TalkClimateChange

Today your Green Team leader read some interesting letters in Britain’s Daily Telegraph. We thought these letters were worthy of reply.

Sir – The new bulbs are expensive to produce, contain mercury and are slow to achieve maximum intensity (I can’t call it brightness). The true energy saving will be well under half that claimed. We replaced all our bulbs 10 years ago, but subsequently took them out because they are useless. They’re still in my cupboard.Tony Baker, Edinburgh

I have a ten year old mobile phone in my cupboard. It’s also rubbish. The new bulbs have a longer life, which fully offsets the additional manufacturing complexity. They are fully recyclable so don’t worry about the mercury, but you may buy low mercury variants if this concerns you.

Sir – The Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, has announced that the Government plans to phase out all traditional high-energy light bulbs by 2011 (report, September 28). He estimates that the move will save five million tonnes of CO2 a year.Unfortunately, his colleagues in the Department for Transport are working in the opposite direction. They want to expand aviation in Britain and thus increase greenhouse gas emissions. Building another runway at Stansted would add more than five million tonnes of CO2 a year. So all Mr Benn’s light bulb efforts will be negated by just one extra runway at Stansted. So much for joined-up thinking in Whitehall.

Peter, Essex.

Dear Peter,We think that’s a great move by Mr. Benn, effectively offsetting the additional runway at Stansted so that you may continue to enjoy the advantage of air travel without further contributing to Global Warming. Going Green doesn’t have to mean closing down the economy, we just need to be smarter in our use of the Earth’s natural resources.

Sir – I have four fittings whose shades attach to incandescent light bulbs but will not fit energy-saving ones. Can the Government tell me, please, which environmentally friendly factory in China will produce the replacement shades, how they will be transported to this country without leaving a carbon footprint and what exactly I am supposed to do with the old ones?Perhaps they will also say how I will stop the ultra-violet light from the new bulbs fading my furnishings and pictures. Every museum and art gallery in the country will want to know the answer to that question.

John Brandon, Tonbridge, Kent

Dear John,We can offer several suggestions. Impose import duties on Chinese goods which are not certificated as environmentally friendly. The Chinese are smart people and, unlike us, will not waste time making sure their products are environmentally friendly. Ocean shipping is already very green, contributing just 1% of all global emissions. Alternatively, keep your old bulbs and shades for now and just replace them with the low energy variety the next time you redecorate. UV from energy saving bulbs is negligible compared to the natural light coming through your windows, but use a low UV variant if this is worries you.

It’s easy to sceptical of any new technology - many are immature to begin with but quickly develop and bring positive benefits to society. As we begin to make our world greener we are likely to encounter many more obstacles, and the point we try to make here is that we need to be open minded about the changes, and help those Telegraph readers to overcome their concerns.