Posted on 03/21/2007 8:23:31 AM PDT by CNS
(CNSNews.com) - A Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill that would ban the sale of traditional incandescent light bulbs - which are less energy-efficient, prompting claims that they contribute to "global warming" - one day after a colleague told a press conference that legislating a ban would be a "last choice."
As Cybercast News Service reported last week, Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) held a news conference Wednesday calling for more efficient lighting options, and Manzullo said "the last thing we want to do is force legislation down people's throats."
One day later, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) introduced legislation that would set target dates for certain types of light bulbs to be prohibited for sale in the United States.
Harman calls the bill "an important first step toward making every household, business and public building in America more energy-efficient."
"This legislation, while a small step, could have an enormous impact," she said in a posting on the liberal Huffington Post blog. "And hopefully, it can help transform America into an energy-efficient and energy-independent nation."
An average traditional incandescent bulb based on a filament emits 12-15 lumens per watt (a measurement of the bulb's lighting output.) Harman's bill would require all bulbs to produce 60 lumens-per-watt by January 2012; 90 lumens-per-watt by January 2016; and 120 lumens-per-watt by January 2020.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
The main drawback to halogen bulbs is that they produce LOTS of heat.
I have both types of bulbs in my ceiling at the office. The "new ones" that are rated with the same output as the standard bulb are much dimmer."
Who is going to pay for the glasses I need to replace more and more often from the dimmer lighting??? Dim lighting gives me eyestrain.
Keep in mind this is the same Congress which is allowing the switch over to HD TV in Feb of 2009. There are an estimated 73 million tvs in the USA today. They have authorized 2 coupons per qualified household-value $40 ea- for a converter box. Trouble is they have only approved less than 36,000 of these coupons, That is about 18,000 households.
Someone needs to tell me where I get my lottery ticket to get one of these coupons. We have more than 30 million people living at their standards of "poverty level" and even in poverty, most have at least one TV. Tell me how these people are going to be able to afford this conversion. The price of the converter boxes has not yet been established. Soooo- all of us who never bought a HD tv and really cannot afford to do so, are going to be without communication via our TV. When will they also go after our radios?
Control the information, control the populace.....
But the big question is: will Al Gore by lightbulb offsets from himself?
Then darkness will be your lot. Shut up ungrateful citizen. The masterplanners know what is best.
ML/NJ
So much for the separation of church and state!
This follows in the wake of the great toilet fiasco, when Congress MANDATED the size of the water tanks in toilets, thereby doubling the need to flush (I bought good ones from old houses being torn down to avoid the mandate). Congress continues to extend its grasp and hold over every aspect of our lives, and poses as virtuous while it slowly strips away our liberties. It should be funny that Congress is wasting time on light bulbs while we are at war and the country is being invaded and oil supplies are iffy, but it's not.
Latest news from a "free" America. /sarc
That's funny, the instructions I have don't say anything about enclosed fixtures although they mention dimmers not working.
I can't see good enough to read with those new lights...
First they force on me low-flow toliets, then side-loading washing machines, now they are coming after my light bulbs. Ridiculous!
I predict a brisk light bulb black market flowing out of Canada. We'll take to smuggling them over the border.
What exactly does the US Constitution say about the federal government regulating LIGHT BULBS?
Time to invest in Hg futures...
They now have CFLs that are rated for enclosed fixtures, but most of them (all of mine are about two years old) say they shouldn't be used in enclosed fixtures. Newer ones, as I understand it, are rated for enclosed fixtures.
Who knows? I have two CFL bulbs outside on an electronic timer for over two years now (I would've replaced the incandescent bulbs at least a dozen times or more) and they're fine. They aren't supposed to be on electronic timers but I haven't had any problem.
Correction...that should read "dimbulb" legislation.
I guess I'm now "Pro Choice" when it comes to lightbulbs.
...when it make sense.
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