[LazyScot]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Doesn't that somewhat throw the proverbial spanner in the works as far as the idea of being "environmentally friendly" is concerned? Lead/acid batteries, which I presume (?) are used to store the electricity during the day, are an environment "disaster area" as far as manufacturing goes.

There are hydro-electic battery schemes, like the one in the Welsh mountain . Essentially this is a hydro-electic plant that can run backwards, and start up quickly. Clearly there is an environmental impact of constructing such a plant (damage to the environment, CO2 from concrete and construction), and I've no idea if this is better/worse than the equivalent for other battery technologies.

I also seem to remember (but can't find details) that there are tidal power schemes that are able to generate continually, albeit at a lower power rating.

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Not to disagree but the expected life of CFs is over rated. I've been using them as primary lighting for almost ten years and I regularly have to change them. The heat they dissipate seems to cook the sealant around the base of the tube until it fails. So they last just about the same as a halogen.

To back up Ceili's remarks, I've never noticed this with the ones I've got. They also seem to last a pretty long time -- we've mostly got these low energy bulbs, and have had for in excess of fifteen years. Of the c. 20 bulbs that are regularly used we've only really replaced 2. (And one that got broken due to mishap when moving house -- we mostly use lamps; I'm not cheap enough to take the bulbs when I move house.)

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Worse, when you remove a spent bulb, you really must be careful about hanging on to the transormer socket when twisting it off, because the glass will just come off.

Since we don't have a transformer, that either means I've mis-understood the type you have, or there is something different between our countries.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Although I have low-energy fluorescent bulbs for general-purpose lighting around my house, and have had for several years now, I must admit to using a "white light" halogen "spotlight" for reading, because I find the "yellow" light of the fluorescents far from ideal for that. Does anyone share my preference in that?

Hmm. I notice that some of the older bulbs (when a bulb we rarely use fails, I tend to replace it with a "pre-used" low energy bulb, and but a new one into the heavy usage spot) give a slightly different colour, and take a lot longer to warm up, but I've not really notice that. I know for "ordinary" fluorescent bulbs you can get much "whiter" daylight bulbs. Is there anything similar for the power saving lightbulbs.

As an aside on renewable energy generation, I remeber having a discussion with someone who lived on a Scottish Island that had a number of wind turbines installed. The net gain to the island was a bit of new road (that was in pretty good condition based on the prevaling standards of the island). Compare that with many other power stations (nuclear and non-nuclear): they give significant employment. I wonder how much of the opposition to some schemes is that they bring no employment to their "host" site.