The EU directive banning the manufacture and importation of incandescent light bulbs (lamps) came into force on September 1st for 100w light bulbs.

Don’t panic for the moment though because Barry Forkin, (Newbury’s answer to Arkwright) has thousands of them for sale. He has been buying them by the lorry load from every available source in the UK.

It is illegal to manufacture them, but it is not illegal to sell them and Barry Forkin is doing just that, in some cases hundreds at a time. Customers are travelling long distances to his little store in Bartholomew Street, stocking up to ward off the day when we will all have to start using those new fangled low energy things.

I'm sure there will be a stampede for the old bulbs. Personally, I've decided to go for LED's where I can. Sharper light, environmentally friendly, cheaper to run and lasts for years.

Quoted from 133

I'm sure there will be a stampede for the old bulbs. Personally, I've decided to go for LED's where I can. Sharper light, environmentally friendly, cheaper to run and lasts for years.

There are LEDs and LEDs. The cheap ones have terrible light output, but some of the more expensive are easily a match for incandescents.

Tesco's still have (Tue 1st Sept) the pearl and frosted 60W which I believe are part of the first wave to be banned.

I've tried a few LED ones but found them unreliable. I'll wait and see if they improve.

Cheers

Barry Forkin clearly has no shame.

Perhaps the shop owner has some novel idea of how he can defeat climate change that the rest of us do not know about.

So let's hear it.....

Quoted from 37

Barry Forkin clearly has no shame.  Perhaps the shop owner has some novel idea of how he can defeat climate change that the rest of us do not know about.  So let's hear it.....

I doubt it, 'cause no one else does either.

Quoted from 37

Barry Forkin clearly has no shame.

Perhaps the shop owner has some novel idea of how he can defeat climate change that the rest of us do not know about.

So let's hear it.....

He's obviously running a one man campaign to protect us from mercury poisoning. Low energy lamps are only greener when it comes to energy consumption - in every other way they are an ecological nightmare.

It appears they are also prone to burn out (complete with flames), something I was not aware of until recently - I do hope that is a problem that has been engineered out of the current designs.

And the light from them is simply not as pleasant.

We had a CFL explode on us a little while back.

Quoted from Greenham Common

We had a CFL explode on us a little while back.

If someone in my family is injured by an exploding lamp can I sue the government or EU for removing the safer option from the market?

I've got a load of those old bulbs at home.... along with tons of the new sort.

Quoted from Greenham Common

We had a CFL explode on us a little while back.

I hope you put a mask on and gloves before picking up the bits. Mercury poisoning goes straight to the brain. I used to look after navigational gyros which had mercury contactors......Umm .... Sorry, I forgot what I was saying.

Quoted from GMR

I've got a load of those old bulbs at home.... along with tons of the new sort.

You're not Barry Forkin, are you?

Quoted from massifheed

You're not Barry Forkin, are you?

Ermmmmmmm........

A lot of comments about low energy bulbs here relate to the early models which were not so good.

Anyone worried about the mercury can always use LED bulbs which last absolutely ages, the answer to our energy saving prayers.

Got that Barry F?

Quoted from 37

A lot of comments about low energy bulbs here relate to the early models which were not so good.

But a number of us have loads that the energy companies have sent us (they get 'brownie' points from the Government for doing so), so it might be some time before we get the 'improved' versions.  Or should we throw the early ones away?

No, use them.

I cannot stand all these moans from environmental refusniks who are part of the climate change problem by not being part of the solution.

We all need to radically change our lives to save the planet as time is running out.

Quoted from 37

No, use them.

I cannot stand all these moans from environmental refusniks who are part of the climate change problem by not being part of the solution.

We all need to radically change our lives to save the planet as time is running out.

And I can't stand all the moans and disruptions from the so called environmentalists who constantly are telling me what to sodding well do.

I have put in the loft insulation, the wall insulation, the double glazing, the energy saving light bulbs. I walk or cycle where I can, and if my journey can be done easily by public transport I take it. I use the car only for vital journeys that cannot be done on PT. I don't jet off on holidays once, twice or more times a year.

That's it now. There is nothing else the meddling environmentalists can take from me, so I wish they would SHUT UP.  <massive ANGRY smiley> GRRR </massive ANGRY smiley>

Quoted from 37

No, use them.

I cannot stand all these moans from environmental refusniks who are part of the climate change problem by not being part of the solution.

We all need to radically change our lives to save the planet as time is running out.

The planet will survive - despite mankind's worst efforts.  Whether man will survive is another question.

Personally I am sick of all the bleatings from environmentalists who seem to refuse to face the real problem - too many people.

I am also very sceptical about blaming climate change on CO2 emmissions and seemingly nothing else.  Whatever happened to the hole in the ozone layer that was going to grow and expose us all to dangerous levels of UV? Will we forget CO2 emissions just as quickly when the next bandwagon theory comes along.

Quoted from blackdog

The planet will survive - despite mankind's worst efforts.  Whether man will survive is another question.

"The meek shall inherit the earth", (and it serves them bloody well right)

Quoted from blackdog

Personally I am sick of all the bleatings from environmentalists who seem to refuse to face the real problem - too many people.

The difficulty is that blaming these problems on "too many people" is simply wrong. Although the world's population continues to increase, and while population was once increasing too rapidly in some places, international birthrates have now begun dropping. In fact, according to Ben Wattenberg, an expert on the subject and author of "The Birth Dearth," "Never have birth rates fallen so far, so fast, so low, for so long all around the world." According to the 1996 revision of "World Population Prospects," a reference book published by the United Nations, the global "total fertility rate" (TFR, which denotes the average number of children a woman has during her lifetime) dropped from 5 in 1955 to 3 in 1997. That number, in countries ranging from Thailand to Cuba to China to the United States, is still sinking today.

