Vacuum cleaners downgraded by the EU to tackle climate change in Europe
Story submitted by P. Wilson
Anyone wanting to buy a powerful vacuum cleaner has only 10 days left to be certain of getting one – following new EU rules that come in next month.
From 1 September, companies in the EU will be banned from making or importing vacuum cleaners above 1600 watts.
Hoover – based in South Wales – said that most of its cleaners were in that category.
It has been replacing its models since July with less powerful versions, but a few are still left on the shelves.
The new European rules are part of the EU’s energy efficiency directive, designed to help tackle climate change.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28878432
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I don’t see the point of this. Vacuum cleaners run for a few minutes each week. The amount of energy saved in this transient use of the appliance will be miniscule in the scheme of things.
I visualize a black market developing for more powerful vaccum cleaners, an aftermarket retrofit to replace motors with more powerful ones, and a lot of purchases made outside of the EU.
One more reason to dump the EU- they are going to make criminals out of average people who just want to keep their home clean. – Anthony
I don’t know Sr but [the] crap piles higher and higher with this fraud thank you CANADA !!!!!! I love this Country ;>)
It appears the ecocrats of the EU have confused power with energy. If it takes you twice as long to clean while using half the power then you have used the same amount of energy. Have they factored in the CO2 generated by the increased effort required by the vacuumer in any of their saving the planet calculations?
should be” the ”
not he please edit :>(
Insanity….
It appears that both nature and the EU abhor a vacuum…
In a totalitarian state, the measure of your power is how much misery you can cause.
Anyone can be nice – but spreading pain and misery proves to your colleagues that you are powerful.
Great – my new EU business – brooms for sale!
Bootleg Hoovers and Dysons!
Couple of months ago I bought a 2200W Miele. Those are made to last so should be functional for at least ten years. Hopefully this totalitarian nightmare has collapsed by then.
Like the Seinfeld episode about the black market shower heads?
Wait till they get around to heaters. That will get rid of the useless eaters problem.
We have too many Hoovers anyway. Most of them are just gathering dust.
Andrew N says:
August 22, 2014 at 9:18 pm
They are saving the Plan It.
BoM busted maligning the temperature record in Australia.
http://joannenova.com.au/2014/08/the-heat-is-on-bureau-of-meteorology-altering-climate-figures-the-australian/
It just means European 220 v vacuum cleaners will be like the ones we have in the US. 110v vacuums on a 10A circuit are limited to 1000W.
Well, that sucks. I am kind of amused that i made a post yesterday titled ‘An expensive vacuum,’ also dealing with human stupidity, but in a fairly unrelated way. More like SAMURAI’s idea, perhaps.
I had to google that to make sure that this wasn’t a joke of some kind. It is hard to form an adequate response to this.
All the more reason for the UK to quit the EU.
It’s just starting. A utopian’s work is never done. Ever. The EU is the new and improved 1000 year reich. This is what happens when none of your founding documents begin with “We the people…”.
I keep wondering how long European states will subject themselves to the unaccountable EU. Just one more idiotic law in a long litany of destructive policies. I’m not smug about it because my state of California is run by equally incompetent people. At least we can vote them out of office or leave the state if we choose.
It must be supremely frustrating for Europeans.
Max 1600 W is just the beginning, next step is max 900 W, to ble implemented i 2017.
“Beginning September 2014 a new EU Ecodesign Directive goes into effect. In the future it will need to don the EU Energy label and fulfill more stringent minimum requirements with regards to energy efficiency. The practical household appliance will be throttled down and allowed to have a maximum rated power of 1600 Watts. Beginning September 2017 only 900 watts will be allowed.”
What a wonderful new dusty world we can look forward to!
http://notrickszone.com/2014/08/19/eu-enviro-totalitarians-impose-restrictions-on-woodstoves-vacuum-cleaners-limited-to-900-watts-in-2017/
And now, from the people who brought you RoHS.
Coming soon – the 300W microwave and the single-port toaster. Obviously they’re planning ahead to save the grid for air conditioning for those long hot days of global warming. But only for the elite central planners who selflessly do the work of the people.
Since lower power will result in lower air volume and/or vacuum capability, it will take longer to clean a given area, therefore the actual energy savings will be miniscule. The hours taken to clean each week will go up, using more labor, resulting in more people employed in cleaning, therefore more machines will need to be purchased. Hoover should be very happy about this stupid development.
This is just another EU policy designed to waste more of the citizens’ time so that they have less time to counter the bureaucracy and so become more subserviant. Low energy light bulbs mean people waste more time trying to read things, Recycling involves wasting hours a week separating out one set of cr@p from another. Lower powered vacuum cleaners mean more hours wasting trying to remove dirt and dust. What next? (don’t give them ideas)
Dyson “vacuum” cleaners use cyclone technolgy, so don’t strictly speaking use a vacuum to suck up dust, so shouldn’t be affected.
Peak power is a big problem if the energy is coming from unreliables like wind and solar. These should not be connected to the grid. At least the price of energy should vary depending on the demand. That will put unrelialibles out of the market.
We don’t need no more sinking reasons to leave the EU, we have enough already. Fortunately, here in Britain, we have a vacuum cleaner called a Numatic Henry. It’s superb – and is only 1200 watts. It still has a bag, a long hose, a long lead, and all for £100. I bought one for work, and my wife was so impressed that she stole it for the house.
Henry is the best I have ever used, and to accompany it I have a gtech air ram that runs on a battery, that is a marvel and puts fun into hoovering.
So what’s the problem? No need for a black market. Take vacuum cleaners where you can attach a hose on the intake and exhaust ports like a nice Shop-Vac, make a splice hose, and daisy-chain two <= 1600W units, one exhaust to one intake. 3200W or less vacuuming system, done. Save money and energy by removing unnecessary filters, you don’t need HEPA filtration between units.
There should be a good accessory industry starting up where two canister vacs will ride together on one cart, using one power switch. Take measurements and draw up plans now to build your own, it’ll be a fun weekend project.
This is what happens when you have a monstrous, overpaid, underemployed bureaucracy, who are accountable to no one.
These people in Brussels believe they have to be seen to be doing something, so they come up with with rafts of stupid rules and regulations. It is like a treadmill, the BS emanating from the EU’s central bureaucracy never stops.
The amount of energy which will be saved by this regulation will be either zero or negligible and this is where ‘Save the Planet Syndrome’ kicks in, for the bureaucrats know the politicians will approve of this.
In reality, this regulation is no big deal, as vacuum cleaner technology has advanced dramatically over the last few years and become hugely more efficient.
Nevertheless, it is a classic case of the EU seeking to impose unnecessary rules and regulations to further restrict their citizens’ right to choose.
A century ago at the advent of World War 1, the British Foreign Secretary famously said: “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.” What we are seeing with the EU today is a just a slower version of this caused by an utterly insane energy policy, which amongst other things, sees the need to outlaw powerful vacuum cleaners.
In case you haven’t heard, over there in Americaland, here in Britain we are whisker-close to all having Smart Meters installed, at a cost of between £12 and £15 billion. We will be forced to have them – and we have to pay for them. Worryingly, it is said that it will be possible for a future government to be able to remotely switch off your supply in the event of a national energy emergency road-by-road, and that hackers could do it too. The amount saved by having one won’t retrieve the install costs, but then when did sense have any play in government decisions…especially where energy and climate change are concerned.
Andrew N says:
August 22, 2014 at 9:18 pm
“It appears the ecocrats of the EU have confused power with energy. ”
You are so right Sir. Problem is that many leading politians in EU not only are confused ecocrats. They also lack knowledge of differens between empiri and political thesis not valuated in accordance to Theories of Science….
The EU should make the vacuum cleaner manufactures create a whole new brand of vacuum cleaner. We will call it the “Wind Turbine” vacuum cleaner. Only works when the wind mills are turning.
