Light-bulb liars: What's lit up isn't a great idea

The Washington Times ^ | July 11, 2009 | Terence P. Jeffrey

[Scanian]

What if in 2025 a husband and wife decide they want to use old-fashioned incandescent bulbs in the sanctuary of their home? Will the light-bulb left defend their right to privacy and freedom of choice?

Don't count on it. Many Americans may not know it yet, but the federal government has already effectively banned the type of light bulb most of us use today.

In 2007, President Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act, mandating that household light bulbs use incrementally less electricity starting in 2012 and culminating in 2020, when they must use less than 70 percent of the electricity conventional incandescent bulbs use today.

Compact fluorescent bulbs already meet this standard. The congressional authors of the law understood they were, in essence, phasing out incandescent bulbs.

They did this, they said, to help save the planet from overheating. But the light-bulb left did not weigh -- or care about -- the unintended consequences of their crusade. One such consequence could be an environment disaster in your family room.

You see, fluorescent bulbs contain mercury -- a bad, bad pollutant and health hazard that the Environmental Protection Agency has been sounding alarms about for years.

This put the EPA in a tough spot. On the one hand, it needed to applaud the politically correct use of fluorescent bulbs to save the planet. On the other hand, it needed to warn people that if they break a fluorescent bulb in their home it could poison the dog, the kid and the wall-to-wall rug. So, the EPA published blatantly self-contradictory instructions about what to do if mercury spills at your house.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I wonder if much of this has to do with the kind of lights you grew up with. If you were home schooled in a house with all incandescents and never watched TV, then fluorescents will seem odious.

[knarf]

We’ll all be on 12v or 24V RV circuits ... the only AC will be gummint useage .... Y’heard it here first.

[Sacajaweau]

There are a million things mandated by local, state and the Federal government that we may not like. I’d say the “pretty inefficient, incandescent bulb” is being replaced by the better mouse trap. This mandate just hurries it up. No one is going to jail. You’re just being warned that the old bulbs will no longer be available.

[Sacajaweau]

A good many of us?? I’m 65...and have never heard anyone complain about flourescent lights in a school or store or whatever....until this governement mandate came about.

[mewzilla]

Meanwhile, from our neighbors to the North...

Warning for users of compact fluorescent lightbulbs

[HiTech RedNeck]

How do you feel in home center stores, such as Home Depot and Menards, which use bright halogens in fixtures that hang maybe 18 inches below high warehouse ceilings. These halogens provide exceptionally good color fidelity, important for products that will be purchased for a household based upon their appearance.

[Desdemona]

No, I went to parochial school with perfectly obnoxious fluorescent lights and had all the same issues. I have a visual perception disorder called Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome that wasn't diagnosed until I was in my 20's. It has nothing to do with actual vision, but that artificial light wavelengths are processed more slowly in the gray matter. It's one of the family of dyslexia, dysgraphia, etc., but NOT, NOT either of those. It's totally genetic and related to being ambidextrous. It is estimated that between 20 and 40 percent of the population is scotopic to some degree. I just happen to have a severe case. One of my brothers (the brilliant one) has a much more mild case. A couple cousins have it, too, but they'll never admit it. I figured out the tricks around it by the time I was nine, so while I could voice what I was seeing, I didn't let it stop me.

In my own environment, I just want to be able to be able to exist without cramped eyes, headaches and nausea. If it's fluorescent lights that are causing it, why should I be forced to use them?

[raybbr]

Depends on where they go. In a porch light controlled by nothing but a dusk to dawn photo eye, they will last for over a year.

You want an incandescent that will last for ever? Buy the Rough Service bulbs. They are about four bucks each but I have one in my drop light that's over four years old. I have dropped it and used in the dead of winter. Plus it keeps you warm under the car in the Winter.

[From The Deer Stand]

And we really have to thank Pres.Bush for this nonsense

...among other things.

[Desdemona]

The only place that I willingly spend any time under those mercury things that I call gym lights is at the Savvis Center at Blues games. It just doesn't work for me.

[mewzilla]

And from last year...

Compact Fluorescent Lighting: Are We Trading Energy Conservation For Toxic Mercury Emissions?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Ever time I read something this I wonder about the obvious. Why aren’t the glass part of these lamps required to be encased in a plastic coating, the way that “tough service” incandescent bulbs are. Then if glass breaks, nothing escapes.

[Desdemona]

Well, among my circle, a lot of us are not fans of the fluorescent bulb. Of course, half the neighborhood was diagnosed scoptic at the same time I was.

Sorry, this particular mandate is too much. If I'm willing to pay for the energy regular bulbs use, what's the problem?

[mathluv]

2007 - ummmm wasn’t that a dim congress that wrote that bill. I know W signed bills that I did not like, but we must not forget that they come from Congress before he can sign them.

[MarkL]

This reminds me of a phone call to a radio talk show I heard the other day... The caller was going off on just how idiotic is seems that our government is...

The Department of Energy is looking for a place to permanently store several thousand metric tons of mercury, and they’ve decided that the “Bannister Complex” in Kansas City, MO would be a good place. For anyone who’s not familiar with the Kansas City, this is the old “Bendix Plant” and federal complex that was built on a flood plain. Until they built up some flood gates, the complex used to flood about once every 10 or 15 years. To make matters even more interesting, when the complex was first built, back in the 1930s, it was “way out in the sticks.” Today, the complex is pretty much smack in the middle of the KCMO population center.

The caller was amazed at how the government wants to store tens of thousands of tons of a poisonous material on a flood plain in the middle of Kansas City, but they won’t store nuclear waste deep under a mountain in a salt mine at Yucca Mountain!

Mark

[HiTech RedNeck]

These aren’t mercury that you see in the home centers. Mercury vapor lamps have line spectra and no pretense to color fidelity.

[chrisser]

If I'm willing to pay for the energy regular bulbs use, what's the problem?

Dear comrade. It seems you are confused.

It is not about the energy use. It is not about the cost. It is not about the environment.

It is about control.

If CFLs were a better choice for most people, then most people would use them - ban on incadescents or no.

That neither the market, nor education, was tried first is an indication of the ultimate goal.

[mathluv]

Didn’t a congresscritter say on the floor of the House that these not only contained mercury, but they are MADE IN CHINA.

[Desdemona]

Whatever - they glow and make me see funny. I’m better off with a window.

[mathluv]

'WHO is going to know what type light bulb I have under a shade in a light fixture in my home in 2020? Is the Government going to send inspectors around to search peoples homes?'

Yes - ACORN.