EU lightbulb ban: a bad law made to be broken?

[matgb]

I'm a liberal. I don't like banning things. I'm an environmentalist, I think destroying the planet is a Bad Thing, and am fairly convinced by the science on climate change. But, as is always the case, liberalism wins out. Banning traditional lightbulbs is a bad idea.

Sometimes, they're the most efficient method of both heating and lighting something; lava lamps my be kitsch decorative junk not to everyone's taste, but there's no reason to ban them. Snake and reptile housings also benefit from a combine light/heat source, etc. Sometimes, they're simply a very cheap alternative, and when you're living on very little money at all, and generally don't use lights that much but need to have them, they're an acceptable option.

The answer, therefore, is not to ban them. The liberal answer is to apply a pigouvian tax on them. You can even, if you like, apply a pigouvian subsidy on the much more expensive, complex and hard to dispose of safely "environmentally friendly" bulbs containing mercury and other expensive poisons to make them cheaper. But banning something? It's just asking for trouble:

German heatball wheeze outwits EU light bulb ban | Reuters (via)

Rotthaeuser has pledged to donate 30 cents of every heatball sold to saving the rainforest, which the 49-year-old sees as a better way of protecting the environment than investing in energy-saving lamps, which contain toxic mercury.

I think Herr Rotthaeuser and his brother-in-law deserve a little bit of praise for their Heatball project. And they're not even breaking the law, just showing it up as the futility it is.

Comments

[frith]

Incandescent light bulbs will be banned here in North America in a few years as well. I've been stocking up on 10,000 hour incadescent light bulbs. The 10,000 hour bulbs last as long as the compact fluorescents. Incandescents are simpler to manufacture, easier to recycle, use fewer resources, and are an essential element in the heated water trough in my barn (they keep the water ice free and discourage rodents). Compact fluorescents emit UV radiation that can affect paint colour in nearby surfaces, they grow dim with age, they grow dim at cold temperatures, their life expectancy is reduced if they are turned on and off frequently and they contain mercury. I do take advantage of the low wattage of compact fluorescents to increase the light in the kitchen (the ceiling fixture has a 60 watt limit). Eventually there will be LED "bulbs". LED's can last 60 years but I expect that part of the development of the LED "bulb" involves producing LED's with very short life spans.

[matgb]

I've seen LED bulbs, I think. I may've misinterpreted the packaging though, and they weren't cheap. But yes, I suspect long life bulbs will have a built in obsolescene from some manufacturers.

Others may spot a gap in the market, but...

LEDs

[rankersbo.wordpress.com]

I bought LED bulbs to replace some of the halogen spots we had in the Attic. (Well still have as we still own that house even though it's rented out to someone else).

I was doing a "You and your environment" course at the OU at the time. Yes the bulbs are not cheap, and the ones you can get in B&Q don't give out enough light. But even when you buy the larger units on the internet, you save enough energy to recoup the cost relatively quickly.

I did my own post on this a while back, and had a slightly different perspective.