Sunday, April 29, 2007
Article:
They've Had Their Filament
Australia to fully phase out incandescent bulbs by 2010
In a world first, Australia will officially make the switch away from incandescent bulbs. Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said today that the country would phase out inefficient lighting over the next three years, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions hundreds of thousands of tons a year and cutting household lighting costs up to 66 percent. "If the rest of the world follows our lead," he said, "this will reduce an amount of energy ... to the tune of five times as much energy as Australia consumes." Similar bulb-banning campaigns are gaining steam in the U.K. and California, with compact fluorescents -- which cost more up front but last four to 10 times longer and use 20 percent of the energy of incandescents -- appearing as the leading alternative. Critics in Australia pointed out that much more could be done, including focusing on industrial energy-saving measures and ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. But Turnbull defended the move: "It's a little thing," he said, "but it's a massive change."
Source: http://www.grist.org/news/daily/2007/02/20/1/index.html
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My thoughts:
Technology has always been the ultimate aspect in shaping the world. The degree and area of technological globalisation are the factors which determine this. Right from the industrial revolution, advance and globalisation in technology has been rampant. The reason is simple: man wants his life to be less tedious and seeks more comfort. The same mentality has been dominant in all parts of the world and this has led to the rise of technological globalisation. Even now, the issues over technological globalisation have taken the centerstage in the world.
Political, economic, cultural and environmental globalisations are only the branches of the tree of technological globalisation. This tree provides the oxygen for the world to progress. A domino in the number of nations embarking on nuclear policies and the tension due to North Korea’s and Iran’s true motives are the much discussed topics on politics today. The war waged on Iraq by the U.S. occurred because of the issue of “weapons of mass destruction”-which was also an incident which occurred primarily due to the advancement in technology.
The article above well illustrates how technology influences economic and environmental globalisation. Australia has decided to totally switch from the use of incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs by 2010. This would reduce household lighting costs by “up to 66 percent” and also serve to be a step to fulfil the motives of the Kyoto Protocol. Many countries are also considering the option chosen by Australia and efforts such as this are being carried out in countries such as the U.K. and California. Various environmental policies adopted have all circles around the causes of technology. Technological globalisation is being followed to achieve the motive of economic and environmental globalisation.
Cultural globalisation could also have not been possible without the medium of technology. Communication and information sharing across the world has enabled the spread of culture and tradition. Without technology bilingualism in language, philosophy by the Greek or the learning of martial arts could never have been possible. Moreover, we would never have leaned of the western civilisation and culture so we could have never dressed, talked, behaved the way we are now.
Technological globalisation has thus been proven to be the sea where various rivers or deltas of other minor types of globalisation mix.
Future Perfect; Technological Expert
12:32 PM
