been phased out, there are plenty of these in homes. The thing we should be more worried about is mercury (actually organomercury compounds) in fish. This is why we are advised to restrict our intake of oily fish.

Before we had dimmers, the way of dimming room lighting was to use table lights and/or standard lights instead of the ceiling light. This still works and it is not necessary to have dimmable CFLs or LED lights.

Phasing out of old fashioned incandescent bulbs is helping to increase the variety of LED lamps available and decrease prices. There is still a need for a sensibly priced replacement for 100 watt bulbs but hopefully this will be available soon. Many are discovering that halogen bulbs are expensive, both in replacement and running cost – as you have said.

The fact that new reserves have been found does not mean they are infinite. Whereas it is doubtless a good thing that we might have access to more oil than was originally thought, that shouldn’t mean we should be profligate with the stuff.

There are other consequences of profligacy apart from consumption; the fact that we in the western world have access to as much food as we can eat, does not mean we should all be gluttons.

I agree with Richard. Oil is an important raw material for producing thousands of chemicals, plastics and many other products that we use. We should attempt to conserve oil (and coal) for use by future generations. Generating electricity creates pollution and other environmental damage. I cannot believe how wasteful we have become in the western world, during my lifetime.

There are different concerns about GM crops. Unfortunately the general public do not have the knowledge to understand the science and often regard all GM crops in the same way. The best way forward seems to be to focus on gaining acceptance for the least controversial examples, such as Golden Rice.

In the late 70s and early 80s there was a lot of concern about genetically manipulated bacteria. That is history and GM bacteria and yeast are widely used to make pharmaceuticals and other products. There are procedures for containment but no-one worries about these GM microorganisms now. It means that diabetics can have ‘human’ insulin without the need for human tissues. I still have reservations about the use certain GM plants, until risks are properly evaluated.

In the same way that GM products are becoming accepted, many are now happy with their energy saving light bulbs. One of my friends who was vehemently opposed to them only two years ago is now trying to persuade others of their advantages.

Somewhat off topic, I know, but appropos land use and running out of it – there is no danger of that; we’ll run out of food and energy long before we run out of land. I have just returned from Canada whose population is around half that of the UK, but whose land area is over 40 times as great. You could fit the whole population of the UK onto Vancouver Island (that small-looking island to the west of Vancouver) and the population density would only be slightly greater than we now enjoy in the UK.

There is plenty of land to go round – although politicians are always fighting over the best bits, rather than getting on making the best of what there is. As Wildberry remarks, Africa should be the richest continent in the world, but the gross ineptitude of the rulers of the various countries has made sure that they are in poverty.

The views form the extremes of both sides should always be viewed with skepticism. Converts are often the worst when they “see the light”.

Oil is a finite resource. It has run out many times in the past and has been found again either when economics made it profitable to recover or technology made a previously unusable resource recoverable. Once exhausted those easily recovered deposits don’t magically recover they are gone.

I’m not in the doom and gloom camp but I would warn anyone who thinks that there isn’t a problem of energy supply looming just to remember that for a couple of months up till Christmas life for turkeys just keeps on getting better.

George Monbiot’s piece on Peak Oil being wrong is even more scary than the risks of Peak Oil occuring. Anyone for turkey?

there are turkeys on both sides. like I said I am not in the doom and gloom camp. I believe that we will solve the double electron capture problem and make efficient PV cells that are more like plant leaves than the rubbish that is currently being installed and subsidised by the rest of us. Similarly I expect we will find ways to double the efficiency of LEDs and flourescent tubes.

but where I am concerned is that no one knows the timescales necessary to solve those problems So this turkey is going to vote for less food now and Christmas next year or better still a long way in the future. .

Oh if you want to worry about resources you need look no further than the rare earths. Plenty of worry and fear there to keep the column inches in the grauniad filled. Probably the only reason why they don’t occupy a more central space is that the level of scientific literacy in old blight is rather low and their significance as a resource is thus lost. Everyone knows that oil is important.

China has what I believe to be the best rare earth resources at the moment. but with prices rising it will be like “peak oil” all over again. There is a real issue behind resource use but the media will ahve us fretting over the wrong issue. Insteead of the right one which is that using a resource slowly means that it stays cheaper longer and lasts longer. Cost here isn’t just hte ££ price but includes the incalculables like environmental cost which other than they do exist are beyond our economic and political systems to measure in any useful way.

I am pretty down on the public understanding of science and math. There is plenty of good ballanced reporting out there but you have to hunt for it and keep your brain turned on to make sure you get the message rather than the sound bite.

Consuming less is bad for GDP, Bad for governments and other institutions that rely upon inflation to cover their sins. But I honestly don’t see another option for most of us than to consume less and make what we have last longer. I think looking forward to the day when phones last more than a year isn’t gloomy at all. Cars, washing machines, furnishings, etc. To a day when houses are comfortable without big energy bills and even to the day when cfls last as long as Which claim!

There is a bright future waiting for us, so lets make sure it happens.

I very much doubt that the small amount heat generated by incandescent bulbs is of any use at all. Most incandescents live up near the ceiling and the heat they generate (which warms the air by conduction) stays, with the warmed air, up near the ceiling.

And, think about it – a 100 Watt light bulb generates maybe 75 Watts of heat. That’s about one fortieth of the heat that a normal fan heater generates – very small beer indeed.

But the wastage is significant since lights tend to be on for much of the day, providing a fair amount of light and insigificant amounts of heat.

Electricity is the generally regarded as the most expensive form of heating, so unless you are using electric heating that is a good reason not to use any electric heating.

Try switching on the lights with the heating switched off. I would be surprised if you see any change in temperature. Lights and heaters need to be in different places for best effect.

Generating electricity from fossil fuels puts mercury into the atmosphere. The extra electricity needed to power old fashioned light bulbs probably creates more mercury pollution than CFLs, which contain tiny amounts. CFLs can be recycled to recover the mercury.