End of an era! Sell your tungsten mining shares!
Australia's done it. Now us:- 100 years ago tungsten filament lamps started to replace those made of carbon. They were predicted to reduce the cost of lighting by electricity to almost that of using gas mantles. (Nature 13 June 1907 - recapitulated in Nature 14 June p 785 "News and Views") Now the end of the incandescent filament lamp bulb is in sight. All such lamps are to be withdrawn from the UK market during the next 44 months. From next January all bulbs rated at more than 100W will be removed from sale. A year later (January 2009) 100 W bulbs will no longer be on sale, followed by 60W bulbs by January 2010. All other incandescent bulbs will be withdrawn from January 2011 (Energy in Buildings, June 2007, page 6). More overtly quantum systems - compact fluorescents and led based systems etc - are to take over. 'Panic' buying of 'spares' will no doubt make them scarce before the deadlines NB if you keep records of your domestic kWh consumed, unless you use all electric heating, a graph of your consumption will probably mirror daylight hours. In other words, electric lighting makes up the largest proportion of typical household electricity budget. Interesting article, though there will be discussions about the true savings, especially bearing in mind the mercury used in their construction.
Australia's done it. Now us:- 100 years ago tungsten filament lamps started to replace those made of carbon. They were predicted to reduce the cost of lighting by electricity to almost that of using gas mantles. (Nature 13 June 1907 - recapitulated in Nature 14 June p 785 "News and Views") Now the end of the incandescent filament lamp bulb is in sight. All such lamps are to be withdrawn from the UK market during the next 44 months. From next January all bulbs rated at more than 100W will be removed from sale. A year later (January 2009) 100 W bulbs will no longer be on sale, followed by 60W bulbs by January 2010. All other incandescent bulbs will be withdrawn from January 2011 (Energy in Buildings, June 2007, page 6). More overtly quantum systems - compact fluorescents and led based systems etc - are to take over. 'Panic' buying of 'spares' will no doubt make them scarce before the deadlines NB if you keep records of your domestic kWh consumed, unless you use all electric heating, a graph of your consumption will probably mirror daylight hours. In other words, electric lighting makes up the largest proportion of typical household electricity budget. Interesting article, though there will be discussions about the true savings, especially bearing in mind the mercury used in their construction.