Posted on 10/10/2010 9:22:26 AM PDT by george76
So, are you ready to comply with the federal government's ban on incandescent light bulbs? Me neither.
Starting in January 2012, a little over a year from now, the phase-out begins. Simple, inexpensive lighting will become a time-capsule item.
Compact-fluorescent lights, or CFLs - the bulbs that look like a twisted ice-cream cone (and won't fit in many light fixtures where space is tight) - will become the new norm.
Anyone who has priced CFLs knows they're not cheap. Supposedly they're worth the extra money because they'll last longer.
That's cold comfort, though, given the dull, unnatural glow that these bulbs throw off.
Worse, CFLs are full of mercury. If one breaks - and who hasn't dropped a light bulb now and then? - you have an elaborate clean-up process ahead of you.
It's on the EPA's website, and it involves evacuating the area of all people and pets, and using duct tape and damp paper towels to get everything up. And no vacuuming, or you may disperse the mercury - which, after all, is a toxic substance.
Some lawmakers are trying to reverse this part of the 2007 law. Republican representatives Joe Barton and Michael Burgess from Texas and Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee, have introduced legislation to repeal the ban on incandescent bulbs.
"Washington-mandated layoffs in the middle of a desperate recession are one of many examples of what happens when politicians and activists think they know better than consumers and workers," Barton said.
The question is: Will their fellow policy makers finally see the light?
(Excerpt) Read more at themountainmail.com ...
Well, since they are not “outlawed” I will just use my existing stash as long as I want HA HA HA.
Mercury comes out of the ground, when you dump the CFLs, the mercury goes back into the ground.
Sort of like recycling.
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Stewie...”That was a nice one”.
btw...I do not know or endorse any products of the posted website.
Delivery of potable drinking water is MANDATED throughout the country.
NO BURNING RUBBISH is mandated in most areas.
No hunting within 500 feet of a residence.
You have to look at the "truth or consequences".
Is this bulb mandate bad?? What are the consequences?
It's bad in that it has nothing to do with health, safety and welfare and the saved energy will just be used elsewhere. ACTUAL ENERGY SAVINGS = ZIP.
Virtually every bulb in our winter house and the cottage have been replaced, as they blew, with CFLs. The light is fine, they do indeed last much longer than the incandescents and my kw usage is substantially less than it used to be. As for the mercury, well, when I was a kid we used to play with it on our desks at school...which may go a long way to explaining the 60s!
Federal
“NO BURNING RUBBISH is mandated in most areas.”
State/local governments
“No hunting within 500 feet of a residence.”
State
“Is this bulb mandate bad??”
Yes, the “mandates” should be decided by the free market, not the Federal Nanny State
I have noticed that folks who kvetch about fluorescents on principle of inferior light usually don’t complain about the lighting in most businesses, retail outlets, offices, and schools.
***********
I’ve also noticed the folks who squawk about the mercury in the CFLs usually don’t complain about the mercury in the old fashioned tube style fluorescent bulbs.
The story as I recall it, is that George Bush signed that abhorrent bill into law.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg8cDmi7-U8
All those reps that voted for the law are State/local Reps.
That was part of a BIG energy bill and I believe a veto would have been useless. Congress had the votes.
The only valid concern with the CFL lights is that they’re basically becoming mandatory. The problem is not the bulbs - it’s the law. I have several of them in my house, but I also have several incandescent lights in places where those work best. The federal government has decided that I’m too stupid to decide what kind of lighting should be used in my house. They are wrong, as usual.
The LED bulb maybe the long range solution but the price is very high as it starts out.
Home Depot to sell Philips LED to replace 60-watt bulb:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2604529/posts?
Home Depot later this year plans to carry a Philips LED bulb designed as a replacement for the common 60-watt incandescent. The bulb, now called the 12-watt EnduraLED, will be available by the beginning of December and will cost between $40 and $50, representatives from Philips and Home Depot said today.
end snip
Besides, they don’t last “twice as long”. They seem to burnout much sooner.
The problem is that the same environmentalists do NOT want those factories here in the US and/or want to regulate them to death. And the Unions want the factories to pay way over market rate wages when the factories do appear here. So, what is a factory to do? Move elsewhere where environmental regulations are looser and they can pay a market rate for wages.
I’ve been stockpiling incandescants since that silly bill passed. I’d have a storage room full of them except my DH thinks renting storage is nuts. I have about five years worth of bulbs stashed.
LEDs are direct current devices, the price of the bulb includes the price of the inverter. LEDs lighting strings that run from a common source are much more efficient, less noisy, and easily configurable.
If you have a Big Lots nearby, they sell a wonderful daylight lamp for less than $40. They are fluorescent, but give off a bright white light that is great for reading and cross stitching and other close work. We use them for puzzles, too. I have about 5, including a couple desk lights. :)
They aren’t beautiful, but they are functional. You can get more expensive ones that are prettier, of course.
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