38 Replies to “We Don’t Need No Stinking Twisty Bulbs”

  1. At least your lot have left it late enough that you can move straight onto LEDs, and skip the horrid CFLs entirely, unlike in Europe where LEDs weren’t ready for prime-time when the switch happened.

  2. I have two questions maybe some in the know here could answer. What is going to be available to replace the common appliance (40 watt) bulb for ovens and fridges? How much longer for the smaller base 25 watt and less lights? Maybe a third question would be is there adapter available now that can knock down a standard base to a smaller size by simply screwing it in place?

  3. I can suggest a method of disposing of the curly bulbs that will let whichever gummint you are under know exactly how you feel about them. Just throw them on the concrete sidewalk in front of the doors to your legislature. If you did this with incandescents, you would get cited for littering. If you do this with curly bulbs, run like heck. You are going to cause the gummint hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean it up. And of course, by flouting their authority, you will probably have free meals for the rest of your life. Also, of course, if you used your excrement instead, you would be a hero to all the libruls.

  4. With the new bulbs, I haven’t seen or found a low cost solution when you’re trying to generate heat rather than light. In an application where your water lines are freezing or you want to keep your pets alive in -40 weather what do you use without spending a fortune?

  5. I wonder about the fridge,stove and chandelier bulbs as well.
    I do however have a stash of 148 bulbs of various wattages stored in the workshop.

  6. A friend of mine works for a state environmental regulatory agency. One of those CFL bulbs broke in his son’s bedroom a while back. He went through the whole EPA cleanup protocol even going to the trouble of recarpeting the bedroom. I’m sure with whatever savings he gets from continuing with using the bulbs will pay for that new carpeting in about 300 years.

  7. Specialty bulbs such as appliance bulbs, heat lamps, chandelier bulbs will continue to be made.
    I am in the electrical construction business so I stocked up at the end of December with about 1000 bulbs. I cleaned my wholesaler right out.

  8. Guys, it’s 2014, not 2009 — nobody in their right mind would by a CFL now, when LED bulbs are available that perform better all around.

  9. No one in their right mind would have mandated a ban on incandescent bulbs but here we are.
    Three weeks ago I had to replace some normal bulbs and was forced to go with CFL. I wanted them to be dimmable. Incandescent at most $1 each. CFL were $9 each. The better performing and available LED bulbs were $23 each. I needed 12 bulbs so I was taken for $108.00 + 13% HST for the bulbs at my local big box store.
    Less than three weeks later I have already replaced one of those $9 dimable CFL.
    I really think that if people started mailing burned out CFL to their nearest MP’s office this lunacy would be reversed.

  10. There was a ‘top 100’ inventions show on the other night. I believe the incandescent bulb was #3. The show went on to mention how this transformed human existence.
    I muttered, ‘and we just banned them’

  11. Incandescent lamps are NOT gone. Rough service bulbs, a loophole in the law, are all over the shelves at my local home center, even 100W bulbs. Just about all the incandescents are now rough service bulbs, and by the old manufacturers. They cost a bit more, and are a little less efficient, but they last longer because of their tougher filaments.
    Chinese Capitalism appears to be smarter than the US Gummint. (Yeah, I know, that’s not saying much.)

  13. I will be sitting out the next federal election. There is no one representing me any longer. Harper when green and I just went..

  14. Mike, you nailed it. Regardless where you sit in the incandescent-vs-others debate, degrading the free choice of citizens by BANNING a safe product does not fall within conservative principles.

  15. “If only we got rid of the Liberals, a Conservative government would stop this idiocy.”
    Mulroney, otherwise totally useless, made metrification somewhat voluntary. Prime Ministers with functioning gonads can make obvious decisions on occasion.

  16. “If only we got rid of the Liberals, a Conservative government would stop this idiocy.”
    As of 01/07/14, I hope most regular visitors here recognize BOTH the bizarreness and yet absolute truth of that statement.

  17. Try a heating cable with thermostat. They come in various lengths for
    different applications.
    Not as cheap as a light bulb.