EU abhorrs a vacuum
Please, when commenting on such things, correctly refer to the EU as the European SOVIET Union – because that is what it is. And my country, the UK, is under its dictatorship
Andrew N. Brings a very valid point to this argument, but I believe it will be worse than that. the effectiveness of the vacuum cleaner is also reduced meaning it will probably take more than twice as much work to get a lower level of cleanliness.
It would also be interesting if anyone that reads works in or is a member of the EU parliament, to check the wattage on the vacuum cleaners used there.
This sounds counterproductive to me: I thought they’d use the more powerful vacuum cleaners to suck all that nasty “carbon” out of the atmosphere.
People overlook the tradition of new technology coming on the scene to overcome problems. We simply need to come up with new ways of sucking up the dust.
Disposable dusting rags are one way. Electrostatic “vacuum” cleaners, possibly. Magneto-hydrodynamic technology, piezo-electric disintegrators, molecular sieves, fusion thermal vaporization and condensation, who know what will turn up. The job-creating, sustainably green answer is out there. We just have to keep open minds.
From The Ghost Of Big Jim Cooley on August 22, 2014 at 11:38 pm:
Since the Smart Meters go to individual users, it should be possible to turn off power to individual users, like we’ve heard is capable with advanced units installed over here.
This would only be done for certain exceptional circumstances, like not paying your electric bill, or when the Postal Service wants to come in and discuss why you illegally put church flyers in your neighbors’ mail boxes and they do so with the assistance of their local militarized “Complaint Resolution” SWAT unit.
The answer to that problem: don’t get a Smart Meter, ( phoned British Gas & was told that should I get a letter telling me I could phone to make an appointment to get one of these unhealthy things installed I should just ignore the letter if i didn’t want one, that easy.) Re the vacuum cleaner directive: since many people these days are trying to save money most of us are being 2nd hand/re-conditioned ones anyway; also don’t be so flaming obsessional about cleaning: ( I use a good old fashioned brush & dustpan between vacuums to pick up the bits that show & only vacuum about once every 2 or 3 months). What I’d really like is a large capacity manual carpet carpet sweeper with lift out pans like the one I had that bit the dust (if you’ll pardon the expression) about 8 yrs ago, it was absolutely brilliant, can’t find one like it anywhere. I’d dispense with the vacuum cleaner altogether if I could find another like it.
Jennifer, ,I am over eighty, I use a brush and pan to clean some surfaces. When it comes to carpets I use a vacuum cleaner to remove the muck that I have trodden into it. Have you ever had to beat the dirt out of a carpet? I have done that and doubt that you have.
I have no need to feel guilty about using a vacuum cleaner.
It’s clear the politicians have lost their minds, in Belgium there will be a power shortage the coming winter at peak hours of 25 % appr. 4000 MW. The minister said on a question to restart a coal facility I will not allow. Regions will be cut off from the system one after another for 1 or 2 hours.
Brian Johnson UK August 22, 2014 at 10:18 pm. Agreed. It would reduce the political interference by Malthusian ‘let’s make it cool to use less stuff’-Monarchs in the EU decision-making. After all, the EU leadership is supposed to be influenced by ballot-boxes, where everyone has one vote. Therefore, if Australia and Canada catch the independence drift and quit the British Commonwealth, I’ll submit my immigration application: Climate refugee from the EU. Guaranteed net beneficial to the local tax-payers. Proof attached. Interested?
This will put a strain on my marriage. I can forsee the time when I am constantly asked to chase after spiders with a glass and a beer mat, because my wife cannot deal with them with her 1600 watt WMD
About as smart as the low water use clothes washers, which are the equivalent of beating your clothes on a flat rock for an hour. Now your washing machine wears out your clothes before you do.
Truth is that the Global warming Pause is caused by powerful vacuum cleaners sucking up the heat. Trenberth’s missing heat can be found in the discarded vacuum cleaner bags in waste dumps all around Europe.
They had this as a news item on Premier Christian radio earlier in the week, I emailed in the same comment as made here by others that it means people would have to use the new super lower power machines for longer to get the same end result so what would be the saving? Unless it was a clever way to deal with the apparent obesity problem.
I finished with Tim Vine’s winning joke from the Edinburgh festival.
“I’ve sold my Hoover, well it was only collecting dust!”
It’s the same thing as the ban on filament light bulbs in favour of ones containing poisonous chemicals.
James Bull
This is all the first part of a plan by some unelected EUrocrats. There are similar bans on the way for water pumps and tumble dryers.
Less power, less suction. I can’t see lesser suction pulling dirt from deeper.
When I moved here years ago I was told the floors had been vacuumed. They must have used a 20 watt job. A single pass the width of the room lead to complaints that the vac wasn’t working. Emptied it and the ‘boss’ did another sweep. Not sucking again. Same problem. The ‘boss’ realised the carpets were not clean. Probably had decades of dirt. I have to buy my parts for the Kirby from the US, pricewise, but well worth keeping it maintained. I think it virtually indestructible.
I’ll do these Eurocrats a deal. They limit themselves to 1,600€ salary and I’ll limit myself to 1,600 watts…
Actually, now I think about it, there’s a “c” to many in Eurocrats…
While it is ludicrous and antidemocratic, but of course the EU is neither sane, democratic or capitalist, it’s also easy to get around. The nameplate power of a Vac is a peak figure , effectively it’s related to the stall current of the motor. A real 2 KW rms motor is much, much bigger than a Vac motor. So how to fix, put a soft starter circuit (current limiter) ahead of the motor to reduce the startup surge and the stall current, you may even manage to get more RMS power out of your Vac that way. No GHG savings but much lower nameplate power ratings.
It should be made the United States of Europe with proper elections to make sure someone is accountable for regulatory idiocy like this. There must be a hidden reason for this rule – no bureaucrat however stupid could think that this will achieve anything. This compares well with some of the intellectual faux pas associated with the Darwinian awards. Unbelievable. Someone please tell me the bureaucrat responsible has been fired.
As far as I can make out from all the confusing reports. it is any vacuum cleaner over 1800 not 1600, but reports vary, can anyone verify this?
Also from 2017 (3 years time) any vacuum cleaner over 900 watts are also being banned.
There are some specific 1200w vacuum cleaners being banned on September 1st, just not all of them.
It will take you twice as long to vacuum a carpet with a 900w motor than with a 1800w motor, which kinda defeats the purpose of banning the 1800w motors in the first place.
Pet owners are going to notice that a 900w vacuum cleaner is half as efficient at removing pet hairs from a carpet than a 1800w vacuum cleaner.
There is a reason for higher wattage vacuum cleaners, they are more efficient than 900w vacuum cleaners for certain tasks, I have wooden floors so I’m fine with a 900w motor when all it has to do is lift dust. but someone with a lot of carpets has just had their work load doubled.
This is just so dumb it’s amazing. worse than banning the 100w bulb and when they tried to ban patio heaters in a country that gets very cold.
Patio heaters are banned too.
It’s more likely that he’s been promoted.
It will be difficult separating home appliances from industrial dust extraction but you can guess what is happening. If people insist on choosing cleaners by Wattage rather than by recommendation then power consumption will rise, endlessly. OTOH, imposing a power limit is confessing that education is no longer a possibility.
One of the biggest pests, fleas, to life for humans was in carpets or wollen floor coverings. So the “Club of Rome” is reaching its goal of killing poeple.
I had to look at the Calender. No, it is not April 1, it must be Stupid Day!
I have a 1400 W Dyson that has very strong suction, so much so that on older carpets it can difficult to push. So 1600 W should be more than enough for a well designed cleaner. Dyson led the way in the transition to more efficient cyclone bagless cleaners and now dominate the UK market. The Hoover brand in the UK is owned by Candy, an Italian washing machine and white goods company and their floor cleaners are probably designed and made outside the UK. Hoover cleaners were very slow to adopt cyclones as the throw away bag filter was the most profitable part of the product offering.
I would think only a very small proportion of cleaners on the UK market are over 1400 W.
