Looks like they've banned the Hoover -- a large energy sucking device. Are Class A amplifiers next:
Another European Directive That Really Sucks…EU Now Banning “Energy-Hungry” Home Appliances
Another European Directive That Really Sucks…EU Now Banning “Energy-Hungry” Home Appliances
I suspect Vacuum Tube Amplifier sales are below the noise level for bureaucrats to take notice of their efficiency (or lack thereof).
If they ever take notice, it won't be just the class A amplifiers. All of them are terribly inefficient compared to SS amps and the attitude is such tat I would expect all vacuum tube amps to be banned. They won't say Vacuum Tube amps, they will ban amps below a certain efficiency. an efficiency limit of 80% or more would do the job nicely.
If they ever take notice, it won't be just the class A amplifiers. All of them are terribly inefficient compared to SS amps and the attitude is such tat I would expect all vacuum tube amps to be banned. They won't say Vacuum Tube amps, they will ban amps below a certain efficiency. an efficiency limit of 80% or more would do the job nicely.
Don't give them any ideas, or all that will be left is class D and ear buds, as speakers ate too inefficient.
Have no headaches if they ever ban all loudspeakers other than horns. 
More seriuously spoken, no wonder at all noone likes Brussel bureaucracy.
They've stolen us light bulbs while giving us DIN ISO certified bananas,
they plan do make cars more expensive and limit vacuum cleaners to 900W.
Following this logic it's indeed a matter of time when they ban tube and
class A amps.
More seriuously spoken, no wonder at all noone likes Brussel bureaucracy.
They've stolen us light bulbs while giving us DIN ISO certified bananas,
they plan do make cars more expensive and limit vacuum cleaners to 900W.
Following this logic it's indeed a matter of time when they ban tube and
class A amps.
You know, looking at it as just "Brussels' bureaucracy" going crazy is probably not giving the full story. Neither looking at it as just an environmental measure.
It is highly likely that such a rule is coming from the pressure of European vacuum cleaners makers (Miele, Philips), that are able to produce relatively efficient machines, more so than the cheaper alternatives from China.
It is highly likely that such a rule is coming from the pressure of European vacuum cleaners makers (Miele, Philips), that are able to produce relatively efficient machines, more so than the cheaper alternatives from China.
I can remember light bulbs.
You can still buy real ones but they have to have "for industrial use only" printed on them.
We will have to keep all our old vacuum cleaners going. Just don't buy ones with all those complicated plastic bits on them so that they last. Those crippled things will make the job take longer and use the same amount of power.
The did the same with water saving toilets and you have to wait for the water and flush again so they just waste time without saving any water.
Keep the old ones of all those for sure.
You can still buy real ones but they have to have "for industrial use only" printed on them.
We will have to keep all our old vacuum cleaners going. Just don't buy ones with all those complicated plastic bits on them so that they last. Those crippled things will make the job take longer and use the same amount of power.
The did the same with water saving toilets and you have to wait for the water and flush again so they just waste time without saving any water.
Keep the old ones of all those for sure.
The light bulbs is a scam. Follow the money behind it. 100W light bulb or a 5KW heater. Seems to me that if reducing energy usage was the motivation, simply turning down the heater a few degrees would make a much larger contribution. Along those lines, repairing old window and door seals would save waaayyyyy more energy than replacing 100W incandescent bulb with one of those damn mercury containing
florescent flashy things that give me a headache. 
florescent flashy things that give me a headache. Politicians (of all flavours) always want to be seen to be doing something, anything - however irrelevant it is to the actual problem (real or perceived). They are not too bothered what it is, provided they can convince a few journalists to write about it - as journalists need to write something, anything, and most of them don't know how to go out and find and understand a story so they just want to be spoon-fed press releases.
Bureaucrats can be worse than politicians; we can vote out politicians. A good bureaucrat can have so much self-belief that he feels he can rewrite the laws of physics and chemistry. As (probably) an arts graduate he 'knows' that all this stuff is merely a social construct (as vacuous as his own studies) so need not be regarded as a constraint in pursuing The Grand Plan of forcing citizens to enjoy life just as he believes they should.
Bureaucrats can be worse than politicians; we can vote out politicians. A good bureaucrat can have so much self-belief that he feels he can rewrite the laws of physics and chemistry. As (probably) an arts graduate he 'knows' that all this stuff is merely a social construct (as vacuous as his own studies) so need not be regarded as a constraint in pursuing The Grand Plan of forcing citizens to enjoy life just as he believes they should.
