Skirting EU law: The rebranding of incandescent bulbs as 'Heat Balls'
A German businessman is getting around a law banning incandescent bulbs by selling them under a different name.
Photo: James Bowe/Flickr 
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There's also an english version of the website at https://www.heatball.de/en/
"The problem is that people will buy Heat Balls primarily as a way around the ban on incandescent bulbs."
This is a solution to the problem not the problem itself.
Does this upcoming ban mean no more Christmas tree "heat balls"?
Heck, they've been cooking Easy Bake Oven desserts for 50 years!!
I MEAN BEST POST, ON ALL BLOGS, EVERYWHERE (for today):
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Posted By SickOfStatistNannies - Tue, Jan 04 2011 at 1:54 PM EST
When we insulated our home, they wanted to "force" us to use those Mercury filled death bulbs. I took them outside, and smashed them near a pond.
I will go WELL out of my way to spite these eco-marxists. Whatever they want and strive for, I will work towards.... More
got to admit...your name fits. you are sick
Well said Mel, I might do the same thnks for the tip.
All us hillbillies know that just one "Heat Ball" (I do like that name) is all it takes to keep our well house pipes from freezing in these Ozark winters. (Assuming you have a reasonably well-insulated well house. I made mine from discarded chest freezers.)
My single 60-watt bulb replaces the need for an electric space heater, which would burn at LEAST 300 watts (or likely more).
Statist Eco-hippies need to learn that incandescent bulbs are necessary, and shouldn't be banned. Let.... More
"Don't you believe in the free market?"
Is that a trick question? Obviously, no.
"Environmentalism and the state: destroying progress and capital": http://irdial.com/blogdial/?p=1812
Just as the efficiency of int incandescent light bulb was to be increased by 60% through an inexpensive and brilliant innovation, the enviro lunatics scuppered it in favor of poisonous, headache inducing and expensive mercury filled bulbs that no one wants.
Commenter above is right; we need to stop these commies... once and for
The incandescents were not banned. They just have to meet a higher standard of efficiency. Sure wish ya'll would try to understand what you are protesting. You remind me of Anna Roseanna Danna. Oh, never mind.
I wouldn't go so far as to say no one wants them, they wouldn't exist before the bans if they weren't wanted. I for one use them because I like saving money. On the other hand, I've bought a huge supply of incandescent bulbs for my refrigerator, you know, the light that turns on every time you open the door? Yeah, fluorescents don't do so good with the constant on/off cycle.
... didn't realize how old this article is till now. haha. I'm responding to some people who could have passed away by now for all I know. Thanks for the super-current link, Glenn Reynolds :-}
October is that old? I guess people could have died in the last 3 months, but by the same token, they could have died in the last 3 minutes too
When we insulated our home, they wanted to "force" us to use those Mercury filled death bulbs. I took them outside, and smashed them near a pond.
I will go WELL out of my way to spite these eco-marxists. Whatever they want and strive for, I will work towards opposite ends.
Whatcha gonna do about it commies?
That's right.
Nothing.
I can't think of a bigger sign of immaturity than doing the opposite of what you're told, even when it's the right thing to do. Make up your own mind, don't act like you're six years old.
Breaking a mercury bulb near your ground water just makes you a moron. Or if you're not one now, you'll be one as soon as your mercury concentration gets high enough.
How can returning mercury back to the earth be bad?
Boston Harbor? That sounds immature too, doesn't it?
Couldn't have been the mercury.
Then again, maybe the Civil War *was* because of mercury... Lincoln had been taking it for depression (I can't recall if he used it during his election & presidency).
The "bigger sign of immaturity" is doing "what you are told" without **knowing** its factual and moral status. When those who are telling you what to do, without truly ""knowing"" its factual and moral status, they are being irrational & dictatorial. Anger and resentment & resentment is to be expected.
Economic energy problems are *caused* by the misanthropic, Luddite and Gaia based illogic of environmentalism. Environmentalists have, solely through irrational scaremongering,.... More
It is not immaturity it is BLIND FAITH
Exactly.
It is truly frightening how great a portion of humanity commits their lives to it. The ~1500 years known as The Dark Ages ensued since The New Testament 'officially' began. Imagine, if Aristotle's ideas had won out instead. Man would have gone through the technological developments of the most recent 500 yrs (initiated by the re-discovery of Aristotle), had actually occurred beginning before 0000 AD. Modern Agriculture, Space Exploration, Modern Medicine, Modern.... More
How the hell does the stupid government think Lava Lamps work? I'd like to see an idiot "environmentalist" try to get one to work with on of those crappy mercury filled fluorescent bulbs (hint: they're to big and not hot enough.) Think of the poor hippies!!!
CFL's take a long time to warm up and be as bright as the heat balls. You get up in the middle of the night, turn on the light to get a drink, It is much dimmer. So CFL's being the same Lumens as heat balls is only true if you leave the lights on all the time. I tend to turn them off when I leave the room. CFL's encourage people not to do that.
When I was growing up in ND (1960's), My Dad used "heat bulbs" to keep the stock tanks from freezing in the winter.... Just ahead of his time I guess.
Mr Rotthäuser's web site is also available in English:
http://heatball.de/en/
(or click on the British flag at the upper right of each page on the site).
They shut him down.
