Posted on 12/30/2013 5:31:16 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Bulb Ban: As of Wednesday, the manufacture and import of 60- and 40-watt incandescent light bulbs will be illegal — one more setback in the fight against government interference into the daily lives of the American people.
First they came for our light bulbs. Before the onset of ObamaCare and its mandate to buy health insurance as a condition of citizenship, there was the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), one of the first things Democrats took up on retaking the House of Representatives in the 2006 elections.
A well-intentioned President George W. Bush signed the incandescent bulb ban in 2007. After all, Edison bulbs were old technology and a little energy efficiency couldn't hurt.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
3-way incandescent light bulbs are specifically exempted from the new standards. The bulbs you need should either be available locally or online.
There are thousands of rural well houses in the USA which use a 100 Watt bulb in the winter to keep the hydrant from freezing. What about brooder lamps for chicks or piglets??
I don’t want a bulb with Mercury anywhere near my stove or my kitchen counters. I also don’t want one inside my refrigerator.
The motion sensative security lights I have also are in the cold—and the Mercury bulbs don’t like such & don’t last very long in those conditions.
This will backfire in alot of ways before someone in Congress lets the incadescent bulb come back.
Lighting accounts for 13% of electricity used in the U.S. Standard incandescent light bulbs produce 10% light, 90% heat.
Personally, I hate adding heat to my house during the summer when I’m running the air conditioner! At my mom’s house, relatives would linger at the dining room table - under the chandelier with five 60-watt light bulbs. There was a noticeable difference in temperature when we replaced the bulbs with energy efficient bulbs.
I’m changing to LEDs as fast as I can!
Don’t miss the forest for the trees.
It doesn’t matter how much “better” one product is over another.
The gov’t has no business telling us what we can and can’t buy, especially in this area of life.
The 2020 requirements are tough, but they are a long way off. Hopefully common sense will prevail by then.
The law contains provisions to further restrict incandescent bulb types that start selling well. Here is the section for rough service lamps, there are similar sections for the other exempt types.
(D) ROUGH SERVICE LAMPS-
‘(i) IN GENERAL- Effective beginning with the first year that the reported annual sales rate for rough service lamps demonstrates actual unit sales of rough service lamps that achieve levels that are at least 100 percent higher than modeled unit sales for that same year, the Secretary shall—
‘(I) not later than 90 days after the end of the previous calendar year, issue a finding that the index has been exceeded; and
‘(II) not later than the date that is 1 year after the end of the previous calendar year, complete an accelerated rulemaking to establish an energy conservation standard for rough service lamps.
‘(ii) BACKSTOP REQUIREMENT- If the Secretary fails to complete an accelerated rulemaking in accordance with clause (i)(II), effective beginning 1 year after the date of the issuance of the finding under clause (i)(I), the Secretary shall require rough service lamps to—
‘(I) have a shatter-proof coating or equivalent technology that is compliant with NSF/ANSI 51 and is designed to contain the glass if the glass envelope of the lamp is broken and to provide effective containment over the life of the lamp;
‘(II) have a maximum 40-watt limitation; and
‘(III) be sold at retail only in a package containing 1 lamp.
I hear rough service bulbs are exempted.
If you like your lightbulb... you can’t keep your lightbulb.
“I posted in the other thread a few days back. The Cree LED bulbs sent at home Depot for $12 a bulb are fantastic. They match the color of incandescents, last longer, are instant on, dimmable and will save some on energy costs.”
First the disclaimer: I prefer freedom of choice and have stockpiled a lifetime supply of 100 watt incandescents, just in case I don’t like where the new tech is headed.
Home Depot now sells a new Phillips 11 watt bulb for $15 that I like better than the Crees. It is mellow and more pleasing to the eye. It has more even light distribution around the top and sides, does not flicker and will not burn your eyes as badly to stare at it. Someone on YouTube has done extensive and very scientific comparisons of various LED bulbs, including tear-down examinations of the innards. From all of that, and my personal experience, I conclude the new Phillips is currently the best. I only wish they had a “100 watt” version. My main concern is how long the expensive things will actually last. The power modules may fail sooner than the LED chips themselves.
The government is involved in U.S. energy independence, whether you agree with that policy or not.
I remember the time when families mostly had a single car. Now it seems that every member of a family - 18 and over - owns a car. That pushes gasoline usage up. The government responded by mandating that cars become more energy efficient. That reduces the amount of oil that needs to be imported.
The demand for electricity, likewise, has been increasing over the years. More lights in homes, more air conditioners, more computers, more cell phones, more TVs, etc. So we end up overloading the current power grid, or we require more power plants. The government, again, is very involved in that process. It makes more sense to mandate that folks use efficient light bulbs, than to build more power plants to support 90% inefficient light bulbs.
Your opinion may differ. I just think that this is one time where we need to look at the big picture.
Let There Be Light Ping
You forgot about it being for a wrong address.
“Payback on a $30 bulb at saving 1 penny per day is $3.65 / yr.”
You are looking at this ENTIRELY wrong. The savings is not just one cent a day. It reduces global warming, which keeps sea levels down so an entire village in India doesn’t have to move to the mountains. Savings, about a million rupees.
Less air pollution so the folks in China and Japan don’t have to spend so much on facemasks - savings of a thousand yen.
Joking, but I DID read some liberal article with this type of stuff in it discussing the broader “costs” of doing some things.
To a point I see it. It should not always be about what is the cost to me. If I have 55 gallon drum of hazardous waste I should not be allowed to dump it in the local creek so as to avoid the cost of disposing of it properly. (So me and the EPA agree on that one).
But making it ILLEGAL to buy a 40, 60, 75, 100 watt light bulb in order to do what? Our electrical rates already are higher due to increased emission controls on power plants? Global warming? (stupid science).
Light, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness Ping
Or they could have imposed excise/tariffs [constitutional] instead of interfering in the industry [contra-constatutional].
Psst -- Hey, buddy, you wanna buy a light-bulb?
Light, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness Ping.
Partly right, but Bush signed this ban, not Obama.
RINO Rep. Fred Upton from Michigan sponsored this legislation. You are so right - we don’t need the Lefties to screw us when we have all the RINO posers to beat them to it.
Bush signed this in his second term!!! Why did he not simply veto everything remotely tyrannical emerging from that filthy statist bunch of whores calling themselves Congress? What are the press going to do, say he’s a bad POTUS?? Onoz — they’d never have thought of THAT otherwise!
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