Not everything the EU does will be big money savers though. Some things are, such as the requirement to limit stand by power consumption on some home electronics to 1 W. I have a small older Sony hi fi that consumes 25 W on stand by….so the EU must have made some bif power savings there.
And haven’t they mandated that all phone chargers are mini USB to stop the proliferation of different charger connectiors we used to have?
I foresee the Brits building numerous supercharged V12 powered vacuums and holding an annual national ‘Suckoff’ at a nearby abandoned runway, with Status Quo and David Bowie appearing on the main stage interspersed with phenomenal wet T-shirt competitions, whilst waiting the English-Electric Lightning powered vacuum cleaner to light its afterburner and pull the pavement up to wild and rebellious cheers and a mass parody’s of frog-marching. That’s about what would happen here.
Patrick says:
August 23, 2014 at 2:13 am
“Patio heaters are banned too.”
They tried to ban them in 2008, They are not banned bars and clubs need them because of the indoor smoking ban. lol
It’s got to the stage where one ban effects another ban.
Stupid. Dunno but I suspect vacuum cleaners contribute very very little to European emissions.
Pissing around with peripheral things like this distracts everyone from the real problem and gives oxygen to those who don’t like what science is telling us is happening.
We all need to stop stuffing around and tackle the main controllable source of emissions – transportation.
This sucks.
There’ll be blowback.
From the (sort of) people who brought you the 55 mph speed limit.
Are you sure it will take twice as long with a 900W as it would a 1800W vacuum cleaner?
Because there’s a minimum of force needed on lifting assorted objects and chunks of stuff, off the floor and into the cleaner, the 900W may not have enough suction. In crevices and among the deep carpet fibers, there’s stuff that takes so much force to dislodge before it can be sucked up.
If the 900W only has half the force you need, it will take considerably longer than twice as it may never get done.
So how do you double the lifting force? Reduce the cross-sectional area of hose and nozzle by half. Which will increase the clogging, prevent the sucking up of larger pieces, and increase the number of passes to clean a certain area.
Only twice as long is an optimistic prediction.
“I don’t see the point of this. Vacuum cleaners run for a few minutes each week. The amount of energy saved in this transient use of the appliance will be miniscule in the scheme of things.” ~A.W.
The point of it all is control.
From here: http://markstoval.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/the-state-answers-winston-smith/
In the dystopian novel 1984 by George Orwell, Winston Smith was a party member but he was not one of the Inner Party. Rather he was a member of the Outer Party just as most of our federal bureaucrats today are not part of the ruling elite of our own Empire. At one point he says to an Inner Party member, “I understand how, but I don’t understand why.” He wanted to know why the Party did all those immoral and rotted things.
One of the Inner Party leaders explains:
Orwell captured the essential nature of the State perfectly in this speech by the party member to Winston Smith. Far too many people in the modern age have watched the American Empire start endless wars and grow ever more tyrannical without allowing themselves to ask the question: “why“? It is the same with the EU.
The CO2 scare has always been about aiding in the enterprise of extending more and more control over the citizens. As H. L. Mencken observed: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
I have Wertheim vacuum that is nominally 1800w but a peak of 2200w in powerbrush configuration and it is brilliant. Luckily it is a recent purchase so will see me through the madness of the unelected EU. Good news of course is that Switzerland and Norway are free countries and will be able to vacuum at any power level they like. Will smuggling vacuums from there in white vans and selling them at car boot sales become the new thing?
Re ‘Smart’ meters: in the UK you currently won’t be forced to have one – but in the cause of saving the non-warming planet that could all change. A bigger and much more difficult problem is that the meters need a mobile phone network to communicate and there are large areas where that isn’t possible. The lame selling point to the sheeple of these devices is that you get a portable readout that shows you how much energy you are using so you can cut down. I have 2 of these already – free I should point out – and lost interest in them a few months after. One can even produce data on your pc. These need to communicate with the meter and in flats and apartment blocks, this isn’t possible. Even more dumb is the claim that it means no more estimated energy bills – it is as if we aren’t in the 21st century where every energy supplier has the facility to take meter readings online. If you are too stupid to submit regular readings then you deserve what you get.
In the UK at least – it’s obvious where the final battle line will be drawn.
Today it’s our Hoovers – soon though it will be our electric kettles.
The kettle is the most iconic symbol of what it means to be a Brit. The biggest fault line in our relationship with our American & European cousins is the pathetic temperature of the tea they offer us.
British tea is highly energy intensive. The kettle is powerful & allowed to boil vigorously for several seconds before we’re absolutely sure the water will be hot enough. Then we boil it for a few more seconds – just in case. Our reliable local kettle manufacturers understand the importance of this ritual, and adjust their kettle thermostats to fill our kitchens with enough steam to convince us that the tradition is being honoured.
I expect, even as we speak, some gaggle of whey-faced, grey suited, EU apparatchiks are working themselves up into a self -righteous frenzy over the sheer waste of energy involved.
They will, inevitably, come for our kettles – and that will be where they meet their doom.
ISIL will be pussycats compared with the Brits defending their kettles.
Chesterton understood this, and could well have said:-
We hear men speaking for us of new tea strong and sweet,
Yet is there no man breweth as we brew in the street.
It may be we shall rise the last as Frenchmen rose the first,
Our wrath come after Russia’s wrath and our wrath be the worst.
It may be we are meant to mark with our riot and our rest
God’s scorn for EU governing. For we know our tea is best.
But we are the people of England; and we have not spoken yet.
Smile at us, pay us, pass us. But do not quite forget
Michael D says:
August 22, 2014 at 9:57 pm
We have too many Hoovers anyway. Most of them are just gathering dust.
My neighbours just asked why I let out a groan.
Just FYI, from the Dyson website: “Dyson has never engineered a machine with a motor rated higher than 1600W. We campaigned for motor wattage caps for vacuum cleaners, and welcome the fact that the energy label will introduce a maximum power input for new vacuum cleaners, capping motors at 1600W in order to reduce their electricity usage”
Personally, I use a Sebo upright (1300W), and quite frankly, I can’t imagine why a vacuum would need to have much higher power than this beast. And I have no problem with a general drive towards more efficient designs – the automotive industry has made some amazing progress.
Still think the new regs are lunacy, though – the actual impact in total energy usage will be “in the noise”…
And then they came for your vacuum cleaner…
About the EU buerocrats : Hey, can you explain the word “vacuum”? Eeeh, i just can’t get it, but I got it in my brain!
People will not use more passes, since they cannot see whether the carpet has been cleaned or not They’ll assume that whatever they passed over is clean.
Most people won’t actually notice, but whatever money and environment is saved in electricity will be paid out a thousandfold in the rise of avoidable diseases from a dirty environment that affects people with a weakened immune system, asthma and allergies.
kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
August 23, 2014 at 2:48 am
“If the 900W only has half the force you need, it will take considerably longer than twice as it may never get done.”
That’s true, a persistent dog hair in a thick rug/carpet may never be dislodged by a 900w vacuum cleaner which would result in a person removing it manually, therefor the extra load would be time it takes to manually remove the dog hair times the amount of hairs, it could actually more than double someones work load, this is why I mentioned that “There is a reason for higher wattage vacuum cleaners”
Would this ban effect industry? or can a person by a industrial carpet cleaner for domestic use? because this is what will happen.
This ban gets dumber the more you look into it.
*buy
The logic behind this ban seems lacking.
But I guess the idea is that banning anything makes people think it’s haram and so encourages people to think about other forms of energy usage.
What I’m thinking is that flying Eurocrats around is wasteful of energy.
They should be detained in one small place to work more closely together in an ever closer union..
From Gerry, England on August 23, 2014 at 2:57 am:
The ones they used to replace the meter readers around here can “phone home” using the mains signal as the carrier. If yours need the bandwidth of a cell phone, either the electricity distributor picked the wrong equipment, or they are sending back far more information than they have told you.
