OTTAWA (CP) - The light is fading on one of the great inventions of the 19th century, the incandescent bulb with its white-hot filament that sheds far more heat than light.

The federal government is following a number of other jurisdictions, including Australia, Ontario and California, in banning incandescent bulbs that have dominated the lighting market since the 1880s.

The outmoded products will be phased out by 2012 and a new generation of more efficient bulbs is ready to take their place.

Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn says the ban will cut greenhouse emissions by more than six million tonnes of year. That’s about 0.8 per cent of Canada’s emissions.

Lunn said the ban will save homeowners about $60 annually in electricity costs.

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New Democrat MP Paul Dewar said he put forward a private member’s bill several weeks ago calling a ban on inefficient light bulbs and it was rejected at the time. He said the government is lurching from announcement to announcement with no overall plan on climate change.Â

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This is a very common sense approach, and I’m glad the government is on side with the NDP on this, even though they were not a few weeks back. I hope this is the start of many other initiatives taking place. As much as I hate the term, this is really a “win/win” situation for both the environment and consumer’s wallets.

As many of you know, Google edits its logo every once in a while to reflect a holiday, event, etc. Today is Earth Day and instead of it’s usual “bunnies and trees” Google has changed it’s logo into a powerful message.

The Liberals’ record on this issue during their 12 years in power can best be likened to an arsonist returning to the scene of the crime and shouting: “OMIGAWD! WHERE ARE THE FIRE TRUCKS?”

The Liberals, first under Jean Chretien and then Paul Martin, were at least 30% behind their own Kyoto target of reducing man-made greenhouse gas emissions to 6% below 1990 levels, starting in 2008, when they were defeated last year. But even that figure grossly underestimates the extent of the Liberals’ failure to address what they now insist is the number one crisis facing our planet.

In their 1993 Red Book, Chretien and Martin (who co-authored the document) promised to reduce Canada’s man-made greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 1988 levels by 2005.

Thus, the Liberal government’s dismal record of steadily increasing greenhouse gas emissions from 1993 to early 2006 can fairly be described as one of repeatedly watering down its own targets.

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While May praises Dion and the Liberals now on global warming, here’s what the Sierra Club of Canada, when May was executive director, said about their environmental record in the fall of 2000: “On issue after issue, in the last eight years, Canada has moved from a leadership environmental position globally, to being a laggard and international embarrassment. Whether in negotiations to control persistent organic pollutants, or to reduce greenhouse gases … Canada is now achieving a new reputation — as a country that blocks progress to environmental goals.”

Winnipeg Sun

Credit: Mark Francis 

Researchers in New Zealand have developed an organic dye similar to what is found in nature. This dye will be used in solar cells to gather solar energy. The green dye is “synthetic chlorophyll derived from the light-harvesting pigment plants use for photosynthesis. Other dyes being tested in the cells are based on haemoglobin, the compound that give blood its colour.” This environmentally friendly technology is expected to cost one-tenth of what silicone based panels cost.

Read more here.