Posted on 07/11/2009 4:24:31 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Aren’t LED bulbs the ones that put out that very white light?
It’s still in development. They need to raise efficiency and align the LED’s to emit light like a light bulb, whatever the application is.
Cost is also an obstacle. .22 cent incandescents are hard to beat especially if the heat loss in the winter is no problem. Actually I got a ton of free GE bulbs thru rebates. They don’t offer that free stuff anymore, think they gave up?
LED’s are still too costly and inefficient, last I heard the R&D labs doubled the efficiency to 40%, but it wasn’t white light and it’s not in production.
Yes, the light is very white (with the right LED). Brilliance has been the issue, but it is improving.
If it were not for Air Conditioning, I could live comfortably “off the grid” where I live. With a combination of wind turbine and solar panels, it is child’s play to do that now. The hurdles are washing clothes, air conditioning, and power tools. You can cook, heat, and heat water with gas. I have had some thoughts of installing such a system and replacing a few appliances with versions that will run on 12-16 VDC. At this point it is simply not worth the effort, but it can be done.
If Cap & Trade were to pass, I might re-consider this. I already have 3 solar panels and permanent magnet wind generators are not expensive. Batteries are another issue.
Before REA came to rural Texas this is what my grandfather did. He had a wind generator and battery system for lights.
Permanent magnet wind generators (alternators) are very efficient now, unlike the old ones. And require very little maintenance.
Okay, many say LEDs are the “future”. So I googled them. One light - standard house lamp usage - is 30 bucks! Good grief!
http://store.earthled.com/products/earthled-cl-3
How is the heat treating you this summer? Stiffling isn't it.
OK, if you haven’t changed already then you are just ignorant. I save on average $40 a month on my electric bill since I switched. Granted, I have a tendency to leave too many lights on 24/7. But, if you can’t tell that there is a difference between using a 90 Watt incandescent and a 15 watt flourescent or a 5 watt LED then I feel sorry for you. Also, put your wall warts on power strips and turn them off when done, big savings there too.
I work for a wholesale hardware distribution company, and have been in that business since 1972.
We have a supplier that already makes some low output LED home lighting products. They are very common in night lights.
The larger ones are “in the mill”. The production for the company I am talking about is from off shore.
When I lived in NM (1972-1986), I had a friend who “lived off the grid”. He was an MD and worked 3 days a week in the ER. (Fri., Sat., Sun.) The rest of the week he spent on a mountaintop with no commercial power. He did his billing from a much modified PC (early 1980) powered off solar panels and a wind generator. He had an gasoline AC powerplant that he only operated when his wife did laundry. They used a wood stove for heat. He did not need air conditioning (possibly uncomfortable 3 wks per year), because of the altitude. He had not telephone, you could only reach him during the week by having one of the local Ham operators punch in a touch tone sequence on the local 2 meter repeater to turn his receiver audio on. There was an auto-patch on the repeater where he could make personal calls. He was what I described as one of my “semi-hippie dropout” friends. Great guy.
My wife would never adapt, but I could. As long as I had high speed internet.
Ebay has them cheaper but they come from China.
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
I have the same light in mine also they sure are tuff been about 4 years here also.
I have seen some bright headlights, but normally those blue ones are quartz light bulbs. Have seen some LED signal light bulbs. Turn signal or taillight.
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It has been cooler than normal this year. But the past 2 weeks have been pretty hot. Yesterday was 105%. Normal in Texas is pretty hot. But it is nice in the winter.
Our utilities are not that bad here. But the summer months electric bills are pretty high. My wife cannot stand the heat, but I am pretty heat tolerant.
130 volt bulbs, as opposed to 120 volts, will last for years and years. They cost more but boy do they last.
I am in Texas too Houston, and I don’t know what you mean by cooler than normal. We don’t ususlly have 100+ heat in June. This June has been unbearable. I am like your wife. I have been here 69 years, my whole life, and I am not accalmated to 100+ temperatures.
Not sure if you're pulling my light cord there. Never heard of 130V bulbs.
We’ve been between 14 and 16 degrees cooler than normal here in CT.
why do We The People continually allow 535 idjits to make expensive, silly rules....that the rest of us 300 million
are required to subsidize...?
I am a long way from Houston. In Haskell County, and it is much dryer here, that helps. We have had almost no rainfall this year, until recently.
I think the issue is comfort not heat. 100+ is not that hot depending on where you are. Now HOT, I spent 2 weeks once in Barstow, CA., straddling the 4th of July weekend and it was 116 degrees in the shade. HOT
This is being done essentially at the point of a gun.
Why some Freepers fall for the Leftists line is way beyond my comprehension.
The rain here has been mostly from I 10 north. We have a ranch about 50 miles south of Houston and we have had almost no rain there. My husbands pastures are burned up and he is hoping for a tropical storm for relief. 100+ with humidity is seriously uncomfortable heat, that’s what the “feels like” temps that the weather man talks about mean.
Where is Haskell County?
We have many things for which to thank the CONSERVATIVE Bush family—David Souter and curly lightbulbs among them. I have enough of the old style bulbs, including 3-ways, to last for 20 years. My cupboards are lined with them.
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