Texas wants to turn the lights off on a federal plan to phase out certain light bulbs

that brings up a good point (or maybe someone made it in this thread and I missed it) that the alleged wasted energy from the heat of the bulbs that are now to be outlawed is only wasted energy about half the time, as the other half the heat is wanted and used. I assume that the efficency of this heat is not ideal but I would bet money that when the calculations used to support this law are looked at it will show that the good usage of the heat produced is totally ignored.

I think so. Might not be noticable in most detached homes in the US, but the heating effect becomes quite significant in large buildings. I imagine the effect is much greater for saab on a 12 month basis. She does live in Sweden, with somewhat longer winters than most of us are used to.

Modern large buildings keep heat very well, and are shielded from the sun pretty well, so the effect is to add wanted heat in winter that is recirculated, and unwanted heat in the summer, which needs to be taken out by AC.

I don´t know the name in German, but translated from Swedish into English it would not be earthship house.
I saw one last summer and it looks like any normal house from outside, but inside it is with high ceiling, lots of windows and good insulation, which you cannot see.
see if I can find any information

These houses are called passiv in swedish. Any help what they might be in German - I think it could be passiv too

Nearly the same name, Passivhaus (passive house) - it's kind of a 'superior low-energy house' - the latter being the standard for new houses here since the 90's, the former were fors built in 1990. (Low-energy house)

You can't return the bulbs at the store you buy them from? I can in my part of the country. Most major retailers have implemented nationwide bulb recycling programs, Lowes, Home Depot, Target, Walmart. Many local businesses also offer recycling. Perhaps you just aren't looking to recycle.

**Edit**
I didn't realize you were outside US
Ohh.. IKEA does recycling!!!

I think I've posted a thread on that. No link, lazy right this minute.

Re bulbs, here we can just bring the dead ones back to the store.

I used to hate these bulbs and I am very picky about light, both as a painter and a night blind person. They've improved since I first bought one.

Any data that either you or Walter could supply that shows their energy use in actual use would be much appreciated, Saab or Walter.

Are these passiv houses being built on a regular basis, ie. by every builder or only by a few specialized builders?

Article today on that kind of house

http://o.seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2015341741_energyhome17.html

The efficiency at the bulb envelope is perfect, ie. 100% efficiency.

I've never seen any data that breaks down each kwh used for incandescent lighting into heat/light production.

I wonder what the changes were that Joe mentioned that allowed more lumens with less wattage.

The inefficiencies come from making and distributing electrical energy to houses.

After the bulb envelope, any inefficiency is from getting the heat to the place where it's needed, which, as Roger pointed out, isn't all that crucial considering the massive volume of heat that's needed to heat a house during winter temps, [actually it's the wusses' heating needs, not the houses] and the minimal amount of heat put out by a 100w bulb.

Probably the greatest inefficiency relating to residential heating and cooling are those who, immediately upon feeling cool or warm, turn up or turn down the thermostat.

That article was in BBB's thread on passivehaus, Parados, but thanks for the effort.

I'm looking for a more technical article, one that describes theoretical energy use and actual human occupancy use.

The passivhouses in Sweden are more expensive than a traditional house to build, so not everybody will do it.
You cannot change an old house into a passivhouse.
You use about 85% less energy, but when it is very cold you need an extra form of heatingsystem.

More or less by every builder, but some i.e. those in this business since more than 10, 15 years, have a better reputation.

Here is a lengthly article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house

How many people do you think are going to follow the recommendations for the proper response to the breakage of one of these new improved bulbs?

Apparently our government (and if I'm not mistaken we have Bush, not Obama to thank for this ridiculous law) doesn't trust us to conserve energy and so must force us to through laws and regulations like this one, and yet they either do trust us put on HazMat suits to clean up a broken bulb, or they don't really care if we follow the recommendations.

The law was championed by environmentalists who have long ago proved they are incapable of appreciating the concept of scope, and passed by politicians who wanted to add "energy saving" to their voting record. If 10% of those who voted for the original bill knew what it actually would mean for Americans, that's saying something.

Incandescent light bulbs are not killing the planet, and if eliminating their use has a measureable effect on the environment I will be amazed.

Thank goodness there is Texas.

EU has forced us to use the energylow bulbs too.
They are very contraversial in different countries over here too.
The Swiss IT’IS has a recomandation that you should never sit closer than 30 cm to such a bulb. It can cause healthproblems. If you sit very close over a long time - month years - these bulbs can maybe cause skincancer. This is just one of many arguments against them.
But who wants to sit something like 5 cm close to a lamp for years?

And in the publication of the same study, the IT'TS confirmed that all tested (11) bulbs are confirm to the Swiss safety standards.

That last information was NOT mentioned in the Swedish article.

The [Swiss] Federal Office of Public Health and the [Swiss] Federal Office of Energy published it. (The above mentioned study was ordered by them.)