Low-energy light bulbs – blaming us for energy consumption
First published by BBC Breakfast, January 2009BBC Breakfast: News and discussion piece on the phasing in of new low-energy light bulbs. During this item on BBC Breakfast, James Woudhuysen outlines his criticism of the government’s focus on consumer buying.
The real discussion needed is around the methods and scale of energy production. With the announcement that Tungsten filament light bulbs will be phased out and replaced by a new eco-friendly low-energy one, the old light bulbs are flying off shop shelves. People are concerned about the cost of the new bulbs and the quality of the light they provide. In order to reduce carbon emissions, the old style bulb will be phased out and it will become illegal to manufacture them.
However, James Woudhuysen gives short shrift to the focus on the bulbs and on consumer purchasing – especially given that the old ones don’t emit carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases. The real discussion needed, if the underlying issue of global warming is to be tackled, is how to fix this problem at source. Politicians should stop blaming consumers and, instead, lead the development of an energy strategy that tackles the problem of green house gas emissions at source.
KOWTOWING TO BEIJING DEPT: Whaddya know? Keir Starmer finally discovers his ‘growth agenda’! As my piece also suggests, the portents don't look good for Labour to protect the UK from CCP operations https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-pares-back-secretive-china-strategy-review-seeking-closer-ties-2024-12-16/
"By all means, keep up the salty, anti-Starmer tweets, Elon. But kindly keep your mega-bucks to yourself."
At the #ECB, convicted lawyer #ChristineLagarde has just beaten inflation, oh yes. But #AndrewBailey's many forecasts of lower interest rates have excelled again, with UK inflation now at 2.6 per cent
Painting: Thomas Couture, A SLEEPING JUDGE, 1859
Innovators I like
Robert Furchgott – discovered that nitric oxide transmits signals within the human body
Barry Marshall – showed that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is the cause of most peptic ulcers, reversing decades of medical doctrine holding that ulcers were caused by stress, spicy foods, and too much acid
N Joseph Woodland – co-inventor of the barcode
Jocelyn Bell Burnell – she discovered the first radio pulsars
John Tyndall – the man who worked out why the sky was blue
Rosalind Franklin co-discovered the structure of DNA, with Crick and Watson
Rosalyn Sussman Yallow – development of radioimmunoassay (RIA), a method of quantifying minute amounts of biological substances in the body
Jonas Salk – discovery and development of the first successful polio vaccine
John Waterlow – discovered that lack of body potassium causes altitude sickness. First experiment: on himself
Werner Forssmann – the first man to insert a catheter into a human heart: his own
Bruce Bayer – scientist with Kodak whose invention of a colour filter array enabled digital imaging sensors to capture colour
Yuri Gagarin – first man in space. My piece of fandom: http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/10421
Sir Godfrey Hounsfield – inventor, with Robert Ledley, of the CAT scanner
Martin Cooper – inventor of the mobile phone
George Devol – 'father of robotics’ who helped to revolutionise carmaking
Thomas Tuohy – Windscale manager who doused the flames of the 1957 fire
Eugene Polley – TV remote controls
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