On Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:44:27 GMT, Mike Scott
wrote:

I'm curious. "Low energy" bulbs are very much in the news - but how much
extra energy is expended in their manufacture compared to a standard
incandescent? I assume it's more - so is there a real net /overall/
saving over the bulb life? If so, how much?

It's hard to say because their introduction has been heavily
politicised, and personally I suspect corruption at high level in the
EU and for all i know the UK.

CFL's from China have been subject to an import levy for some years,
whilst GE has been subsidising their sale.

Philips who's "GloeilampenFabrieken" were losing money shut their GLS
factory down and have been lobbying the EU with some success to get
GLS lamps banned in the EU so that all their competitors will also
have to shut and they will be able to sell Chinese CFL's without
competition from any GLS lamps.

So much for free trade USW, USW, USW ...

As for how much energy goes into making a Chinese CFL. It's probably
easiest to say it's hasn't been published.

Energy in China produced from burning soft brown coal in power
stations built and staffed by people on slave labour pay will always
be much cheaper than ours, so price is not any indication either.

What one can say is that without doubt soft brown coal is one of *the
worst* fuels to burn from the point of view of the environmnent.

DG