The media is reporting this week that the Government of Ontario will ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs by 2012. Strictly speaking, this is not true.
What they actually will do is to raise the standard for efficiency for light bulbs such that the existing incandescent bulbs on the market don’t make the grade. This leaves the door open to light bulb manufacturers who want to bring higher efficiency incancescent bulbs to market, which they undoubtedly will.
You can read the governments press release here.
There are many people up in arms about the less than pleasing light from CFL’s, CFL’s are not dimmable, CFL spirals don’t fit in standard lampshades, CFL’s contain mercury, etc.
So let’s take these one at a time, shall we?
Myth 1: The light from CFL’s sucks!
First, the light from CFL’s is different depending on which you purchase. They come in all sorts of different colour temperatures. But you would not know that if you don’t go shopping for them and read the packaging and do a little research. I read by the light of the CFL’s in my night side table every day, with no problems. And my eyesight is far less than perfect.
Myth 2: CFL’s are not dimmable!
There are dimmable CFL’s, they are just hard to find and a bit more expensive. I don’t own any, and I am told by some that they make noise, but I can’t say first hand. You can find some here, for example. With that said, I am fairly confident that the light bulb manufacturers are working overtime to work out any bugs with dimmable CFL’s, as jurisdictions all over the world are demanding these products, so by 2012 we should have plenty on the market.
Myth 3: CFL spirals don’t fit in lampshades!
Of course they don’t! So buy a CFL with a different shape! They are available as you can see with the link above, or in any of our stores selling CFL’s if you look. They come in the same size and shape as regular bulbs with the spiral on the inside. Don’t believe me? They are holding up my lampshades just fine.
Myth 4: CFL’s contain mercury that will end up in our dumps!
Well, maybe this is not a myth, but that depends on you. Yes, they contain mercury. I have previous blogged about the mercury issue here. But they need not end up in the dump with that mercury leeching into the environment.
- The right way to do this is to have a deposit-return system and keep the bulbs out of the trash.
- The wrong way to do it is to depend on municipal recycling, another burden on our taxes.
- And the REALLY wrong way to do it is to do nothing, and let the bulbs go to the curb.
Do you think our provincial government will get it right? I guess we’ll see, but I’m not holding my breath. (Perhaps we’ll be returning light bults to the beer store next!)
Here’s a bright idea! In the next election, vote Green!
