Should Environmental Issues and Limited Power Restrict Christmas Lighting?

[Zak33]

It's nearly that time of year when Wayne and Waynetta hang 40000 candle power of fairy lights off their gutterings and down the front porch.

It's getting close to the time when every single family needs to consider how to pay the electric bill, and also whether there will even be enough electricity for the growing population in the next 50 years.

Should it be acceptable for literally millions of homes to be bedecked with trillions of electric light bulbs? Some of these homes look like this:

and I'm sure you know many near you.

Maybe YOUR home looks like this?


Is it fair or right or proper for this to occur? Even though the people are paying for the bulbs and the electricity.... is it ethical?

You could argue that a big engined car is bad for the environment. It IS....you're right. And it now pays larger amounts of Road Fund License. SO efective has this been that sales of larger engines Auto petrol cars has dropped off hugely. So it works... tax the bad emmiters.

Should we perhaps TAX these Christmas lights? Non on the sale of them.. that's already done with VAT. But should people have o perhaps BUY a certificate every year to be allowed to deck the guttering with eye watering brightness?

Or should I just leave them alone... let them ruin my ability to sleep at night, and force me to put up card board sheets at the windows to block out the flashing Santa's and the Neon Reindeer


Tax 'em I say.. tax em till they bleed as much as my eyes do

[Funkstar]

My decorations last year consisted of a single length of USB powered LED lights.

This year I won't have any

Africa Rally 2009 - Team Fool Tank

Thats is why

[badass]

Originally Posted by Zak33

It's nearly that time of year when Wayne and Waynetta hang 40000 candle power of fairy lights off their gutterings and down the front porch.

It's getting close to the time when every single family needs to consider how to pay the electric bill, and also whether there will even be enough electricity for the growing population in the next 50 years.

Should it be acceptable for literally millions of homes to be bedecked with trillions of electric light bulbs? Some of these homes look like this:

and I'm sure you know many near you.

Maybe YOUR home looks like this?


Is it fair or right or proper for this to occur? Even though the people are paying for the bulbs and the electricity.... is it ethical?

You could argue that a big engined car is bad for the environment. It IS....you're right. And it now pays larger amounts of Road Fund License. SO efective has this been that sales of larger engines Auto petrol cars has dropped off hugely. So it works... tax the bad emmiters.

Should we perhaps TAX these Christmas lights? Non on the sale of them.. that's already done with VAT. But should people have o perhaps BUY a certificate every year to be allowed to deck the guttering with eye watering brightness?

Or should I just leave them alone... let them ruin my ability to sleep at night, and force me to put up card board sheets at the windows to block out the flashing Santa's and the Neon Reindeer


Tax 'em I say.. tax em till they bleed as much as my eyes do

I believe they already pay for their excessive power usage. It's called an electricity bill. You can't complain and demand something be done about about one person's luxury excess unless you like driving around in a boring econobox.

[Zak33]

Originally Posted by badass

I believe they already pay for their excessive power usage. It's called an electricity bill. You can't complain and demand something be done about about one person's luxury excess unless you like driving around in a boring econobox.

i agree that they pay electricity... but a car has to buy petrol too... and the larger it is, the more it uses.. but we still charge extra tax disk TOO...in an attempt to put people off buying them.

Besides.. as time passes, we have less petrol. Hence the efficiency improvements of modern cars. So things are having to change...
Cars are ESSENTIAL to the economy. But they are getting better... and people are buying more efficient ones.

Excessive Christmas lights are not essential to anyone except QVC and the Far east where they are made. They use vast quantity of electricity for no good reason.

[Lucio]

Environmental taxes are one of the biggest cons this government has foisted on people and definately shouldn't be extended any further than they already are! The idea that it's acceptable to hit people two or three times for the same "sin" in the way that the road tax has gone is disgraceful.

So no Zak, I totally disagree with your idea that tax is the way to impliment environmental policies.

[pauldarkside]

You'd think the current ecconomic state would reduce the amount of lighting/decorations going up this year. Companies will still want to squeeze every last penny out of us but are their budgets as big this year? Could be the greenest xmas on recent record.