  18. Scar; sometimes my friend sometimes not. If you do not understand the truly exemplary things PMBM accomplished then possibly you may wish to hold back a little. I will try to itemize a couple.
    Bravely established taxes to at least cover the annual interest on the national debt created mostly by PMPT, but initiated by PMLP.
    Established increased access to a market of 300 million with the FTA.
    Replaced the inept PMJC as the conservative leader. (I worked very long and very hard to have the Liberal M.P. in my riding replaced with a PC MP- The MP elected through the hard work of many survived the weak leadership of PMJC.)
    PMBM was actually instrumental in establishing improved environmental controls to reduce the effect of pollution etc. Please note I said pollution not carbon based fraud.
    Thank you for your frequent commenting. Sometimes they bring a reasonable insight to the discussion. Cheers;

  19. It’s my understanding that, in the U.S.A., some stores are now selling 37 and 55 watt bulbs to circumvent the ban on 40’s and 60’s. Can’t see why that wouldn’t work here, as well.

  21. It wouldn’t work because the ban isn’t on specific wattages, it’s on bulbs below a specific efficiency. In this case, “efficiency” means “how much of the electrical energy going into the bulb escapes as light”. Regular cheap incandescents shed 90-95% of their electrical input as heat, not light, at any wattage, and so will never comply with the law.
    Somebody just needs to start selling “self-illuminating personal heating modules” (“Plugs into any lighting socket! Gently warms the surrounding area while providing its own safety lighting for easy replacement and maintenance!”)

  22. My hat off to Lilley. We well done piece, to the point, and right on the money.
    Have written to my local Conservative MP – he’s a solid person, and he will take my message to the higher ups. Whether it will achieve anything is entirely another story.
    Listen up folks who are frustrated: I’m afraid the Cons are playing the *exact* same game the Liberals played in BC. They know their supporters would rather die than vote for someone else (Trudeau, ha! please), so increasingly they are going to *** pander to others than those in their own base ***, no matter how much it upsets their base, in the hopes they will get a few more votes in the next election.
    I despite this kind of politics. I had hoped Harper was a better man than that. But that my friends is the game they are playing. The only way they might change their approach is if they get a real sense that their base will simply abandon them, or that the party will fracture.
    This is why I like Lilley’s piece so much. If conservatives start speaking up publicly against their own party, this may well cause Harper to rethink his me-first approach to politics.
    The light bulb ban is the most *asinine* thing the party has done to date. It sickens me.

  23. Trying to find ways around these stupid laws is not nearly as efficient as just simply repealing them. Email Harper and let your local MLA know he will lose your vote if this nonsense continues. It makes a difference if the numbers are there.

  24. I’m with the newspaper columnist who said that if the CFL gave comparable light, lasted anywhere as long as advertised and were becoming cost effective there would be no need to outlaw them because people would change automatically. So far I’ve had no luck, good luck that is, with CFL bulbs. They last just long enough that you feel stupid taking them back to the store or if you have extras you don’t even recall where you bought them from but the burn out shortly after installation. How can something become mandatory when there is no protocol for disposing of them.

  25. As an engineer, let me explain: incandescent bulbs produce a different light spectrum than halogens, which differs from CFLs, which differs from LEDs. They are all different.
    If you care about lighting, what might be suitable in one part of your house may not be suitable in another. A halogen may be perfect over the kitchen cook top, an incandescent much better for your bedroom. CFL bulbs cannot be dimmed which limits their use to certain applications. It is also well known that individual people have preferences. I can’t stand the light from a CFL bulb, no matter how much the box says “natural white light”. CFL bulbs and LED bulbs produce a light spectrum with sharp peaks, nothing at all like the smoother spectrum of incandescent bulbs. And the cheaper the phosphors used on those bulbs (and most are very cheap, let me tell you) the more peaky the light.
    So what the Cons have done is they have basically denied the consumer the choice to buy the light spectrum they want, for no useful reason whatsoever. It is as if they have said you can no longer buy a certain paint colour because the pigment uses too much energy to manufacture. That is the exact analogy.
    Also, the energy savings purported on the boxes of CFL and LED bulbs are a *lie*. I have never once found a box that provides the correct calculation. As just one example, the heat produced by incandescent bulbs heats your home in the winter. It is not wasted heat. When you buy at $40 LED bulb, vs. a $1.00 incandescent bulb, the $39 you save can be earning interest, which should be factored into the calculation. And so on. Lies, lies, lies.
    Consumer choice should be at the core of the Conservative philosophy. You want a CFL or LED bulb – go ahead, you should be free to buy it. But you should also be free to buy other types of bulbs too.
    Why they are at it, why don’t they ban trucks except for commercial use? Why not ban large screen TVs, they use more energy too. Why not ban hot tubs – I mean heck, the poor earth with all these loafers sitting in their hot tubs in the winter! Is a hot tub really necessary?
    While they are at it, why not ban large homes. New law please: no new home can be bigger than 400 x number_of_family_members sq. feet.
    And please please could we ban the importation of oranges in the winter. I mean *think* of the unnecessary global warming created. We should be eating apples from cold storage all winter. Ban the bananas too.
    It makes me sick!