See here for most up to date figures,  https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html

Perhaps the real threat is a "world population implosion." The implications of depopulation are momentous, if still unclear. Worry not about global warming but of a global nursing home. Consider what has, and is, happening in the U.K. Our  TFR is now estimated to be below 1.7 That means, among other things, we will increasingly be populated by older adults and senior citizens. That is fine, and actually good in many respects (think of crime rates), but it also may imperil things like the economy, the social safety net and the country's tax base.

The simple fact is we now have the resources and the scientific knowledge to feed and educate every child in the world. The problem is not in the numbers of people, but within the hearts of people.

Quoted from blackdog

Whatever happened to the hole in the ozone layer that was going to grow and expose us all to dangerous levels of UV?

Back in 1978, the United States, Canada and Norway, enacted bans on CFC-containing aerosol sprays that are thought to damage the ozone layer. The European Community rejected an analogous proposal to do the same. In the U.S., chlorofluorocarbons continued to be used in other applications, such as refrigeration and industrial cleaning, until after the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole in 1985. After negotiation of an international treaty (the Montreal Protocol), CFC production was sharply limited beginning in 1987 and phased out completely by 1996.

On August 2, 2003, scientists announced that the depletion of the ozone layer may be slowing down due to the international ban on CFCs. Three satellites and three ground stations confirmed that the upper atmosphere ozone depletion rate has slowed down significantly during the past decade. The study was organized by the American Geophysical Union. Some breakdown can be expected to continue due to CFCs used by nations which have not banned them, and due to gases which are already in the stratosphere. CFCs have very long atmospheric lifetimes, ranging from 50 to over 100 years, so the final recovery of the ozone layer is expected to require several lifetimes.

"Whatever happened to the hole in the ozone layer?" We identified it and we sorted it.



Threep.

I had an CFL go nova with a loud fizz than bang a couple of months back.
It was one of the newer more expensive models.

maybe once the incandescents dry up. Barry could stock up on enclosed poly-carbonate lampshades.
Just so we don't all die an fiery or shrapnel filled end?

Quoted from Threepwood

Perhaps the real threat is a "world population implosion." The implications of depopulation are momentous, if still unclear. Worry not about global warming but of a global nursing home. Consider what has, and is, happening in the U.K. Our  TFR is now estimated to be below 1.7 That means, among other things, we will increasingly be populated by older adults and senior citizens. That is fine, and actually good in many respects (think of crime rates), but it also may imperil things like the economy, the social safety net and the country's tax base.

We do have quite a large labour pool at the younger end in the UK which has been removed from the labour market by governments using further education to reduce the dole/unemployment statistics. It seems to me that we have a substantial number of young persons doing univeristy degrees in the vastly increased number of universities on subjects of little value to the future of the country. Sociology, history, media studies, fashion etc etc, the list goes on. Parents of course are proud of the fact that their little darlings have scraped enough dubious A grades to qualify for some university in some minor town and are happy enough to waste their, in some cases, hard earned income to subsidise them and we as tax payers are happy enough to finance their efforts. The grant system aside, the cost to the nation in the infrastructure of the further education system in terms of buidings, tutors etc is astranomical.
Now, before you start banging away on your keyboards, I am not against universities and further education. What I do believe in though is that we nurture the talented young people who really make the grade, including fully financing their efforts so that a university education does not become a wealthy club as it did in past years.
Then, we can look after our aging population, if that is what we have to do, supported by bright people who can do a days productive work rather than frequenting the campus bars of suspect universities.
However, the manufacturing industry has just about collapsed in this country due to the unions and the government suppresion of the manufacturers by lack of investment. How can the Japanese, Germans, French and Italians make quality cars for us when all we could come up with was the Allegro. How is it that the Danes can build superships and we struggle to build small naval ships.

Quoted from brian

... How can the Japaneese, Germans, French and Italians make quality cars for us when all we could come up with was the Allegro. How is it that the Danes can build superships and we struggle to build small naval ships...

Fair point Brian, even with all our investment in knowledge, we ain't going anywhere.  So lets stop pretenting and just accept we are soo to be third world.

Quoted from 40

Fair point Brian, even with all our investment in knowledge, we ain't going anywhere.  So lets stop pretenting and just accept we are soo to be third world.

In which case, let's get off the world superpower bandwaggon before we fall under the wheels. Let's stop sending great wads of cash to thirld world countries so that their leaders can buy another fleet of Merc's.
Let's stop fighting wars in countries that have little significance to our way of life. Let's stop immigrant entry, full stop. Let's stop the vehicle scrappage scheme that only benefits foreign manufacturers.

Let's start investing that money in factories and businesses that export British made goods and ensure that the quality is second to none. Let's try and be patriotic and buy British, but not Chinese or any other kit in pseudo British packaging. Let's get our unemployed working and financialy punish the lazy sods who get so many perks for not working that they have lost the incentive.

That might just do it.  Message to the States - you wanted us to get rid of the Empire - we have.  Can't help feeling you've struck the right chord.

Quoted from brian

Let's start investing that money in factories and businesses that export British made goods and ensure that the quality is second to none. Let's try and be patriotic and buy British, but not Chinese or any other kit in pseudo British packaging.

That ship sailed a long time ago.

Quoted from misc

That ship sailed a long time ago.

Well, here's another ship (or aeroplane) sailing off into the sunset. Exactly the sort of business that we keep chucking away. The government should get behind them and try and secure them for the future of our country.
They should also look at their pension defecit, after all it was a government policy to force firms down this route. (Possibly not the current government, but what the hell, the're all stamped from the same mould).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8256404.stm

Ps Barry Forkin and his light bulbs have a lot to answer for.