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Energy and emission problems are not
unique to Australia. All across the globe, countries have
been struggling so hard to counter depleting energy sources
and apparent climate change due to continuous emission of
greenhouse gases.
The Australian government acknowledges the
fact that its energy reserves are somehow declining.
Official figures reveal that about 565
million tons of unnecessary greenhouse gases were produced
in the country alone in 2004.
Apparently, the Australian
government is a global warming convert. In its own way, the
country has started a small measure to save more energy and
reduce emissions---scrapping old-style incandescent light
bulbs. |
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Initial proposals for the total ban of incandescent
light bulbs in Australia were set in February 2007. The
proposed move earned instant support and agreement from all
sectors. However, there are some setbacks. |
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To consumers, replacing
incandescent bulbs with fluorescent light bulbs could mean
sacrifice as the latter are much more expensive than the
ordinary incandescent bulbs, which had become conventional
and very common worldwide especially in the 20th century.
The redeeming factor is that there are far more benefits of
using fluorescent light bulbs. First of all, the use of
fluorescent light bulbs could significantly lower the
country’s overall greenhouse emissions by up to 4 million
tons by the year 2012. It has also been proven that using such bulbs could
effectively trim household electricity bills by as much as
66%. Taken collectively, consumption of electricity
nationwide could drastically be lowered, contributing much
to the nation’s energy saving initiatives. |
Incandescent light bulbs were perfected through time to give
off good electric lights to households. The bulbs were
invented by the great Thomas Edison in the later part of the
1800s. However, there is a particular design flaw in
incandescent lights that make them consume more electricity.
The energy coming from live electric sources flows through a
thin filament in the interior of each incandescent bulb. The
thin filament is a conductor and therefore absorbs much more
energy, which is then converted into unnecessary heat
energy. Incandescent bulbs are good for incubation, but they
could be wasting so much electricity.
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On the contrary, fluorescent
light bulbs, which were invented in the 20th
century, successfully overcome the need for internal
filaments that turn much electricity into heat
rather than into light.
Aside from the fact that
fluorescent bulbs use as low as 20% energy compared
to consumption of incandescent light bulbs, they
also last much longer.
Thus, in the long term,
fluorescent bulbs get more practical, though such
bulbs are having much higher price tags than the
traditional incandescent ones.
In terms of tag prices, incandescent products could
be four times lower than prices of fluorescents.
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Through the
scrapping of incandescent bulbs, Australia contributes to
reduction of greenhouse emissions. However, the country is
still far from fully supporting the Kyoto protocol regarding
greenhouse gas reductions.
Analysts note that Australia
might lose billions of revenue from its coal production if
the Kyoto protocol would be ratified. At least, for now,
incandescent is the country’s small contribution to the
noble initiative.
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