  27. Here’s what I sent to my MP:
    This is a wrong move on the following levels:
    Scientific – you have not proved conclusively that there is an environmental benefit, and you have not analyzed the trade-off between efficiency and safety;
    Economic – you have not clearly demonstrated, with actual numbers, that there is a real cost benefit to consumers;
    Philosophical – degrading the free choice of citizens by BANNING a safe product does not fall within conservative principals; and
    Political – if previously strong but quiet CPC supporters like me are writing with feelings of actual bitterness, then this is not a small issue and YOU have a problem.

  29. Money talks and that’s why, if I can remember long enough, I will keep the receipts from my non-incandescent bulbs and deduct them from my next political donation — to any party. I’ll send a copy of the receipts along with the donation to explain why I had to reduce the total of the donation.
    If only I can remember where I put those receipts.
    Money Talks.

  30. I was going to post the following: Don’t mail them to your representative. That costs him/her nothing to throw away. Go into their office and break them on the floor. Then they have to go through the whole EPA disposal thing. Or better than that, go to their home and throw them at their front door. Then the cost becomes personal to them. But I advise against all that because that would not be good citizenship and you may piss off a bureaucrat. So please ignore the preceding disposal suggestion.

  31. Sorry to rain on your parade. This wasn’t libruls. This (in The USA) was George W. Bush and his attempt to do crony capitalism. With a little help from GE, Sylvania, Siemens.

  32. Don’t get upset over nothing. Incandescent ‘bathroom vanity’ bulbs will remain available. Same bulb, globe rather than bulb shape; no big deal. I’ve been using a mix of dimmed incandescent, CFLs, and halogen lighting for decades, each has it’s advantages and disadvantages.

  33. As a thing, for those that hate the CFL’s, but can’t find cheap LED bulbs, check out CREE bulbs(made in the US) and can be found at homedepot and a few other stores. They run between $9-15 each for a 60w bulb, and come in a couple of different temperatures(bulb colour output) from that lovely yellowy-brown, to blue-white, to white. And come with a 10yr warranty.

  34. Yes, it was corporate socialism/crony capitalism that pushed this, but it would never have gained traction without enlisting the support of the useful idiots of the eco-loonies. However the vital point here is that our government made a stupid and costly decision to jump on the bandwagon. The neo-communists which includes the eco-nuts will never vote for them no matter what while alienating a lot of their supporters. In short this has harmed them and gained them nothing, and it also causes harm to the environment and people’s pocketbooks.

  35. They run between $9-15 each for a 60w bulb, and come in a couple of different temperatures(bulb colour output) from that lovely yellowy-brown, to blue-white, to white. And come with a 10yr warranty.
    ————
    Yes and I will be keeping the bill so I can return each and every one that burns out 🙂

  36. There is no logic to the awareness campaign.. The big mouths start regulating other peoples lifestyle.. Crony capitalism business deals.. Activist scientists.. Ass kissing journalism..
    All of them daisy chained together in one big stupid sloppy circle.. Disgusting!
    The Chain
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfUPL5KQuiE

  38. Lightbulb ban is the natural result of”We must compromise”.
    As the libtards are essentially parasites, as is the entire bureaucracy, exactly what is a compromise? Can you negotiate with a tapeworm?

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