Posted on 01/01/2014 1:17:48 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Say goodbye to the regular light bulb this New Year.
For more than a century, the traditional incandescent bulb was the symbol of American innovation. Starting Jan. 1, the famous bulb is illegal to manufacture in the U.S., and it has become a fitting symbol for the collusion of big business and big government.
The 2007 Energy Bill, a stew of regulations and subsidies, set mandatory efficiency standards for most light bulbs. Any bulbs that couldn't produce a given brightness at the specified energy input would be illegal. That meant the 25-cent bulbs most Americans used in nearly every socket of their home would be outlawed.
People often assume green regulations like this represent the triumph of environmental activists trying to save the plant. That’s rarely the case, and it wasn't here. Light bulb manufacturers whole-heartedly supported the efficiency standards. General Electric, Sylvania and Philips — the three companies that dominated the bulb industry — all backed the 2007 rule, while opposing proposals to explicitly outlaw incandescent technology (thus leaving the door open for high-efficiency incandescents).
This wasn't a case of an industry getting on board with an inevitable regulation in order to tweak it. The lighting industry was the main reason the legislation was moving. As the New York Times reported in 2011, “Philips formed a coalition with environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council to push for higher standards.”
Industry support for the regulations struck lawmakers and journalists as a ringing endorsement of the regulations. Republican Congressmen Fred Upton, who has since flip-flopped and attacked the regulations, cosponsored the light bulb provision in 2007. His excuse, according to conservatives I spoke to: It couldn't be that bad if the industry supported it.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Buy rough-service incandescents: http://www.newcandescent.com/
This light bulb ban is insane and senseless.
I know some people who have several closets well stocked with the old bulbs.......
Go to brightlighys-inc.com to see how to beat the Gov’t Ban.
Not quite that simple.
Enviros supported the idea. Big business chimed in, seeing a way to increase profits.
There was nobody with clout to oppose it, since the only people it hurt were consumers, and most of the traditional consumer advocates are liberals, therefore enviros.
My parents house had little tubes for gas lighting. and then electricity came to town....
It might be safe to say industry killed it by lining the pockets of lawmakers. How else would a hideous bill like this get passed.
I dont do well at all under flourescant light,
Thank you
Fault of federal regulations: 0%
Fault of environmental groups: 0%
Fault of evil capitalists: 100%
Why do they call them rough service?
I stocked up yesterday
they were $1 for a 4 pack in a special display
the only bulbs left on the shelve in their original place are at least $4 a 4 pack..
I asked a WalMart employee what was taking the place of the cheaper bulbs..
he didn’t know and said nothing had been sent the $1 bulbs were discontinued and that was the last day to buy them...
I got about a years worth...
now to find somewhere soft to store them..
Keeping 1 or 2 packs in my big china cabinet on top of my bone china saucers and bread plates is one thing but I have ah quite a few packs now...
:)
Govt and selected companies teaming up getting that favored treatment =facsism, right?
Shock and vibration resistant - more attachment point for the filaments, thicker coated glass, and more.
Precisely! If these crap bulbs we’re supposed to buy now were all that and a bag of chips, why force all of us into having something many of us don’t want? Just break one of these bulbs and see the fun begin. Or try to read under the sick-colored light that is probably emitting low-level mercury fumes.
Back in ancient times when I was a kid in Downriver Detroit, I would go with my Mom to pick up free replacement bulbs from the electric company, who then refurbished the bulbs. I also recall that these bulbs lasted a lot longer than the incandescent bulbs do today. That inferiority was probably intentional on GE/Sylvania/Phillips’ part to frustrate us into believing the CF bulbs are superior. They aren’t, IMHO. If this is about saving energy, are we looking at the whole energy footprint of producing these crummy bulbs? More pure unadulterated bullcrap.
Within a few years mercury contamination from broken and improperly disposed CFLs will be a major problem and environmentalists will be clamoring for new federal regulations to ban mercury in light bulbs.
Another case of Big Business partnering with Big Government to push out its competition and screw the consumer. Its straight up tyranny.
Industry, selling regular bulbs for .25 cents, supported new regulations that took the price to $5 or more.
I wonder why?
Or at least that my take on it without reading the article fully ;0)
Well, there was plenty of advance notice to be able to bulk buy a lifetime supply.
They're technically designed for "industrial purposes." They're better-built to withstand various stresses like vibration and such.
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