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Incandescent

Shanghai – Mumbai, 26th January 2010

Today is National Day in Australia as well as in India. As per coincidence I am on my way to Mumbai for some project coordination meetings. Ah, well…  🙂
While I am trying to make myself useful working away some backlog correspondence, I am watching a documentary on eco solutions.  One of the subjects is a report on the phasing out of the incandescent lamp. But the twist in this report is not so much the focus on the (compact fluorescent and LED) lighting technology that will eventually be replacing the incandescent bulb, but on a trend that sees people buying incandescent bulbs in big bulk purchases!

One store in Germany saw a client walk out with no less than 150 incandescent light bulbs and the store manager reported that the incandescent bulbs were nearly sold out continuously! I am sure this is a trend happening wherever the incandescent is about to be banned. So while on one hand there is a big increase in sales of the more carbon friendly lighting technologies (rightly pushed by government awareness campaigns), there seems to be a sudden surge in nostalgia with people stocking up incandescent lamps. That only less than 10% of its energy consumption is being converted into light seems to be accepted as a fact of life, people just like the pleasant soft and warm light it produces.   

I think it is safe to say that the quality of the new technologies is still not matching up with the incandescent lighting qualities people have grown accustomed to.  And as long as that remains I have a feeling that man will find ways to keep the incandescent lamp going. The human being can be very creative when in need! Recently, in a country where incandescent bulbs above 100W have been banned, the first 99W bulbs have already appeared! Watch out for other innovative ways people will find to keep the incandescent lamp alive despite all new regulations!

26. January 2010 by Martin Klaasen
Categories: going green | 2 comments

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