A "light bulb" caused by the "World War" - the battle for energy saving

The global financial crisis has sparked an alternative effect: that people around the world may be synchronizing for the first time on the issue of “the most sensitive keyword to sensitive nerves”, such as “oil prices”, such as “ "Interest rate", for example, "salvation", for example, two common nouns, "light bulb" and "energy efficiency."

It doesn't change, this is a problem...

 

Light bulb "World War"

 

At the beginning of this year, the British society set off a “bulb discussion” because the country’s retail industry responded to the government’s call to stop the production of 100-watt incandescent bulbs after phasing out 150-watt incandescent bulbs last year. In a few weeks, the 100-watt incandescent bulb stocks in the UK market will be exhausted, and consumers will have to switch to energy-saving bulbs that are several times more expensive. According to British media reports, some savvy housewives began to hoard incandescent bulbs in boxes.

After more than 120 years of brightening for British homes, incandescent bulbs will eventually fade out of the market. Next, 75-watt, 60-watt incandescent bulbs will be used by other people to make the price more expensive, but with lower energy consumption and longer life. Energy-saving light bulbs.

Despite the grievances of the British consumers who are nervous about the government from the newspapers, everyone knows that the era of cheap energy is long gone. This war without smoke is hard to beat, and the energy crisis that has arrived early has determined the direction of the future.

 

Victory: Cuba from the beginning of the reform of the light bulb

 

At the end of 2005, Fidel Castro announced 2006 as the "Energy Revolution Year" of Cuba. In the next few months, the Cuban government mobilized 28,000 young volunteers to distribute fuel and replaced millions of incandescent tubes from house to house, replacing them with energy-saving lamps. At the same time, the government decided to increase the electricity bill by 300%.

 

Defeated country: New Zealand replaced by a light bulb

 

In June last year, the New Zealand Labor Party government announced that it would phase out incandescent bulbs in 2009 to achieve the goal of cutting energy consumption by one-fifth of the country.

At that time, the opposition party’s National Party vigorously slammed the Labor Party government into a “nursing government”, and even the light bulbs used in the residents’ homes must be intervened.

In November 2008, the New Zealand National Party won a big victory in the general election. In December, the National Party in power abolished the Labour Party’s “light bulb ban”.

 

Block alliance

 

China: In April 2008, China ** promoted 50 million energy-saving lighting products through financial subsidies. At the same time, it said that vigorously promoting high-efficiency lighting products is an important measure for China's “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” energy conservation and emission reduction plan. Before 2010, China promoted 150 million high-efficiency lighting products.

EU: All 100 watt incandescent bulbs will be phased out by September 2009, and the remaining wattage of incandescent bulbs will be removed from the market in 2012.

Ireland: Starting on March 1 this year, all incandescent bulbs with wattages greater than 75 watts are banned.

United States: Phase out incandescent bulbs by 2014.

Light up a light bulb, just a start...

 

The fifth resource "energy efficiency" is on!

 

In the final analysis, the dispute over the light bulb is still the battle for the cost of using energy. Energy experts have warned that people often complain that electricity bills are becoming more expensive, but in fact the energy that people have unconsciously abandoned is enough to support a country as big as Japan. An incandescent light bulb actually turns only 4% of the electrical energy it supplies into light energy, and everything else becomes heat. It is why you have been taught not to touch the light bulb since childhood, because its heat will be yours. Finger burns.

 

Improve energy efficiency

 

Scientists all over the world are racking their brains to find practical alternative energy sources. If there is a resource at the moment, it will not only be clean and cheap, but also inexhaustible. The most important thing is that you don’t have to look forward to it. Can't get to the "future" in front of you, it's within easy reach - does this sound like a little bit of a night?

In fact, this omnipotent resource is not a magical thing, it is actually a lot of people familiar with the "energyefficiency" (energyefficiency). Energy efficiency is the so-called “energy use efficiency”, but this concept is often ignored by many green alternative energy sources in research and development.

The basic principle of energy efficiency is simple: reduce energy waste as much as possible. The direct effect is to reduce energy costs and meet existing needs while avoiding the consumption of new energy facilities. More generally, the idea is to use less electricity to boil the bath water in your home's water heater, light up all the lights in the office, or provide all the production power for a factory.