Email sent to Marlene Holzner the bi*”h who dreamt this up.
What is it with you people? 1984 was not an instruction manual. Why do you have to meddle with everything? Brits don’t want you and if we could leave tomorrow it would be 1 day too late. The best buy according to Which? is :-
“A Best Buy 2,200w vac costs around £27 a year to run in electricity – only around £8 more than the best-scoring 1,600w we’ve tested.”
But of course you know so much better and in true Newspeak you report that “Consumer’s will get better vacuum cleaners than ever before” This is almost up their with “Let them eat cake.” Perusing you CV shows that you have just the sort of qualifications to determine the best value. Didn’t know they did engineering at the LSE. But not surprising that you should attend that hole. Founded as it was by those cretins B&S Webb. You know who were supporters of the Soviet Union until their deaths. Their books, Soviet Communism: A New Civilization? (1935) and The Truth About Soviet Russia (1942) give a very positive assessment of Joseph Stalin’s regime. (Incidentally the second edition of Soviet Communism left out the question mark.) But it’s what I would expect – like the EUSSR who thinks that creating famine and murdering 25 million people was just a “statistic”.
Sooner or later Britain will leave your disgusting organisation. Whether that is before the masses rise up and slaughter all of you is a mute point.
Children just aren’t going to now what a clean carpet is
Gerry, England says:
August 23, 2014 at 2:57 am
Re ‘Smart’ meters: in the UK you currently won’t be forced to have one – but in the cause of saving the non-warming planet that could all change
=============================
Just send your lecky company notification that with regard to installing a smart meter, you have withdrawn their common law right of access to your property. There’s a website out there to help with proformas – http://stopsmartmeters.org.uk/
You can do the same with TVLA (Capita) as well.
That’s what we’ve done. And you can have huge fun taking the piss out of TVLA when you get the regular reminders…
BrianJay That’s a tad violent, don’t you think?
It’s only a Hoover.
All the commentary is about CO2. It misses the point of this “reform.”
The network is highly unstable as a result of all the unreliable wind power, and physically unable to guarantee supply. While the Germans are at least rational enough to go back to coal, that is by no means the norm in the EU. So it’s low powered appliances from now on – this is just a test case.
James Dyson’s comments in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph are excellent. A ‘must read’.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/engineering/11048619/More-suck-for-their-bucks-what-people-want.html
He says “Many machines rely on old-fashioned technology and use vacuum bags and filters to do the hard work of separating dust from the air . . . . 126 million bags and filters were binned last year, but the EU didn’t consider these environmental and financial costs relevant to an energy label.”
just keep selling high power cleaners and start making and selling `limiters` which can be used with higher rated vacuum cleaners to prevent them sucking too much energy out of the mains, get the buyer to sign to say he will use it every time he plugs in his new `overrated` high power cleaner.
simples
keep calm and carry on
All of this knee-jerk venting and blowharding will achieve precisely nothing.
We will leave the EU! Terrific! A blow (or is that a suck) for freedom!
The EU may have proposed these rules but the governments of the member states had to approve them. So blame your national governments.
And if Britain leaves the EU, will we still have vacuum cleaners with more than 1600W? No. Simple reason: exports to the EU or imports from the EU will all be less than 1600W. Think Britain will have its own vacuum which sucks harder than Johnny Foreigner’s? Of course not.
Like most other consumer goods across the world, the trend has been towards saving power through design. None of Dyson’s vacuum cleaners use 1600W or more – did they do this because of EU diktat?
What next? Are we going to have someone from the UKIP lifting a Hoover above his head and saying “from my cold dead hands”?
Sheesh, some of you people seriously need to grow up.
Build an efficient, low wattage, cost effective cleaner and the market will come to you. At the moment, my 2000 watt, $50 kmart job does an excellent clean for the money as was all the could be afforded at the time.
Well I’m curious. Does this apply to the new cordless ‘vacuums’ like the Dyson DC35? Technically, they don’t draw any power while operating, only while charging the battery (and they use ‘cyclone’ tech so again, technically, they aren’t ‘vacuum’ cleaners either. I looked around but could not find the specs on the charger for these new devices so I don’t know how much power they draw while (or whilst if you prefer) charging. Then again I suspect that the charger does not fall under these new rules, or does it?
Many EU homes have tiled or solid wood floors so weal vacuum cleaners are OK but in the UK we have fitted carpets which require frequent vacuuming. With a weak machine you vacuum more so this rule will INCREASE emissions.
Then again, the above Dyson battery powered lasts all of 13 minutes in ‘floor’ mode, 6 minutes in ‘high power’ mode, and, since the battery pack is NOT detachable like my Weed Wacker and leaf blower, it would take me multiple charge cycles to vacuum the house once (or I’d have to buy one for the living room, and one for the bedrooms, etc — good thinking on Dyson’s part).
From GeeJam on August 23, 2014 at 3:53 am:
Dyson: We all want more suck for our buck.
Looking for a vacuum with just the right amount of suction.
I have seen far too much of CBS’ The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to comment further.
as a pet owner with large hounds who go in and out all day and bring in sand and mud all day
as do I.
I sweep kilos of dirt up before I vac and it takes an hr per room with a gutsy vac to get the rugs even part respectable.
but
as we are supposed to be half blind, in the dark with those crappy mercury bulbs already
(hint, many of us arent using them:-)
the idea is you dont see the doirt you cant get up.
and as for smart meters
Mandatory in my state of aus
power bills tripled since install
and ours run on mesh RADIO as the power lines here wont allow their use for data flow apparently
so
were paying near 100 every 3 mths for increased service fees.
ie the meters.
for bugger all use value or need!
were hackable and our data IS being onsold to? USSA companies. admitted in the very very fine print.
so grab LED lights or halogens and any old bulbs you can
buy all the older vacs you can afford and bags, or MAKE bags from old denim jean legs or doubled flannelette shirtsleeves:-)( works, I do it all the time)
and protest against DUMB meters at all and every chance you can/
Is it just a coincidence that the 900 watt vacuum cleaner dictate comes in the same year that the UK has a referendum to consider whether to stay in or leave the EU?
“From 1 September, companies in the EU will be banned from making or importing vacuum cleaners above 1600 watts…”
1600 watts will be reduced to 900 watts in about 3 years, along with an ever-lengthening list of other appliances. Lookout for the next two items: water pumps and tumble driers. The idea that people will have to use these items twice as long to get the same result and at no benefit never intrudes upon the mind of the power-mad Eurocrat.
This is only the beginning.
We will soon have kettles that can rise to only 60 deg C. 1W microwaves, 10W electric room heaters. This will save the planet.
Unfortunately major energy intensive companies are now leaving Europe because of high energy costs.
Welcome to the Mediaeval EU!
Looks like Dyson has paid some bucks to the EU.Any idea how much a Dyson costs to buy in Australia? They are not worth the money.They are fine to start off with then they get clogged with dust.They are cumbersome and heavy and you have to wash the filter every month if you have carpets.A big con is all they are.I would not buy another one.
Putting an obsessive idea into action will end up with everything the idea comes into contact with being tainted by the obsession. Vacuum cleaners rationally offer nothing to change the climate. Climate obsession is not about rational thought or action. It is about indulging an obsession.
Is this a Buy signal for shares in the makers of asthma treatment? All those sensitive lungs and extra dust waiting to be breathed in.
Those with wood floors don’t need the high wattage models. To the extent they use less than 1,600 watts, shouldn’t they be able to trade this social good through a carbon credit?
How about establishing a VC (vacuum cleaner) market where those with 2,000 watt models can buy the necessary credits so they may be exonerated of carbon sin? Yeah, that’s the ticket…
Are the “smart” electric meters their solution to the potentially dangerous and/or destructive situations that will result due to the highly unreliable nature of “green” electrical energy?
If an extended “brownout” occurs, ….. the potential for a “fire” increases, as does the potential for the “burn-out” of motorized appliances, etc.
