According to this article I just read, Ontario is moving forward with a plan to ban incandescent light bulbs, which is considers inefficient. The plan is to ban the sale of incandescent bulbs by 2012. Apparently Australia was the first to suggest this and will be doing the same by 2010.
This is all well and good you might think, but I’m wondering if they’ve thought this through fully. There are a few applications where CFLs are just not practical (outdoors in the winter) or can’t be used at all (with dimmers). I heard something on the news the other day that I didn’t know about CFLs – they are meant to be used in a vertical position – not horizontal. I didn’t catch the whole piece so I’m not sure if using them in a horizontal position decreases their life or if it has the potential to cause other problems like a fire hazard (they showed a bulb that looked ‘burnt’ near the base).
Of course they have another 5 years to get the kinks out of this plan and make sure they haven’t missed something. All in all, I think a step in the right direction.
There is a bit of a debate on the environmental effects on the disposal of CFLs due to the mercury they contain. Here are a couple of light interesting reads:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06/what_about_merc.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp
Adam
Hey, that’s interesting. That might explain why a few of mine have had issues. They are mounted horizontally, and I have seen them burn out a bit quicker, and also look both burnt and even (gulp) melted at the base. I chalked it up to being older generation CFLs, hopefully the new ones aren’t suffering the same fate.