You Europeans need to get your gun rights back or it will be too late.
What I light my home with is NO ones business. I didn't work all my life to live in a home lit up light a Soviet hovel. MYOFB.
I agree with Free Market. It's not a "problem" if people buy these lightbulbs for light. Of *course* they're doing it to light their home! This is a clever way to let people keep some freedom without breaking the law. People *want* incandescents, and this is a nice way to let them continue making their own decisions.
But we will all die from global warming if these heat balls are used. Al Gore said so!
Some people get acute headaches from compact fluorescent bulbs. If they have to buy "heat balls" to avoid a pain in the brain, so be it.
While it sounds great that "heat balls" can convert 95% of the energy they draw to heat, that is like trying to heat your house with a candle. Each can be used to heat a home, but would require using hundreds of "heat balls" or hundreds of candles. They are much better at their intended uses of providing light, however inefficient a use of energy that may be.
Comparing these "heat balls" to heating is only a good comparison if you were going to heat with electricity anyway, or if you have gas or fuel oil, and then you do the comparison based on $$. In the times when you are cooling your house, obviously any light bulbs, and basically any appliance that is less than 100 % adiabatic ( no heat transfer), meaning ALL of them, will work against any cooling by your A/C.
What are you trying to say? If 95% of the 100 W bulb's electrical power is converted to internal energy of the surroundings (i.e. transferred via heat to the air), with the remainder being light, then we have 95 W of heating.
Whether you want to use 16 light bulbs to get just over 1500 W of heating, or you want to turn on your 1500 W space heater, it's the same amount of heating for the home. To get into detail, it does matter on positioning of the "heating devices", of course. If.... More
I use traditional incandescent bulbs in my unheated bathroom in the winter and it makes a substatial difference in a small room. When spring comes, I switch out the bulbs for cfl's.
For small space heating situations, the incandescent bulbs can be useful.
I am glad you added "When spring comes, I switch out the bulbs for cfl's." This is a smart practice. Otherwise you will be working against the air conditioning unit.
I prefer the old-fashioned bulbs but they can be hot when you want cold.
My ex has a bank of four 100-watt clear-glass bulbs above the mirror in her bathroom (for putting on makeup or some such nonsense). You can't get within 3 feet of the countertop without feeling the heat pouring off/out of them. Quite effective in keeping the bathroom warm, and blinding you in the middle of the night if you pick the wrong light switch...
"This little heat ball of mine"
We need to be a bit careful here. While 95% efficiency is nothing to sneeze at, heat pumps can provide 3 to 4 times as much heat as "Heat Bulbs" after using the same amount of electrical energy. As heaters, "Heat Bulbs" are not a very cost-effective way to heat a house. Aside from that, think of the eyesore of having those bulbs all over your house and all the extra wiring that you would have to run through your walls.
The heat pump efficiency is dependant on the temperature difference. For "3 to 4 times as much heat" with an air-source heat pump its going to have to be about 50 degrees F outside. Ground-source heat pumps require a large capital investment that would never cover the additional costs over a conventional system where I live.
No one is claiming these things are effective heaters. It's all being done with a "wink wink nudge nudge". The law banning them is idiotic.
Wait.... are you saying that heat pumps put out more energy than they consume? Errrr.... I suggest a quick Google on the first law of thermodynamics. Unless I miss your point, if Heat Bulbs are 95% efficient and heat pumps are 3-4x more efficient, doesn't that make them put out 285% to 380% of the energy that they consume? If you've got a heat pump that does that, you are gonna be very, very rich.
What he stated does not violate the 1st law of thermo. He may be a mechanical engineer, and you must not be. He is stating the Coefficient of Performance of the heat pump (same deal as for an A/C - heat pump in reverse), which can indeed be much > 1. You need to realize that the energy taken out of the cold outside air (at the condenser) + electrical power to the unit = heat transferred at the evaporator to the inside air. The 1st law holds, as it dang well better!
Don't feel bad -.... More
And it was such a nice pithy comment. But, I think you're right. No, I'm not an engineer and I really don't know a lot about HVAC. I read the Wikipedia article on heat pumps though and it appears you are right. It doesn't violate the 1st law because it's not really a closed system. It's taking energy from a heat souce (even cold air has heat obviously since it's not at absolute zero) and moving that using electrical power typically to a colder area. Through use of the refridgerant and.... More
You can make the control volume around the whole heat-pump system (the inside and outside and the lines between). It still works, so it is a closed system.
Picture what's coming in and what's going out and a steady state (no accumulation or loss of energy in the control volume). What's coming in is electrical energy and energy transferred to the evaporator. What's coming out is energy transferred from the condenser (dang, I think I mixed these two up in a prev. post) The condenser and.... More
The reason for "Heat Balls" is that people are tired of having to strain their eyes to read in their own homes thanks to government mandated flourescent bulbs that don't put out enough lumins. If you think that people are buying these for heat, you are very naive. It's a light bulb, duh.
It's not a matter of intensity - I believe CFLs are actually no different in intensity from their advertised incandescent competition.
The problem is threefold:
- They have an ugly, harsh color and look
- They do not create a steady light - they flicker constantly, which makes some people uncomfortable.
- The bulbs are ugly - they look horrible when used in decorative lighting.
Since the use of energy for lighting is not a significant component of most.... More