Nobody seems to have asked the real question – who benefits? This isn’t about power consumption, it has to be about money. Which makers and/or countries hosting same will benefit, and which will see their products adversely affected? Corruption has to be the reason.
This of course will only be a temporary measure until they work out the kinks of the centralized solar powered vacuum system, then they can ban those old-fashioned wasteful electric units.
During the daytime the sunlight warms a large air-filled black tank that vents through a one-way valve to the surrounding air, achieving lowest air density possible. At night after it cools, it becomes a vacuum reservoir you can tap for your cleaning. Simple.
Sure, to last long enough to be useful it has to be as large as your attic. Actually it replaces your attic, which is good as the tank will dual-function as an insulating layer. The exterior will have a pleasing shingle-like appearance.
After you’re done cleaning for the night you can enjoy the final benefit, you can use the remaining negative pressure to draw air through a micro-turbine and generate electricity for your house. Thus proving that clean green renewable energy can indeed be available when there is neither sunlight nor wind and without a storage penalty. It is self-storing, no loss!
We all remember the results of “low flow” shower faucets – people simply took longer showers.
We can pretty safely assume that weaker vacuums will simply require longer run times.
“Sasha says:
August 23, 2014 at 1:05 am
This is all the first part of a plan by some unelected EUrocrats. There are similar bans on the way for water pumps and tumble dryers.”
What’s interesting about the dryers is that the dumbed-down energy labeled have been tweaked(erm, maybe twerked) so that condenser and heat-pump dryers are listed as being much more efficient than they actually are, so that people who only look at the letters, and not the actual specs are fooled. Forced-air dryers may well send heat up the flue, but they also send lint and moisture up as well, which is usually helpful, especially in summer. As the ambient temperature goes up, the efficiency of condenser and heat-pump dryers goes down, dramatically so at around 30-35 degrees C. Add to this the increased complexity and maintenance costs and the average consumer loses again. For folks who can’t (or don’t want to) bore through a wall, there are portable condensers available – a bit of hassle, but cheaper and better than these overpriced condenser/heat pump units.
I’m not sure which water pumps you mean, but if you’re talking about pumps for furnaces/radiators, they are FAR more expensive (at least the ones that are “demand-driven”) and run the risk of seizing up if they’re not run every so often.
We have a 1400-watt Miele which cleans pretty well, but since it has a HEPA filter (we all have allergies), it could use a little more power (shades of Tim Allen 🙂 ). I haven’t seen beater bar attachments here in Germany…that would go a long way toward cleaning, but then it would probably throw the dust around too, negating the benefits of the HEPA filtering….sigh….
Highest wattage I’ve seen here is 2200 watts, which I think is overkill…kind of a “my motor is bigger” sort of marketing competition. On the other hand, 900 watts probably wouldn’t clean up a wood or tile floor, let alone a long pile rug…..
Hmmm….where’s the carpet and floor-covering lobby? These vacuum bans might put a dent in carpet sales once people figure out that 900 watts won’t clean a normal rug….
Seems the only thing the EU can do is micro-manage and raise taxes….and, the EUrocrats pay no taxes themselves…plus, they get an enormous per-diem allowance….I think it’s around 300 euro per day….if we unemployed them, we’d all save a ton of money….
Just found it – from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10141790/Fury-caught-on-film-as-MEPs-sign-in-and-slope-off.html:
“MEPs are automatically given £91,000 in daily subsistence and in “general expenditure” expenses a year without having to provide any receipts or proof of expenditure. On top of that, the EU parliament’s 754 MEPs each have a parliamentary assistance allowance worth almost £220,000 each a year. ”
Wonder what or whom they are assisting – certainly not us….
“The EU, Climate change, and the giant sucking sound”
If they use less powerful vacuum cleaners, would the giant sucking sound be quieter?
It would be great if reducing the power of a vacuum was a foreshadowing of the EU.
The average “savings” realized will be in the realm of about 2 watts per hour or say 60 watts per day.
That’s based on an averaged annual savings of about 20kwh. (calculated from http://www.sust-it.net/vacuum-cleaners.php )
In other words, the equivalent of turning off one 60 watt bulb for one hour a day….that ought to help global climate change…this brilliant “idea” must have come to someone during Earth Hour….
http://ak.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/41847/preview/stock-footage-medium-shot-of-tungsten-light-bulb-being-turned-off-to-black.jpg
The architect of this law, Marlene Holzner, couldn’t care less about EU consumers. Just look at her track record. (These people live in their own perfect little world.)
EU Biofuels Targets to Cost $166 Billion
European Union policies to promote the use of biofuels for transportation will cost consumers as much as 126 billion euros ($166 billion) between now and 2020, two environmental groups said. The fuels, gasoline substitutes derived from plants, probably won’t cut greenhouse gases because forests are chopped down to make way for biofuel plantations, Friends of the Earth and ActionAid said in an e-mailed statement. The European Commission said that while biofuels cost more than fossil fuels, it’s “reasonable” for motorists to pay extra.
The EU aims to get 10% of its transport energy from biofuels, hydrogen and renewable power by 2020. The target aims to help cut the bloc’s emissions 20% from 1990 levels. The lobby groups said those goals will add a cumulative 94 billion euros to 126 billion euros just to fuel costs by 2020.
“Consumers and taxpayers are paying a premium for this policy, which achieves very little and we think causes a lot of damage to the environment as well as hunger and poverty,” Robbie Blake, biofuels campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe, said in a phone interview. “What we really need to be focused on is reducing transport energy use by improving energy efficiency in cars and through better public transport.”
The EU Response
EU energy spokeswoman Marlene Holzner said today in an email that the bio-fuels target may increase cereal prices by as much as 6% and rapeseed costs by as much as 10%. The commission is monitoring the effects on food prices. She said efficiency improvements alone won’t achieve the carbon cuts needed, and that pursuing renewables is necessary.
Holzner said “Most renewable energy is at present more expensive than fossil energy. It is important to recognize the financing for renewable energy as growth-enhancing expenditure that will provide greater return in the future. It is reasonable to let the consumers of, in this case, motor fuels, pay for the costs. Replacing gasoline with biofuels in the EU cuts emissions 21%, after land use changes have been taken into account.”
I can see it now….some bright spark is going to figure out how to convert one of those obnoxious leaf-blowers into a vacuum cleaner…hmmm….gas-powered vacuum cleaners, that’s the ticket…..not…
Build a worse vacuum cleaner and the world will beat a path to your competitors door.
Maybe the new rechargeable battery powered items are the way out.
Unintended consequences. Old vacuum cleaners used 30 minutes per week replaced with battery ones on 24 hour, 7 day charge(less than 900Watt).
Well, we’re moving toward a Rube Goldberg energy grid (http://www.dep.anl.gov/rube/), why not Rube Goldberg vacuum cleaners?
We could start with a lawn mower engine….
There is going to be a market for assemby sets,
afaik these are not(yet) prohibited.
Regarding all this Dyson nonsense: cyclones are an old technology that is ineffective at collecting fine particles. Sure it looks like they are doing something when you see all the big chinks spinning around, but the majority of dust is fine, and if the vacuum doesn’t also have a filter all the fine dust is blown back into the room–no cleaning actually gets done. The bag vacuums are therefore more efficient because they actual trap the dust.
This is like the idiot idea of Energy Stars for washing machine because they won’t let you do a hot water wash (always blend) and reduce the water used for rinsing, or removing the last trivial but necessary trace of phosphate from detergent–the ruling class is just making us the “unwashed masses” they always believed we were.
Nothing the government does anymore makes any sense and there is nothing we can do to stop it. It is all only down hill from here.
First they came for my 3 gallon per flush toilet and I said nothing…..
We are running out of space here in Sweden! So now in addition to all the incandescent light bulbs we have stockpiled, we have two Bosch 2400w vacuums in boxes(& vacuum cleaner bags) that we are hoping to not need to start tapping into for a decade or two.
