Light bulbs power Venezuela out of electricity crisis

Mark · Post by **Mark** » 08 Mar 2010, 10:49

Light bulbs power Venezuela out of electricity crisis:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8543469.stm

It might sound like the start of a bad joke, but how many Venezuelan soldiers does it take to change a light bulb?

When the country is in the midst of its worst electricity crisis for 50 years, the answer is lots. In fact, an entire army's worth. On the Fuerte Tiuana military base in Caracas, there is a warehouse full of light bulbs. Hundreds of boxes of Firefly energy-efficient bulbs are sitting in vast stacks, ready to be loaded onto waiting trucks by the troops. Meanwhile, the other half of the warehouse is a graveyard for used and spent light bulbs.

Huge amounts of filaments and broken glass have been swept into small mountains before being shipped to Venezuela's second city, Maracaibo, for safe disposal because of the mercury content. Outside the warehouse, a platoon of soldiers is standing to attention for their colonel before being dispatched to hand out the light bulbs in one of the capital's poorest neighbourhoods. "Today's mission is vital for the health and development of the nation. And it comes directly on orders from the commander-in-chief," barks the colonel.

Continues.....

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 08 Mar 2010, 11:11

Mercury in the old filament bulbs? How does that work?

Post by **adam2** » 08 Mar 2010, 11:18

"huge amounts of filaments and broken glass----------sent for safe disposal because of the mercury contentl"

How pointless ! If they are refering to the incandescent lamps that have been replaced with CFLs, then these never did contain mercury, and no special disposal is required, though it would of course be desirable to recycle the materials.
If they are refering to used CFLs, then if these have been broken then the small amount of mercury has escaped and any special treatment is pointless.

UNBROKEN flourescent lamps should be recycled owing to the mercury content, but there is no point if they are broken.

Kentucky Fried Panda · Post by **Kentucky Fried Panda** » 09 Mar 2010, 18:28

That sneaky Chavez... I wonder what sort of pinko commie schemes he'll hatch next...

Mark · Post by **Mark** » 25 Mar 2010, 08:49

Chavez extends Venezuela Easter holiday to save energy:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8586429.stm

This scheme sounds quite a good one to me

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 25 Mar 2010, 15:27

Yup til 9 months have passed...