[stranger and pilgrim]

No need to worry. I took no offense. Clearly, your response was one of a madman, if only temporarily so . . .

For the record:
1.) I am not a liberal. Not in any way, shape or form.
2.) I am not a statist. NOt in any way, shape or form.
3.) I do not support government mandates about light bulbs. Not in any way, shape or form.

What I am is someone who worked in the electric utility industry for 20+ years as a writer and communicator. A big part of my job involved spreading the company line. That, as much as anything made me a believer in energy efficiency.

We are facing an impending power shortage in America. Our appetite for electricity continues to grow. Think about how many things you plug in today compared to 20 years ago. And yet, in the past 20 years we have built almost no central station baseload power generating stations. Our existing backbone of powerplants is getting old. The cost to update them to current EPA regulations is insurmountable in many cases — assuming the Sierra Club and EPA would let the power companies upgrade old plants. We can’t build any new coal plants — no banks will loan the money for fear that EPA will decide no more coal. It looked like nuclear might once again have a chance, but Japan pretty well killed that. Wind and solar are a joke. Basically, we’re screwed.

Eventually, we’re going to have to come up with a solution. In the meantime, we have to make do with what we have. We have to stretch every kilowatt as far as possible. That means we can’t waste energy. Incandescent light bulbs waste 90 percent of the energy they consume. Changing to CFLs is a no-brainer. It’s low-hanging fruit. Easily done, almost no pain and doing so produces very real, tangible savings for the consumer. I’m sorry if you find this offensive but I believe anyone who continues to buy and use incandescents where they don’t HAVE to is a damn fool. Idiot would not be too strong a word. It really is that simple. Government mandates have nothing to do with it. It’s just plain economics.

And, believe me, this is the LEAST of the choices you will be facing in coming years. What are you going to say when they tell you have to replace your refrigerator?

I no longer work in the electric utility industry but I learned enough to know that CFLs are a great money and energy saver and those who oppose them are just being stupid. Sorry. But that’s the truth.

[aruanan]

Government mandates have nothing to do with it. It’s just plain economics.

If it were just plain economics, there would be no necessity of any government mandates. And the savings realized are in the ideal use of the CFL compared to average use of incandescent. And, sorry, there are no CFLs available that can give me the type and brilliance of lighting that incandescent (including halogen) can. That is as important a factor as "energy use." If it's doing what I need it to do in a way that another thing cannot, then the energy simply is not wasted--it's just part of the cost.

[rlmorel]

Thank you.

You said "...doing so produces very real, tangible savings for the consumer. I’m sorry if you find this offensive..."

That isn't what I find offensive. What I find offensive is your tone in relaying your opinion. I am not going to quibble with someone over whether they save money, whether they are better or worse for the environment or whatever. People are entitled to their opinion.

So, I do take issue with is your tone, but what I take issue with even more so, is with government bureaucrats taking my money via confiscatory taxes, TELLING me how to spend the money they leave me, then passing legislation to DRIVE up the cost of energy so we are FORCED to spend more money to drive our cars, heat our homes and turn on our lights, whether they be incandescent or CFL. These bastards think they are doing us a big favor because they think they know best, and are trying to twist our arms to accept their utopian crap. They think if energy costs go up high enough, their plans to harness unicorn flatulence or whatever will become economically viable.

Well I don't care to take part in their damned experiments. If my town wants to purchase LED based traffic and street lights because it saves the town money and is a guaranteed return on investment, then power to them.

If you and others with your point of view want these CFL lights in the marketplace as an alternative to make your home more energy efficient, then I think is is fine and would never say boo to anyone so inclined.

Our issue is not residential lighting. Making citizens like you and me purchase stuff we don't want and don't need is NOT going to solve anything. It is the equivalent of selling carbon credits or putting a magnetic sticker on the back of a car. It is Jimmy Carter wearing sweaters and telling us to turn our thermostats down.

I just took this well known (I presume) graph from Livermore Labs showing energy sources and consumption and cut out a part of it and marked it up. Of the four major sectors, residential is the smallest using just 4.65% of generated electrical power as shown by the graph. Government statistics say lighting consumes 12% of 4.65% of electricity flowing into a house.

On this graph below, the blown up part shows the 4.65% pipeline with the red stripe on it showing the lighting share, and the green stripe showing what it would be if we assume 10% efficiency compared to CFL for incandescent bulbs.

I didn't get this image from some anti-enviroweenie website. I made it myself after analyzing the data on the graph and government data such as estimates of how much lighting uses.

I didn't disparage you for choosing CFL's as a stand to take. You disparaged me with sarcasm for taking the stand I took, which I took exception to. I believe I have the data (shown graphically here) to indicate that using CFL's in houses isn't going to save us. You can make an argument for commercial/industrial building codes and so on, and I might buy into it and agree, the same as I agree with towns purchasing led-based traffic lights.

By my home is my home. And we have gone far too long allowing the government to dictate what we can and cannot do on our own quarter acre of land, small as it is. I am sick to death of it.