The point is control.
There is an interesting book called something like “The Chinese Western.” A series of short stories about life in Western China back in the days of Mao. Very interesting. In one story, the central govt decreed that all dogs were to be killed to save food (Yes, the socialist paradise was starving.) One villager said that was just nonsense. Nobody fed their dogs anything but scraps humans wouldn’t eat. This was just one more way the govt was exerting control over the people.
It was a very sad story about an old man without wife or children. One day, a young pretty woman appeared in their village, an internal refugee from another region of the country. It was the tradition that when crops failed in an area, the people would leave seeds in their homes for the next planting, seal their homes, and wander, looking for food anywhere and accepting jobs or charity to survive until the next planting could be done. Breaking into a sealed house was just not done. The Chinese are civilized. Well, they would also bury their toddlers up to their waists in dirt and leave them on the side of the road, hoping somebody with food would come by and adopt them. Again, life in the socialist paradise.
This old man had only a dog for a companion, a beloved friend for sure. He took the girl in, fed her and housed her. In return she provided him with cheerful, youthful company and keep his house. He was very happy. During this time, the cadres came to his village and killed his dog. After 6 months, one day the girl, after preparing him his favorite meal and cleaning the house meticulously, left the village to return to her own village without saying goodbye
The old man killed himself.
But, the important thing is control.
That regime collapsed from internal forces. I suspect ours will, too. And, few people who are aware of its excesses will mourn it,
People buy more powerful cleaners so they could spend less time cleaning. Now the EU wants them to spend more time in the home for nothing.
In the meantime sales of vacuum cleaners in China show solid growth.
http://www.euromonitor.com/vacuum-cleaners-in-china/report
In India growth in vacuum cleaners is expected to improve from 7% in 2013 to 9% in 2015
http://www.euromonitor.com/vacuum-cleaners-in-india/report
Only authoritarian governments can tell you how much energy you can use . That is why they oblige you to install the SMART METER so they know what device you are using.
the green police.
http://youtu.be/Ml54UuAoLSo
What did audi know that most of us didn’t even think about.
next on the list
Air Conditioning (home + car)
Hair dryers + Clothes Dryers
Electric cooking.
You just wonder why most premier league football games are played at night with the huge amount of energy needed to light the stadium. Talking about footprints.
This is like the EPAs flush twice toilet regs.
But I can see the EU’s point – Nature abhors a vacuum.
In the 20’s through the 40’s many vacuum cleaner manufacturers made a model that had a heavy fly-wheel on the impeller shaft driven by gears that were driven by the wheels, like some of the kids friction driven cars you can still buy today. You pushed it back and forth, quickly, a few times and then, just the process of moving the cleaner back and forth to sweep kept both the brush rotating and the vacuum pump working. My mother and grandmother had one. Perhaps they should dig out the old blue-prints and start making them again. However, no way would I want to sweep my whole house in one day with that machine!
I just watched the Formula 1 qualifying. 2 Mercedes fossil fuel powered cars are top of the grid. Maybe next year in Europe these engines will be banned and only battery powered cars will be used. But petrol-heads are not like vacuum machine housewives, they are likely to riot.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/deprived-of-their-race-angry-fans-decide-to-have-a-riot-20100320-qnaq.html
They could probably use less energy by killing all of those OCDs who actually use a vacuum more than once a week.
You know this would’ve simply been so much simpler if they simply outlawed dust. Those simpletons.
This action of the EU was for nothing.
Growth of vacuum cleaner sales around the world.
http://www.euromonitor.com/vacuum-cleaners
Other household appliances
http://www.euromonitor.com/consumer-appliances
John Of Cloverdale WA, Australia says:
August 23, 2014 at 7:07 am
“I just watched the Formula 1 qualifying. 2 Mercedes fossil fuel powered cars are top of the grid. Maybe next year in Europe these engines will be banned and only battery powered cars will be used. But petrol-heads are not like vacuum machine housewives, they are likely to riot.”
Ahead of the 2014 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix, Shell invited Scuderia Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen to demonstrate ultra energy efficient Shell Eco-marathon (SEM) vehicles on the historic Spa-Francorchamps track.
The Scuderia Ferrari duo took to the track alongside students from across Europe to showcase the initiative that challenges students from around the world to design, build, and test ultra energy-efficient vehicles. The teams included the French champions from Lycée Saint-Joseph La Joliverie, Instituto de Educación Secundaria Alto Nalón (Spain), University College London (UK), Brandenburgische Technische Universität (Germany), plus Belgian students from the Université de Mons and Université de Liège.
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/some-of-the-world-s-most-energy-efficient-vehicles-are-shown-to-alonso-and-r-ikk-nen/
rogerknights says:
August 23, 2014 at 2:35 am
“This sucks.”
Yes, but not as well.
“Meet the new boss.”
EUSSR
http://youtu.be/KjWf5gQZ898
As they get complaints, their next rule will the outlawing of carpets on the floor. After all, they only trap dirt and require too much vacuum time and energy. They also aren’t as effective for insulation on a floor as they would be on the ceiling or the walls. So the next rule will be for all carpets to be hung on walls and for all carpet manufacturers to add wall hooks. Whether they allow for holes to be cut for windows … hmmmm. Maybe they’ll allow for flaps that can be folded over or rolled up but no full cutouts.
There’s also an EU limit on the maximum allowed memory bandwith of a PC graphics card.
I forget what it was, these are just the EU lunatics doing what they’re doing.
Russia, China, Brasil etc will SO smoke the self-mutilating West it won’t be funny; that’s when the pitchforks will come out.
http://www.thefoxisblack.com/blogimages//matt-groening-life-in-hell.jpg
(“Mistakes Were Made”)
Modern governments exist for one reason; to keep the little guy little and enhance the power and wealth of those who already have the power and wealth. Even the most egalitarian and libertarian constitutional governments have become subverted over time to the purpose of fulfilling the wishes of the masters at the expense of everyone else.
This latest move by the Eurocrats is not pointless, it is simply a statement by the Barons, asserting themselves.
This kind of insanity does not happen only in the EU but also in the United States except that we are not told about it. My air conditioner failed and I went to P.C. Richards to get a replacement. It turned out that all the air conditioners sold today cannot be set to cool the air lower than 64 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a stealth rule that has appeared within the last few years without any public announcement. These idiots do it because that will reduce electricity use which will in turn reduce the amount of fossil fuels used to generate electricity which will then produce less carbon dioxide which will then prevent the greenhouse warming from burning up the world. Insanity is the right word for it because reducing global temperature by a millionth of a degree in distant future is not an excuse for changing the way our people want to live. And by the way, this reduction is optimistic because there is no such thing as a greenhouse warming. It stopped 17 years ago and that is the end of it.
Maybe these suckers are jealous they can’t compete with market suckers. (sorry, couldn’t help it)
I’m setting up my Kirby smuggling routes right now.
Wattsupwiththis,
Got a buddy from here in Northeast Texas who goes each year this time in late Aug. to Glaicer Park to cool off. (it has not been that hot here this year). In any event he called me at 8:00 this morning Texas time and he had big snow falling on his pop up camper. He is in the most North area of the park.
So, knowing of the webcams in Glaicer I pulled them up, went and looked at each of them until the most Northern one (Goat Haunt) cam and all black. Out of service.
Odd but it is what it is.
Went and looked at the lowest temp rec. for the park ,,,, 26 F for August.
From what I can find it may be lower tonight or tomorrow night, hope they do not have the temp instrument off line for that event also.
M Courtney says:
August 23, 2014 at 3:33 am
“The logic behind this ban seems lacking.
But I guess the idea is that banning anything makes people think it’s haram and so encourages people to think about other forms of energy usage.
What I’m thinking is that flying Eurocrats around is wasteful of energy.
They should be detained in one small place to work more closely together in an ever closer union..”
A black hole in Calcutta sounds about right!
