10. GERRY BROWNLEE (National—Ilam) Link to this
to the Minister of Energy
How confident is he that compact fluorescent lamp light bulbs are safe for New Zealanders to use in their homes?
Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of Energy) Link to this
Very. Fluorescent lights are used in all countries, and can be safely used in New Zealand homes. The small amount of mercury is about one-twentieth of the amount in old fluorescent lights used in schools for decades, and is also substantially less than that in current tube fittings. Indeed, when I walked around the Beehive today I noted that just about all of the light fittings were fluorescent ones. Is the member suggesting we should ban them?
Does the Minister agree with the Government’s spokesperson for energy efficiency, Jeanette Fitzsimons, who said yesterday that an Investigate magazine article about compact fluorescent light bulbs “raises some concerns”, and that “New Zealanders need to know that using CFL light bulbs will not pose a health risk to themselves and their families.”; if he does, will he be commissioning the review that his colleague Jeanette Fitzsimons has called for?
Well, her statement was correct, in that Mr Wishart’s article does raise those views. It is based on one study; I can advise the member that the Ministry of Health is reviewing that study and other related research, and will no doubt present a more balanced view than Mr Wishart did.
Moana MackeyAgain, I repeat “No”. This seems to be a common misconception on Mr Brownlee’s part. A growing range of energy-saving lamps are now available—
Jacqui Dean—for example, there are new generation halogen incandescent lamps that look exactly the same. I hear we have another person saying they hate them. It is based on what the bulbs look like. We actually have lamps that look exactly the same as the old-style incandescent lamps but they use 30 percent less energy and they last twice as long. These are not fluorescents—they have no mercury—but, unfortunately, compared with fluorescents the savings are not quite as high.
Is the Minister telling the House that the Government spokesperson for energy efficiency did not know that this work was to be done to verify the claims made in the Investigate magazine; and, in any event, would it not have been simply a matter for the Government spokesperson on energy efficiency to commission the inquiry herself—or in fact is the relationship between the Greens and the Government now so bad that such activity cannot take place?