 

Avoid sacrificing comfort

 

It sounds like the advocacy of some non-government environmental organizations. Please turn down the heating and wear a coat in the winter. Please go to work, drive less, and so on. If we can achieve the above advocacy is good, but that can not be called energy efficiency, at most can only be called thrift. One of the hallmarks of energy efficiency is that we don't have to sacrifice the comfort of life or change lifestyles to get the so-called efficiency. Thrift is to do less with less resources, but energy efficiency is to use equal resources to do equal or more things.

Now, world-renowned energy research institutions, including the Natural Resources Defense Association (NRDC), the American Chamber of Commerce, and the American Petroleum Institute, agree that energy efficiency is a very effective way to solve energy crises and environmental problems. And we have already begun to work hard and achieve results. According to the US Energy Conservation Alliance (ASE) statistics, from the last global financial crisis in 1973, if the energy efficiency research results obtained so far are not used, the United States will add extra in the process of achieving today’s development achievements. Consume 50% more energy.

 

Soaring with technology

 

**A survey by McKinsey, a research firm, found that if global technology is used to achieve energy efficiency, the results will be “very encouraging,” and by 2020, global energy demand can be reduced by more than 20%. . Amory Lovins, the world's energy efficiency expert, believes that the US-**** energy-consuming country, for example, can apply the best technology in energy efficiency today, which can help the United States save half. Oil and gas consumption and three-quarters of electricity consumption.

In reality, there are two main ways to achieve energy efficiency. One is to use energy-efficient products, such as fuel-efficient cars, energy-saving refrigerators, energy-saving light bulbs, etc. The other is to learn to use energy more actively, such as using insulation during renovation. Pipes, tight doors and windows and other materials. Zhu Yuwen, a Chinese scientist who was nominated by Obama as the new cabinet minister of the United States and a Nobel laureate in physics, declared: "The importance of energy efficiency is no longer necessary."

Duke Energy has called energy efficiency a "fifth resource." Duke has announced that it will provide customers with services to renovate environmentally friendly homes and purchase energy efficient equipment. "We are ready to enter this market," said Ted Skaltz, vice president of energy efficiency at Duke.

At this stage, ** can effectively improve the solution to the climate crisis...

 

**Only due to price/performance**

 

Most consumers are more sensitive to short-term gains, which prevents them from investing in energy-efficient equipment for long-term returns.

Energy-saving light bulbs priced at $3 are eight times longer than incandescent bulbs, but sales of energy-saving light bulbs in the US fell 28% in the previous quarter. The financial crisis has prompted households to save money should be one of the main reasons for this phenomenon. Although the return on the benefits of purchasing energy-saving light bulbs can be achieved in a few months, a $3 light bulb is too expensive for the average family. Compared to the trade-off, many people choose incandescent tens of cents. light bulb. “In the difficult times of the present, the household bills are calculated one by one,” said Kaganda Dayas, head of Philips Lighting. “It’s just a few cents, and consumers don’t want to spend so much. cost."

** The first issue of Time magazine in the article "Unopened Resources: Energy Efficiency" pointed out that energy efficiency can bring considerable benefits in the short term and is more likely to occur in large companies. For example, Duke Energy has adjusted the refrigerator's cooling time for a beer merchant, so that the refrigerator will be charged at a lower electricity rate (in many countries in Europe and America, the electricity bill will be charged in a time-sharing manner, just like the domestic mobile phone bills). Stopping the cooling at the higher time to maintain the current temperature saves $150,000 a year.

"Time" commented that we have entered a new era of energy economy. Not all solutions are directly linked to short-term gains. However, oil and coal will pollute the air, and the cost of nuclear energy and solar energy is too high. Wind energy is There is no problem with the first two, but because of geographical restrictions, its popularity is not high enough. Energy efficiency is a resource that can make a real effect on global warming from now on. Perhaps this is not the best answer we can get. Save the earth and quickly make a lot of money, but it is the answer to the price/performance ratio we can get at this stage.

 

David Goldstein, head of the NRDC, said: "At least until the advent of the cheap solar era, energy efficiency can still get more time for the world."