Want some fun, go to an Earth First meeting find a way to get the floor and talk about leaving all the lights on daytime in a down town area to help the power factor and save electrical power use.
Now that is a giant black hole sucking sound as the throw you out on your petard.
Peter Miller says:
August 22, 2014 at 11:36 pm
This is what happens when you have a monstrous, overpaid, underemployed bureaucracy, who are accountable to no one.
These people in Brussels believe they have to be seen to be doing something, so they come up with with rafts of stupid rules and regulations. It is like a treadmill, the BS emanating from the EU’s central bureaucracy never stops.
Well, that’s right; but to be exact, this is what happens with any-and-all governmental bodies. You could substitute any government in place of “EU” and your sentences would still be true, sadly. Even the most accountable elected governments will always use their limited time to increase their own power and grow their size. The reason this is inevitable is that governments always attract the most power-hungry psychopaths that society can produce.
My source in the (unelected) EU Council of Ministers says that all new vacuum cleaners will be embedded with an internet connection, linked to the Met Office. Apparently, the new generation of cleaners will be programmed to only switch on when the wind is blowing.
/sarc
ralph
Anti-human Malthusian psychotics are running the asylum.
Quite simple, go and buy a professional – as opposed to domestic – model from a company who supplies them to such as professional cleaning and car valeting companies, in the same way as we can still buy incandescent bulbs as trade heavy duty items.
hmmmm. There is an upside to this. I would rather like not having to vacuum at all. Damn thing should have never been invented in the first place, let alone rugs.
In the US, our illustrious Secretary of State would tell you that high power vacuum cleaners are a greater threat than international terrorism. The EU obviously knows this too.
Believe it or not, a local guy has opened up a beer, butts, and bulbs store. He sells beer, smokes, and lightbulbs (the real kind). Steady business.
“One more reason to dump the EU- they are going to make criminals out of average people who just want to keep their home clean.” – WUWT
Yes sir.
Here in the US, it gets a little trickier because the same EU policies are being foisted on the companies behind the scenes. I was going to offer this new video by Walmart as an example, but it has since been edited. Originally it claimed that “government officials” and “non profits” would now be helping Walmart “focus on the customer.” In that case, RIP Walmart, a once great company. Mandating worthless vacuums on boards of companies, and then saying, “Look, a market solution!” is what concerns me.
The reason this company did so much to help people who are otherwise losing their purchasing power to rising energy and fuel costs, is because Walmart ships from any where to bring the lowest price.
And I remind you that it is our privately held shipping and trucking in the US that is always there first to bring in supplies when there has been a storm or earthquake, long before a politician comes in to get his picture taken and declare an emergency. Companies like Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Walmart are also flexible in anticipating supplies for areas hit.
ref:
“One more reason to dump the EU- they are going to make criminals out of average people who just want to keep their home clean.” – WUWT
Is it the EU, or is it the German Empire? Angela Merkel selected EU Comissioner Juncker. “The whole thing has been the most extraordinary stitch-up!”
ref:
So a less powerful vacuum will be used more and longer to do the same job, and will actually use more energy. This is a perfect example of the insanity of the left and the global warming movement. How long until they make rules limiting the horsepower of vehicles? You can make a stronger argument for that than this one.
Narrow-minded bureaucrats and their running dog lackies in the enviro-NGO business don’t care about the environmental costs that are implied when human lives are cut a bit shorter due to marginal changes in mortality due to decreased domestic cleanliness.
Now, of course, they do care about marginal changes in mortality, at least as indicated by their statistical models when it comes to justifying the cost of new air pollution controls. No matter what, every clampdown will save “millions” of lives.
co2fan says:
August 22, 2014 at 10:09 pm
“110v vacuums on a 10A circuit are limited to 1000W.”
Thanks for that perspective. Dissipated my umbrage for a moment. But, then I read…
ConTrari says:
August 22, 2014 at 10:46 pm
“Max 1600 W is just the beginning, next step is max 900 W, to ble implemented i 2017. “
Frog in the pot. Starting in 2017, Europeans will just vacuum longer, and have dirtier carpets. Hairshirt, futile enviro-craziness at its best.
Meanwhile, one of the stupid paper bags that the powers-that-be mandated which kill trees, require boatloads more energy and chemical nastiness to produce and transport, and leech toxic chemicals into the ground upon decomposition, tore open on me again, busting a now wasted jar of spaghetti sauce which I had to use chemicals and paper towels to clean up.
I really, really, really hate these useless busybodies making ignorant laws to foist their neuroses on everybody else.
====================================================================
Look on the bright side.
At least their neuroses gave us such classics as Sharknado and Sharknado 2.
I don’t agree with over regulation, but I have seen simple barrel vacuum cleaners go from 900w to 1200w to 2000w over the decades. It is a selling point, we went from the loudness war in audio to the power war in vacuums.
Dyson agrees
Q: What’s the difference between a 1600w vacuum cleaner and the EU?
A: After September, the EU will still suck.
It is a perfect storm of both eco-lunacy and Greenie authoriatarianism. The end of civilization as we know it, if allowed to continue.
SidF says:
August 23, 2014 at 2:28 am
I have a 1400 W Dyson that has very strong suction, so much so that on older carpets it can difficult to push. So 1600 W should be more than enough for a well designed cleaner. Dyson led the way in the transition to more efficient cyclone bagless cleaners and now dominate the UK market.
==========
Sensorman says:
August 23, 2014 at 3:11 am
Just FYI, from the Dyson website: “Dyson has never engineered a machine with a motor rated higher than 1600W. We campaigned for motor wattage caps for vacuum cleaners, and welcome the fact that the energy label will introduce a maximum power input for new vacuum cleaners, capping motors at 1600W in order to reduce their electricity usage”
==========
John A says:
August 23, 2014 at 4:12 am
None of Dyson’s vacuum cleaners use 1600W or more – did they do this because of EU diktat?
[…]
Sheesh, some of you people seriously need to grow up.
[“We campaigned for motor wattage caps for vacuum cleaners” – Dyson]
==========
GeeJam says:
August 23, 2014 at 3:53 am
James Dyson’s comments in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph are excellent. A ‘must read’.
[…]
He says “Many machines rely on old-fashioned technology and use vacuum bags and filters to do the hard work of separating dust from the air . . . . 126 million bags and filters were binned last year, but the EU didn’t consider these environmental and financial costs relevant to an energy label.”
==========
Noelene says:
August 23, 2014 at 4:58 am
Looks like Dyson has paid some bucks to the EU
==========
Bingo, Noelene. Every Dyson I’ve met (usually in piles of abandoned trash) was evidently designed with a very short lifespan. That is why the machine is loudly and proudly “guaranteed for its entire (short) life.” But the EU didn’t consider the energy and resources used in the manufacture, distribution, and constant replacement of crappy appliances designed with the philosophy of planned obsolescence.
Catweazel (at 9:32 am) has the right idea: a commercial unit, at a fraction of the cost of a Dyson, will probably keep working beyond your lifetime.
“I visualize a black market developing for more powerful vaccum cleaners, an aftermarket retrofit to replace motors with more powerful ones,”
Accompanied by vacuum cleaner companies making two 1200 watt units that can be coupled together to provide performance consumers demand. Marketing departments will be laughing at EU/AGWers all way to bank.
JJM Gommers: “The minister said on a question to restart a coal facility I will not allow. Regions will be cut off from the system one after another for 1 or 2 hours.”
Want to see the Elitist change his attitude? Every time a region’s power is cut, make sure power to “The minister’s” home(s) and office are cut.
Yup. Vacuumed up some fireplace ash and it caused the Dyson to burn in hell. It is now in a landfill somewhere. Give me a good old fashioned shop vac. In fact, the more it looks like a “woodshop” vac, the more likely some big strapping man will vacuum my carpets.
With a vacuum cleaner that’s less powerful, a person has to run it longer to suck up all the dirt. The longer running time may consume more power than the more powerful vacuum cleaner.