It's a huge waste and completely unnecessary to me. I do my shopping online so don't even see what's gone up in town. They do pay those bills though, rather we do really, so taxes are already being imposed. As for enforced energy reduction, isn't there some implementation of that already?

[Funkstar]

[Biscuit]

i always have understated christmas' for the exact reason that it is so expensive. When i was little my parents didnt earn a lot and they simply couldnt afford to buy both the bike and the lights all chrismas. Sinse then i have grown to appreciate the odd bit of classy silver tinsel and small set of lights rather than the insane lenghts somepeople risk life to set up.

[badass]

Originally Posted by Zak33

i agree that they pay electricity... but a car has to buy petrol too... and the larger it is, the more it uses.. but we still charge extra tax disk TOO...in an attempt to put people off buying them.

Besides.. as time passes, we have less petrol. Hence the efficiency improvements of modern cars. So things are having to change...
Cars are ESSENTIAL to the economy. But they are getting better... and people are buying more efficient ones.

Cars are. Cars with engines larger than 1 litre are not. Just because it seems a waste to you doesn't mean it's OK to penalise people for being OTT.

[Fraz]

I guess if it's LEDs it's not so much of an issue. If it's incandescents, then I think it should no-longer be allowed.

Frankly, I think shops shouldn't be able to sell all the pointless tat in the first place. It's like in Asda this year I saw that they were selling these "scary" robot butler things. Loads of plastic, numerous electric motors, and god-alone knows how much child-labour manufacturing effort, not to mention all the shipping, etc... and the result is this pointless £70 piece of ultra-tat that'll only be used once a year. Makes me sick.

[matty-hodgson]

i've got a few suggestions that could help with the "energy" side of your argument:

1) make all shops only able to sell LED bulbs, far more efficient and look better IMO.
2) set a guideline as to when the lights should be allowed to be put up (I drove past a house with lights up on the 2nd of september this year)
3) also set a guideline as to when people should have lights on;
- should they be on 24/7?
- should they be switched off after midnight?
- should they only be allowed on after 5pm?
4) (this is a long shot but..) what about a government run initiative where you take your old (working) set of christmas lights to certain stores and you can get money off a new, more energy efficient, set of LED lights?

i feel that all of these things combined could easily help with certain aspects of your argument but without the taxing.

[Funkstar]

Originally Posted by matty-hodgson

1) make all shops only able to sell LED bulbs, far more efficient and look better IMO.

This will have the added benefit of making the lights far more expensive than standard christmas lights, discouraging people from buying them in the first place.

Although they will also be more reliable. So no more digging that old set out and discovering they don't work because of a single blown bulb.

[matty-hodgson]

Originally Posted by Funkstar

Although they will also be more reliable. So no more digging that old set out and discovering they don't work because of a single blown bulb.

haven't parallel circuits fixed that though?

[Funkstar]

Originally Posted by matty-hodgson

haven't parallel circuits fixed that though?

No idea, I just know that last years lights never seem to work when you pull them out of the box. And it's impossible to fine replacement bulbs with the same fitting. So you have to buy a new set every year.

[DannyM]

Seriously, some of the replies here.

I mean just WTF? Zak, shame on you!

We argue about economic climates, economic change, the green effect, the planet going to kak... And the one thing that a lot of people 'used' to enjoy the most, the one time of the year where people can have a bit of hope and excitement and we here end up talking about how to change how we come to celebrate it?

I mean, come on people... Christmas is far from what it used to be, infact, it makes me a bit sad.

People should be able to enjoy the time of year and forget about any issues they may have, just kick back and have a bit of fun?

Ban Christmas lights? Tax for Christmas lights? I mean... COME ON!!!

/... Zak, next time we play ArmA, I'm going drop the biggest bomb I can find on you!

[TooNice]

I don't really celebrate Christmas (though I sometime use it as an excuse to buy something for myself), so it wouldn't affect me, but I am also of the opinion that it doesn't make sense to make people pay more at that time of the year than they would at any other time of the year.

If most people consider lighting taken to be an extreme to be a nuisance, akin to loud music, then by all mean, add some restrictions as to what one may/may not do. Personally, I don't think it's much of a problem for a few nights though.

And if you really want to hit people where it hurts (i.e. tax them) so that they are less wasteful with electricity, then you should do it all year round.