Kiwiblog

Gerry Brownlee has confirmed he is lifting the ban on traditional incandescent light bulbs.

I actually use eco-bulbs myself, but it is not the role of the state to tell people what sort of lightbulb to use, so long as they are safe. 2.5 million households all have different needs, and householders are quite competent at deciding for themselves what sort of lightbulbs to buy.

Personally I would advocate most people get ecobulbs – they save money and power. But I would also advocate most people vote National, and neither of my preferences should be made compulsory!

The Press has more reports from Canterbury residents of exploding eco bulbs:

Epileptic Philip Haythornthwaite said he was “lucky to have avoided a fire” at his Shirley home after two of the bulbs suddenly overheated.

Haythornthwaite, 49, was suffering from a seizure at the time but came round to find bulbs in his living room and hallway had overheated and blackened “virtually simultaneously”.

The incident spurred him to send an email around the offices of charity Epilepsy New Zealand warning members not to use them.

“I am very, very concerned for people who have a disability and that we will have something coming into the house which is not reliable,” he said. “I think it could have been very dangerous and I think I am lucky I am still here and the house did not go up in smoke.”

Maybe the eco-bulbs are exploding on purpose? Perhaps they are on strike in sympathy for their incandescent colleagues who are facing extinction?

I use eco bulbs at home, because it was my choice. The Government of course is passing a law to make them compulsory, regardless of whether or not people want them.

So it is unfortunate for the Government that they may burn your house down!

The memo, of which The Dominion Post has a copy, warns that compact fluorescent lamps, or eco bulbs, are reported to be melting, blowing up and blackening surrounding electrical equipment.

The concerns have been passed on to the Fire Service by Energy Safety, two months after Energy Minister David Parker announced plans to phase out traditional bulbs in favour of eco bulbs. …

There were reports that eco bulbs had burnt out and scorched fittings, causing smoke stains, and in a few cases they had caught fire.

People should send any charred furniture or fittings to the Minister.

The ODT reports on how the Government is banning incandescent light bulbs:

Once new standards were introduced, no new stocks of the incandescent bulbs could be imported for sale.

I can not see the rationale for a ban, just because they are energy inefficient. On that basis we should ban certain cars, fridges, TVs, computers and heaters. I should stop there before I give the Greens too many wet dreams ideas.

I only buy energy efficient light bulbs now. I do so because I have calculated that the higher purchase cost will save money in the long term as they last longer, and also use less energy. More and more people are doing so.

But if someone wants to use an incandescent bulb, why should it be illegal to do so?

Someone will claim we need to do so because of carbon emissions. But this is why I support a cap and trade ETS. Because by doing so the price of electricity will reflect those carbon emissions, and send a market signal out to buy more efficient light bulbs.

I see no reason for a ban. Only things which are clearly hazardous should  be banned. Why should the state decide on behalf of every household what type of light bulb they can buy?

Sure some will argue that people will make bad choices and ignore the savings from more efficient light bulbs. Well yes they will, but you know people make bad choices all the time.

Now they will claim the environmental impact of inefficient light bulbs costs everyone money, so we should be allowed to ban them. But again an ETS will cover those costs so that argument falls away.

If we allow the state to choose for us what sort of light bulb we can use, then where do we stop?