"Hello, we are the government, and we are here to help you."

Government, if you want to help us stay the (....) out of the lighting industry  .

Out of pretty much everything, while at that

Paintballer22, I know there's a censor in place, but it's not a good idea to curse on a public forum like this....

My bad I will refrain from doing that again, It;s these bans are driving me mad when the government picks on the small stuff that works fine they need to fix the stuff that is not working well like the economy, jobs ,etc.

Exactly, but it's the government, and I don't think there is really anything we can do about it!

My comment is : If you hear the government say what I said early.... you KNOW you are doomed !

Tell me about it. Incandescents, Mercury Vapor light fixtures and ballasts, T12 Fluorescent Tubes, and Magnetic Ballasts are all doomed never to be seen on store shelves again .

What also drives me nuts is the green advertising (planet earth, rainforests, leaves with raindrop on them ...) of stuff like T5 instant start fixtures. Yea it is going to save the planet more than that T12 fixture which is still running those Lifelines from 30 years ago, and did not emit 1mg of lamp mercury to the environment yet

And the government dont only decide about lamps, they force other stuff like internet censorship and ID's as well

Exactly! I'm all for the green thing (I used to work at a recycle center...) but using MORE lamps because the new ones are too dim doesn't help anything!

Other lamps that are less efficient will be banned as well.  If you read the EC directive closely, it is not only these kinds of T12 that are going to disappear.  Products are being phased out on the basis of efficiency rather than technology.  However customers will not be left with empty sockets that they cannot fill.  Nearer to the date when the ban comes into force, new tubes will begin appearing that have been improved such that they can remain in production.

It isn't good that lamps are disappearing. Consider those scenarios :



Room needs 2500Lm. A fixture with 1x 36W T8 halophosphate 2500Lm is installed and providing exactly the needed amount of light

The new triphosphor lamp is 3500Lm. It is going to be brighter yet it won;t save 1W of electricity

Downgrading the fixture to smaller size is not an option since it is big expense for very marginal benefit (if benefit at all given the environmental impact of fixture replacement and quality of new fixtures and ballasts), also the next smaller lamp still might not provide 2500Lm so the 36W in electricity is still required

Result : More environmental impact due to the higher impact of triphosphors vs halophosphates production (triphosphors use rare materials)



Room needs 5000Lm. 2 identical 36W fixtures are installed. One lamp gets EOL. Upon replacing it, the light from 2 lamps is not the same and for esthetical reasons, the other lamp which is still perfectly good is replaced as well



Solar / wind / water powered system, where the only environmental impact is from lamp production and disposal and not from their energy use



Location where you need the cheapest solution that will work immediately, or lamps you dont care about in a location prone to vandalism, or anything like that



The government should not tell me what i can or cannot do with my energy. If i want, i can buy gasoline and drive the car back and forward along the driveway all day long, and nobody has the right to tell me otherwise

 i am in for T12 system i have find many good lamp on rapid start system that one lamp goes
 causing the other one not to light. so banning 4 foot tube mean the end of free tubes
 to reuse.  and magnetic ballst is so reliable why toss that technology.
 
 it like analog TV ban that system i so reliable that at least you pick up somthing.
 and after the Dtv switch I lost half the tv station due to signal drop out. makeing tv unreliable.


 it just like that dumb toliet thing that the government created the flush twice system.
 thinking that they can conserve water.

that list goes on and on.

The toilet tank thing is actually good

It exists for 20+ years in Israel and is working great and reliable (depending on the quality of the mechanics, but the best new tanks are as good as the best old ones or even better and cost the same)

Perhaps in your tanks it is implemented in inferior way