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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2012 19:44:09 GMT
On January 1st, 2013, incandescent light bulbs will no longer be on sale in the EU (not totally true: stores can sell their stock of bulbs but no more deliveries will be made). These have been phased out over the last few years, starting with 100 watt bulbs, then 60 watts, then 40 watts, etc.
One of the principal reasons is that an incandescent bulb only manages to convert 5% of the electricity into light and 95% into heat.
But these bulbs still have a lot of fans, and people have been stocking up. I personally got rid of my last two incandescent bulbs several months ago. I had changed all but two of the bulbs in my apartment and the last two seemed like they would never burn out, so I removed them from service. As for tiny incandescent bulbs, like refrigerator lights, I think that they might continue to exist, but I'm not sure.
I would be curious to know how the rest of you are dealing with new bulb rules. Considering the difference in price, I imagine that incandescent bulbs will still be around for quite some time in a lot of countries.
One interesting thing in France is that the new rules are ending the tradition of the "minuterie" which for the last hundred years has been used in apartment buildings, parking lots and plenty of other places -- it is a push button system which only keeps the light on for one minute (or two) in order to save electricity. However, the new bulbs don't like to be turned on and off, and they burn out extremely quickly on a minuterie. In the very near future, our hallways will be illuminated 24 hours a day -- but we will still be saving 80% on electricity.
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Post by fumobici on Dec 29, 2012 0:55:48 GMT
In a place like this where it is always cold, incandescent bulbs make perfect sense. Their inefficiency at making photons fly about is perfectly offset by their utility as heaters. Plus they are cheap as dirt.
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Post by onlymark on Dec 29, 2012 6:18:06 GMT
I think there is some form of get out clause in that if they are named as 'industrial' or something they can still be sold.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2012 7:12:38 GMT
There was yet another report on the news last night about "the oldest bulb in the world." That's the one in a San Francisco fire station or some such.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2012 7:15:07 GMT
Ah, not San Francisco but Livermore. Naturally, reports here stress the fact that the light bulb was made in France.  |
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Post by rikita on Dec 29, 2012 12:28:53 GMT
i think we have mainly new light bulbs by now, as several of ours gave up their life in short succession, and you can't buy the old ones here anymore for a while already...
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Post by mossie on Dec 29, 2012 19:48:36 GMT
Yes, a confounded nuisance (or words to that effect ;D). I have some fittings which cannot accept these newfangled contraptions, damn it  No wonder the EU is so popular here. ;D ;D |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2012 20:00:57 GMT
What kind of weird fittings do you have in the UK? In France we have both normal screw bulbs but also those awful old 'pin' bulbs yet both types are available in the stores in LED, fluo compact, lumen etc. versions.
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Post by mossie on Dec 30, 2012 8:42:58 GMT
Aah we have some close fitting shades which cannot be stretched. Do not forget that I have reached that relaxed stage in life where anything remotely new is viewed with the greatest suspicion ;D
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2012 11:28:52 GMT
Right, some of those bulbs are really not designed for old lamps! But I think that they have expanded the designs now to just about any shape and size. I am wondering if younger generations will draw things like this in the future when the teacher says "draw a picture of a lightbulb" -- we had it much easier!  |
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Post by rikita on Dec 30, 2012 12:07:27 GMT
yeah i think we had a problem with one of the lamp shades too, needed to get a smaller bulb for it...
i don't think our teacher ever told us to draw a lightbulb.
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Post by patricklondon on Dec 31, 2012 9:46:59 GMT
And, if you drew it right and just added a couple of brackets each side of the drawing, you could turn it into a picture of granny taking her bloomers off.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2012 11:37:10 GMT
Yes, I remember that little trick very well.
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Post by rikita on Dec 31, 2012 17:09:49 GMT
i don't. can you show?
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Post by htmb on Dec 31, 2012 18:36:20 GMT
I have no idea what you guys are talking about.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2012 18:43:07 GMT
Perhaps this drawing is in the sacred male trust, never to be divulged to women.
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Post by htmb on Dec 31, 2012 19:07:01 GMT
Obviously, while we girls were paying attention to the teacher, you young gentlemen were wasting your time on silly drawings.  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2012 19:11:07 GMT
No, the girls were off giggling in the restroom, because they needed to go there in groups of a half dozen at a time for some reason.  |
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Post by htmb on Dec 31, 2012 19:12:38 GMT
That was so we could talk about the boys.
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Post by patricklondon on Dec 31, 2012 22:03:32 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2012 22:19:13 GMT
Thanks for that -- I was looking for static images and didn't manage to find anything suitable. This gives the idea, though.  In the version I learned, you didn't put brackets on the sides but two long "V" shapes at the bottom to make legs. |
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Post by htmb on Dec 31, 2012 22:31:40 GMT
Does this mean we girls get to join the club now?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2013 0:10:34 GMT
Maybe, if you get out of the restroom.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2013 0:17:02 GMT
I like the new style light-bulbs and the fact that we can get them in energy efficient types. They tend to last a lot longer, albeit they are more expensive to buy then the older ones used to be.
I find that the actual 'light' that is produced is not as intense either...
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Post by htmb on Jan 1, 2013 5:52:27 GMT
Maybe, if you get out of the restroom. Ok, deal. I was pretty much a "tomboy" as a kid, so was usually off riding horses or climbing trees, rather than hanging out with the prissy types in the bathroom. Actually, that description still fits. I'd much rather be out in a kayak getting wet and muddy, than get all fancied up and go out to some gala event. As for the lightbulbs, I will adapt. I understand why I should, but it will be an adjustment for me. |
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Post by rikita on Jan 1, 2013 13:32:40 GMT
i never went to the bathroom in a group. and if i did, it was only because the others followed me.
hm, and what about going to the bathroom with a boy?
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Post by htmb on Jan 1, 2013 13:39:42 GMT
i never went to the bathroom in a group. and if i did, it was only because the others followed me. hm, and what about going to the bathroom with a boy? ;D |
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