As the purchase of a vacuum cleaner is pretty much a religious ritual with my wife I would imagine that the EU has just reached the point where they have insulted the intelligence of the electorate once too often.
Sell vacuum cleaners without an air pump – “add your own”. Then sell nice powerful air pumps to go with them.
Non Nomen says:
August 23, 2014 at 6:05 am
There is going to be a market for assemby sets,
afaik these are not(yet) prohibited.
______________
Mike Jonas says:
August 24, 2014 at 12:55 am
Sell vacuum cleaners without an air pump – “add your own”. Then sell nice powerful air pumps to go with them.
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You got it right. Do it as the printer manufacturers do. Give awy the casing for -almost- free, just beyound the break-even-point, and then offer a variety of electrickery 1200/1500/2000/2500/3000 Watt and pumps, easy to insert to make money with. Use the same motor with different wiring. So it’s plug and suck…
We’re going to get rid of our vacuum cleaner. It’s just lying around gathering dust…
I’ll get my coat…
Non Nomen says:
August 23, 2014 at 6:05 am
There is going to be a market for assemby sets,
afaik these are not(yet) prohibited.
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Mike Jonas says:
August 24, 2014 at 12:55 am
Sell vacuum cleaners without an air pump – “add your own”. Then sell nice powerful air pumps to go with them.
_________________________________
You got it right. Do it as the printer manufacturers do. Give awy the casing for -almost- free, just beyound the break-even-point, and then offer a variety of electrickery 1200/1500/2000/2500/3000 Watt and pumps, easy to clip in to make money with. Use the same motor with different wiring. So it’s plug and s*ck…
Zeke says: August 23, 2014 at 11:53 am. “Is it the EU, or is it the German Empire? Angela Merkel selected EU Comissioner Juncker. “The whole thing has been the most extraordinary stitch-up!””
Wish these claims were true: Angela Merkel is chemist by education and thus de facto immune to the most absurd alarmist claims.
But the reality is not too bad either: The recent European Parliament (EP) election shifted the EP political majority from left to right for the first time. Germany is not the only currently right-wing governed EU member state. Moderate right wing politician, Jean-Claude Juncker, has support extending beyond Germany and the country he served as the prime minister.
So, what is Farage trying to achieve in the EU? It to be led by another socialist like R. Prodi? Or himself perhaps? Too bad the UK prime minister nominated UKIP only for a fruitcake and the local electorate forgot him in the UK parliament elections. At this stage even the Italian comedian Grillo is to be taken more seriously. Pity for those like me who wish EP to develop a competent and respected opposition. Like that’s gonna work with EP’s Stan and Oliver.
The negotiations for the high officials in the EU institutions is currently on-going. That process is equally democratic as the nominations by the national parliaments with their Malthusian lords. It’s still possible that the EU Climate Action Task Force will feel the pinch this time and the future initiatives will suck less. Only time will tell.
Soon to follow- 7 day waiting period on the purchase of vacuum cleaners with a ban on souped up energy mags.
I’d guess that in the EU there will be an increase in door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen (Opps! Salespersons.) A common sales gimmick is to have you vacuum a bit of carpet then putting a paper filter on their vacuum and going over the same spot. They then show you the filter to show you how much dirt your’s missed that that theirs didn’t. If they try that, ask for a filter to put on your vacuum and go over that same spot again.
Another dirty filter.
They may be selling a better vacuum but you won’t be basing your decision on a gimmick.
(Many sales…whatevers… were just trained to do this. The individual may not intentionally be trying to deceive.)
rogerknights says “This sucks”.
Good one!
The stupid part is that people will run a vacuum longer if it is less effective, having to make more passes to get dirt/stuff they can see.
My new admonition to voters “Elect stewards not stupids.”
(But the meaning of steward has changed to have an eco-connotation.)
“jaako” says “Angela Merkel is chemist by education and thus de facto immune to the most absurd alarmist claims.”
Margaret Thatcher had a scientific degree and worked in the field for a few years, but fell for climate alarmism, at least initially. But I suppose at least one could reason with either of them IF one got access for several minutes.
“Government idiocy”, yes, right category.
Vacuum cleaners do have power adjustment buttons, so normally one can use the power one needs. Now the highest limit is being forced down – in the future to 900 W! which will force longer vacuum time or lower quality work.
I bet none of those who made the rule ever used a vacuum cleaner, and the users were also not consulted in the making of the rule.
Well, no wonder for more stupidity, the IQ levels are going down in this world…
ww.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2730791/Are-STUPID-Britons-people-IQ-decline.html
Short-sighted policy. A few years ago we bought an “energy saver” dryer. And we have to run it 3 times longer to get the clothes dry. Likewise, I’m betting the EU vac cleaners will be used at least twice as much as the old ones just to get the job done.
“Fen says: August 26, 2014 at 11:44 am Short-sighted policy. A few years ago we bought an “energy saver” dryer. And we have to run it 3 times longer to get the clothes dry. Likewise, I’m betting the EU vac cleaners will be used at least twice as much as the old ones just to get the job done.”
The problem with the “energy saver” dryers is that the only place they save energy is on the EU labels, which have been modified such that condenser and warm-pump dryers are rated ahead of traditional (simpler, cheaper, easier-to-maintan, and longer-lasting) forced-air dryers. The standards are based on unrealistic tests performed in artificial lab conditions that have no connection to typical household laundry routines (and laudry-room temperature, humidity, etc.). More pie-in-the-sky math-challenged miscalculations from the Malthusian misanthrope (water)melon crowd….
Shower heads, toilets, unrecyclable compact fluorescent lamps, vacuums, dryers, etc.
What next?
The internet of things will connect them all together with time, energy, and other sensors, and “call home” to let “nanny” know how much we’ve used (wasted) in our daily chores, etc. ELV, Reichelt, Conrad, and other catalogs are just stuffed with these devices and home automation gadgets….expensive toys, but they could become mandatory if the Eurocrats connect the dots….
Technology is nice, but I don’t think I need to have a monitoring app on my smartphone to tell me my dishwasher is on fire….
(/rant) (two “energy-saving” dryers for the price of 4 or 5 normals ones…..)
The EU edict about limiting the maximum wattage of a vacuum cleaner is supposed to be about energy efficiency. That is silly. Limiting the wattage of the cleaner has nothing to do with its efficiency which I would define as the least amount of energy to accomplish a task of sucking up dirt. Some vacuum cleaners do it more efficiently than others and it has nothing to with wattage.
Its clear that the legislators do not understand simple engineering principles.
Jim from Stanwell Park
When that volcano goes off in Iceland it will play havoc with the global warming stats and the vacuum cleaners will be going overtime.
It was the same with energy saving light bulbs as 80% of the energy used by filament bulbs was lost as heat, easy sums while boiling up the bureaucratic coffee and convincing arguments at the many conferences but my home thermostat just keeps the boiler burning a little longer to compensate for the heat that would have been produced by the filament bulbs.
Next they will find that wind turbines are drawing energy from the atmosphere and changing the climate. Nature is a finely tuned machine.
I just need a few more degrees of global warming and I will be able to stop depending on fossil fuels.
Energy saving light bulbs for pennies and also insulation all supplied by the energy companies subsidised by our pockets to meet European directives, condensing boilers and now vacuum cleaners, all this energy saving we buy into gets us price hikes on tariffs because we use less so the rich get richer for less
Lol, next computers, they wanted a world where they can watch us and control us, now a computer is part of nearly every household in the developed world, two to three computers is common place these day not to mention the gaming consoles, TV’s, ipads, etc etc, technology is growing not shrinking, and the eu brain is definitely shrunk on this matter, smaller motors mean twice the work needed, same energy used as before? no gain..in fact more energy in some cases as persistant debris might require more than double the time, also lighting on longer etc in winter months, but the present government are behind this as there are monetary incentives involved, so not just the eu needs to be got rid of