June 26, 2008
But they survived peak oil
I've often posted about the ridiculous assertion that Cuba survived "peak oil" and that that country should be held up as some kind of model for the rest of the world. Yoani Sanchez has tackled the Cuban energy situation on her blog, Generacion Y. It's been a while since I posted something from her in English and I thought her post on this subject is quite worthy given the current energy debate we're having in this election year:
Obligated to live in dimness
Two years ago the social workers knocked on the door. They came to exchange incandescent bulbs for new energy-saving ones in the midst of a roaring campaign dubbed the Energy Revolution. I liked the warm yellow light that my living room lamp gave off, but a quick inspection by the trained teenagers detected the guilty filament and I had to turn it in. They gave me another that projected a pale luminescence and lasted for three weeks. My eyes were thankful for the short life of the efficient bulb, because at night there was no way to distinguish the details under its faint light.
To replace the broken one, I had to go to a shop that sells merchandise to those with foreign currency, where they don’t sell the demonized conventional bulbs either –the kind we’ve had had on our nightstand for our whole lives-. I resigned myself to buy the fleeting energy-saving ones or the other so-called "cold light" bulbs -that give my room the feeling of an operating room. But as of two months ago not even these are available. There are no bulbs of any type in Havana’s stores.
As a joke, the salesmen tell me that the ship that brings them "has not arrived from China" and advise me that a small boutique in el Cerro made some available, in the midst of a riot. A quick look at my apartment indicates that the dark areas outnumber the lit ones. So if the vagaries of distribution remain the same, I will have to improve my sense touch or trip over each piece of furniture.
What nobody knows -and it’s one of those secrets that I only write about in a in a private diary like this one-is that I managed to hide a specimen of the persecuted bulbs from the social workers. A round and wasteful one, that has accompanied me for more than five years with the yellow light given off by its 40 watts. Not that enjoy wasting electricity, but I need to believe that at I can at least decide under what kind of light I should read, eat dinner or watch TV. I cling to the fugitive bulb, as if it could clarify and shed light on not only the living room of my house, but also the clumsiness of the merchants and voluntarism of energy campaigns.
We've already started in the U.S. with flush toilets and these stupid bulbs they are shoving down our throats
Posted by Henry Louis Gomez at June 26, 2008 02:06 PM
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Comments
Stupid fluorescent bulbs that if they break in your house can kill you with mercury vapors. How's that for environmentalism!
Posted by: George L. Moneo ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.babalublog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 26, 2008 03:02 PM
George -
I light my whole place with CFL's - AND - believe the Environmental Threat is way overblown. That said, the decision on what light bulb to use should be a PERSONAL CHOICE. That Yoni's CFL blew out in in 3 weeks, assuming no dimmer switches, says more about the Cuban Electrical Grid than anything else! -S-
Posted by: Dr.Shalit at June 26, 2008 08:57 PM
Also, I'm sure that the quality of bulbs that Cubans get is quite inferior to what you can pick up at the home depot.
Posted by: Henry Louis Gomez at June 26, 2008 09:07 PM
In Cuba before hurricane castro arrived, most people that were afluent used fluorescent lighting. Only those that were very poor used incandecent light.
Posted by: Firefly at June 26, 2008 11:41 PM
I light my whole place with CFL's - AND - believe the Environmental Threat is way overblown
Oh, I dunno. Upon breaking a fluorescent light, you should do the following:
Have people and pets leave the room, and don't let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out.
Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.
Which doesn't give me the warm fuzzies. You can find more at EPA's web site http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm#fluorescent
says more about the Cuban Electrical Grid than anything else
Agreed. I've had CFL's for almost two years, and not a one of them have failed. Forunately.
Posted by: I R A Darth Aggie at June 27, 2008 09:28 AM
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