European law making being my field of expertise, I can assure you that self-belief is really the least problem in such matters. Such regulations are usually spoon-fed to the EU Commission/Parliament by industry-lobbyists and pushed in the background by a few member states.
Usually politicians start pushing for some action and the administration will start looking for a field of action. As soon as the industry feels the wind blowing, they suggest measures that won't harm them too much (and if possible even provide them some competitive advantages) while still fitting the political narrative (here "being green"). If self-belief enters the picture, it could be through a willingness to believe a bit too quickly the rosy future picture drawn by the industry (it's not the bureaucrats who came with the cfl lasting forever... it's Philips and co). Read the linked article carefully. Dyson doesn't seem too upset about the reduction in power (they already have powerful cleaners at 1500w), only by the chosen testing method for efficiency (which shows lobbyists for other brands were more efficient).
The problem of course is that there are no organized citizens' lobbies on everything to counterbalance the process. To be true, in this case there might be, but they would be environmentalist, reinforcing the process.
Btw, such regulations are usually written by a mixed group of lawyers, economists and engineers (it certainly was the case for the light bulbs thing).
@CBS240: actually most European countries already have (sometimes massive) programs to support windows replacement and housing improvements (usually through fiscal rules). But it's mostly a field of national responsibilities, not EU's. Even then, some of those programs are not without problems.
PS: sorry if it comes close to the no-political discussions line. 😱
The sort of engineers who get involved with these things are probably those who believe that new technology is always superior to old technology so it is OK to force a change on people even in those situations where the old technology works better. Examples:00940 said:
CFL vs incandescent - CFL generates RF hash and does not like too many switching cycles
condensing vs traditional boilers - condensing boilers tend to be unreliable, with short service life and problems with freezing in very cold weather because installers don't think
lead-free vs proper solder - I think we all know about that!
SMPS vs traditional PSU - lots of RF hash everywhere so the HF and VHF bands are becoming unusable in towns and cities for communication or entertainment
wind farms vs nuclear - only one of these will supply power on a cold still night in January
If the new technology really is better then in time most people will voluntarily adopt it. This was already happening with CFLs - I use them wherever they are appropriate. I will now have to buy expensive 'rough duty' bulbs for those places which incandescent suits better.
Well, yes and no. They will hire "industry experts"... let's politely say that the well-being of the industry (or part of it) will be considered at least as much as the customers' well-being. What the engineers (and lawyers for that matter) believe deep down is another matter.
It's a tricky balancing act. Of course the EU should be about customers' protection... or should it be at first concerned about preserving industry jobs ? Or about environment protection ? Of course the EU could be doing nothing and let the customers choose. But hey, that's not how it works in most member states so there's little chance of that happening.
Just commenting on the process here. As for knowing who's right... I'm afraid I'm completely clueless about the efficiency ratings of vacuum cleaners. Btw, hasn't the UK just decided to build two nuclear plants (from EDF/Areva) ? So not all things are going wrong ;-)
It's a tricky balancing act. Of course the EU should be about customers' protection... or should it be at first concerned about preserving industry jobs ? Or about environment protection ? Of course the EU could be doing nothing and let the customers choose. But hey, that's not how it works in most member states so there's little chance of that happening.
Just commenting on the process here. As for knowing who's right... I'm afraid I'm completely clueless about the efficiency ratings of vacuum cleaners. Btw, hasn't the UK just decided to build two nuclear plants (from EDF/Areva) ? So not all things are going wrong ;-)
The thing which went wrong there is that our leaders seem totally unembarrassed that the UK civil nuclear industry has all but disappeared during the years they were umming and arghing about nuclear power. The country which invented nuclear power now has to import French technology supported by Chinese money. There is even talk of importing Chinese nuclear engineering - can you imagine the safety discussions "It will be fine as long as we remember to put a CE sticker on the back gate".
Guys, let's stay well away from politics.
Many countries are happy without it and they don't live in the middle age.
I did change my opinion. Nuclear energy is a crime against nature and future generations.
Nuclear industry lobbyists told us different for decades. 😉
I say we Nuke 'm. First to go are those thorium reactor types.
After that, we burn some extra coal and a couple of million barrels more each year, to raise the sea level to collective drowning stage faster.
And FTR : if things turn out even more favorable than anticipated, get your own ark.
For the non-European members :
Brussels is where we ship our parliamentary fall-out waste to.
Unfortunately, the tv/radio-active decay rate of a EU parliament member does not look favorable.
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