Official responsible for light bulb ban is a former communist (Europe-wide ban by 2012)

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | September 12, 2009 | Richard Gray

[Stoat]

The man responsible for the Europe-wide ban on traditional light bulbs can be revealed as a former Soviet Communist party member from Latvia.

Andris Piebalgs, 51, the European Commissioner for Energy, leads the team which drafted the controversial regulations that will see all incandescent bulbs phased out by 2012.

Far from being a faceless bureaucrat, Mr Piebalgs has waged a public war against opponents of the ban, mocking their stance and accusing them of being “resistant to change”.

Five UK MEPs – including representatives of Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, Labour and the Liberal Democrats – endorsed the policy in a vote earlier this year, before the ban started to take effect at the beginning of this month.

Mr Piebalgs was a Communist party member in the 1980s, when he worked as a headteacher in what was then part of the USSR.

He went on to become a government minster in newly-independent Latvia, then a diplomat, before being appointed to the European Commission in 2004.

Writing on his blog, he likened the negative reaction to energy-saving light bulbs from many consumers to the response generated by past inventions such as the automobile and the telephone.

He recounted how the British Parliament had passed the Red Flag Act in 1865, which required early motor cars to have someone walking in front of them carrying a red flag.

 

[Stoat]

My apologies for the severe editing of this article...this was done in order to remain in compliance with Free Republic posting rules pertaining to articles from the UK Telegraph.  Please click on the main article link to see the full story.

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Many thanks to KOSMOSNET for the Tweet

KOSMOSNET - 2009®

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He said: “Great ideas are sometimes slow to catch on ... These are understandable reactions as people are naturally resistant to change and more comfortable with what they (sic) already familiar with.

Hmmmm.....ignorant people stuck in their habits, resistant to 'change' that's good for everyone because we say so....where have I heard that sort of rhetoric recently?

 

[Tarpon]

The old reds are the new green

Go green, recycle congressional clunkers.

[Stoat]

The UK MEPs who voted in favour of the ban were Bairbre de Brun (Sinn Fein), Jill Evans (Plaid Cymru), Linda McAvan (Labour), Glenis Willmott (Labour) and Fiona Hall (Liberal Democrat).

The "Usual Suspects"

Just Communists with different names.

[Daffynition]

[SF_Redux]

Official responsible for light bulb ban is a former communist ...... like michael jackson was a former black guy

[TheConservativeParty]

What will those idiots do when the world is contaminated by the mercury in all those enviro-weenie lightbulbs?

[Stoat]

What will those idiots do when the world is contaminated by the mercury in all those enviro-weenie lightbulbs?

Raise taxes and blame the public for their 'wasteful' habits like they always do, I would imagine.

[dfwgator]

If you wanted to see pollution and its effects, all you had to do is go to the former Eastern-bloc countries. Literally forests in Poland died because of pollution. This has only been reversed with the fall of Communism.

[LostInBayport]

Mr Piebalgs has waged a public war against opponents of the ban, mocking their stance and accusing them of being “resistant to change”.

Most sane people do resist change for the worse. Inferior light, mercury issues (health and disposal), bad effects for migraine sufferers and epileptics...

I cleaned out my wholesale club's last few boxes of incandescents on my last visit and now all they have are those twisty bulbs that are inferior for reading. I plan on having a couple hundred more in my supply by the time they are banned here.

[muawiyah]

The incandescent vs. fluorescent bulb issue is actually a non-starter. Virtually all the big power savings that could be made were made in the early 1950s as commercial enterprises of all types ~ heavy industry, light industry, office, retail, etc. installed banks of fluorescent lights.

The next major savings opportunity comes with installation of LEDs. Now that we have "white light" LEDs you'll see them sweep the market worldwide very quickly.

Still, there are virtually no large scale savings available by getting rid of incandescent bulbs simply because they have mostly been used only in private homes for more than half a century.

We converted to fluorescent at our home some time back and have had power savings of about $50 a month. On a national scale that would be about 1/3 of 1% of GDP.

PEANUTS!!!

It's not worth arguing about ~ but we shouldn't let the Commies get credit for vast savings that are simply not going to occur.

[Lancey Howard]

Official responsible for light bulb ban is a former communist (Europe-wide ban by 2012)

"former"??

[FrankR]

Standard fare in my weekly grocery basket is an 8-pack of incandescent light bulbs...I'm stocking up.

The other night I passed a known liberals house, and they had removed the spotlight bulbs on the corner of the house and replaced them with spaghetti bulbs...that had to pass for the stupidest thing I've seen this year. A firefly puts off more light than that bulb did...kinda undermines the main purpose of a FLOODlight.....

[ArchAngel1983]

”What will those idiots do when the world is contaminated by the mercury in all those enviro-weenie lightbulbs?"

Easy…It will create a new ‘crisis’ for them to exploit (at our expense of course).