Free Republic

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may require decorative light bulbs to publish energy labels that provide consumers with information about a bulb's brightness, color, life, energy use, and estimated annual energy cost. The FTC announced Tuesday it is considering new rules that would require decorative and other specialty light bulbs to comply with the same energy labeling rule that other, more traditional light bulbs have been following since 2010. The Lighting Facts label can be found on general service light bulbs, such as incandescents, fluorescents, and LEDs. But, so far, decorative lights have been exempt from the labeling rule. This...

How would you view a man who's stockpiled a lifetime supply of old-fashioned lightbulbs because he believes low-energy bulbs could lead to blindness? You might well dismiss him as dotty. But the man in question, John Marshall, is no crank. In fact, he's one of Britain's most eminent eye experts, the professor of ophthalmology at the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology. So concerned is he that he has boxes stacked with old-fashioned incandescent lightbulbs at home. 'I bulk bought incandescent lightbulbs before the Government made it illegal to import them,' he says. 'I can't give you an exact number,...

In case you had any doubt about the efficacy of government, just consider the four year struggle to get solar panels on the White House, which has culminated in the breathless announcement that they will now generate the power to run all of six light bulbs. Here’s the pivotal sentence of the announcement: And while the energy produced by the White House panels may not be all too significant—they’ll generate an estimated 6.3 kilowatts worth of energy—the message it sends is. Oh good another “symbolic” achievement by Obama – he’s getting great at those! Not so much at actual achievements,...

Well, one of the 3 CFL bulbs in my kitchen ceiling fan light fixture has now burned out. The 2 still-functioning bulbs are candelabra-base dimmable CFL bulbs with the teardrop at the end. They lasted about a year or two. I am wondering if this burned out bulb is an opportunity for me to finally take the plunge into LED bulbs as a replacement. What experiences have FReepers had with candelabra-base omnidirectional LED bulbs with a 40W incandescent equivalence, in the 2700-3000K range (so it looks natural and not like the kitchen is under an interrogation light)? I heartily thank...

Average American conservatives, many of them self-associated with the Tea Party movement, are dancing a little jig, this time in warm light. In the negotiated draft of the recently passed omnibus spending bill, they got their beloved incandescent lights back. Many only realized after a Christmastime flurry of emails that the yellow bulbs were becoming illegal in 2014. In fact, the federal law which nearly made them extinct for home use has been on the books almost seven years.

Republicans won several energy and environment concessions in the $1.012 trillion fiscal 2014 spending bill House and Senate lawmakers unveiled late Monday, though attempts to handicap a slew of Environmental Protection Agency regulations did not make it into the final version. The package will maintain spending levels for a review of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site, end funding for the federal light bulb standard and soften policies that restrict public financing for construction of coal-fired power plants abroad. The overall deal would fund the government through Sept. 30, preventing another government shutdown. Since current funding expires Wednesday, lawmakers are...

Actually, just like Barack Obama’s promise regarding health insurance, this one’s not true either. As of Jan. 1 (Happy New Year, by the way!), the import or manufacture of 40-watt or 60-watt light bulbs is now forbidden in the United States. This follows the ban on 75-watt and 100-watt bulbs, which had already been implemented. I wish we could blame this on the current Administration, but actually this assault on our freedom of choice goes back to 2007, when Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act and it was signed into law by President George W. Bush. Yep, the...

Regardless of party affiliations, true conservatives have made the old fashioned light bulb—an unassuming household item—into a symbol for something much larger. But what, exactly? At the risk of sounding melodramatic, it has become symbolic of the fight between liberty and tyranny. The light bulb ban provides a useful window into the mindset of liberals. Here’s how they see the issue: energy-saving bulbs are better, therefore the others should be illegal. The pattern repeats itself in nearly every other realm: they determine the best policy, then impose it in a top down manner with no regard for states, localities, or...

“I am proud to sign this bill into law,” reverberated President Obama at a signing ceremony. “Border security has been a top priority of this administration, and we will never rest until our borders are secure. I never said that if you like your light bulb you could keep your light bulb, somebody else said that,” grinned the president in a good-natured joke at his expense. Looking over his shoulder at a small audience of citizens representing Democrats United for Limited Lighting (DULL), a young pregnant woman passed out, but was caught before falling to the floor.

No rules yet for recycling mercury-containing alternatives A federal ban on inefficient light bulbs goes into effect Jan. 1, 2014, almost seven years after it was announced with fanfare by a then-rookie Conservative government. But the tough regulations are being watered down, and there are no federal rules yet on recycling a class of bulbs that meet the new standard but contain toxic mercury.

January 1st, 60 watt and 40 watt incandescents become unavailable. As soon as I hit "post", I'm out the door to Home Depot!

If your New Year’s resolution is to change your light bulbs, don’t worry—the federal government’s here to help. Beginning January 1, 2014, the federal government will ban the use of 60-watt and 40-watt incandescent light bulbs. The light bulb has become a symbol in the fight for consumer freedom and against unnecessary governmental interference into the lives of the American people. 2007, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law an energy bill that placed stringent efficiency requirements on ordinary incandescent bulbs in an attempt to have them completely eliminated by 2014. The law phased out 100-watt and...

A modern day Edison has a bright idea: a way to keep the incandescent bulb burning brightly, despite a government law set to go into effect New Year’s Day that effectively outlaws the most commonly used lightbulbs. Most bulbs, that is. Not those made by lightbulb savior Larry Birnbaum. “When the government decided to ban incandescent lightbulbs, they left a loophole in the law. An opening,” Birnbaum told FoxNews.com. “What that was was rough service.”

Starting next year, it's lights out for certain types of light bulbs in the United States. You'll no longer be able to buy an incandescent light bulb starting January 1, 2014. Under the Energy Efficiency and Security Act of 2007, signed into law by then- President George W. Bush, light bulbs must become more efficient in terms of energy used for generated light. That means incandescent lights are phased out. And you'll reduced to choose between a compact fluorescent (CFL) or light emitting diode (LED) bulb. For example, instead of burning 60 watts when you turn on the lights, you...

DALLAS -- The parks and recreation department is warning residents near a south Dallas playground to be on the lookout for symptoms of mercury exposure after light bulbs were illegally dumped at the playground and a vacant lot across the street. Nearly 1,000 electrical and fluorescent light bulbs were found Thursday at the Peary Play Lot in the 2800 block of Peary Ave. near Malcolm X Boulevard.

Fluorescent Lamps contain and operate on exciting MERCURY VAPOR, which then causes the phosphorous on the glass to fluoresce, and thus the incorrect name given to these mercury vapor lamps Mercury is a well known highly toxic poison and one 4 foot T8 lamp contains about a MILLIONS of times the concentration of Mercury in air that is the maximum safe level. Mercury gas is much heavier than air and, it will thus remain near the ground level and will easily entrain itself into anything it touches , including carpets furniture and flooring. Mercury gas is odorless and colorless, and...

Texas Republican Michael Burgess just won another round in his fight against federal standards that could force consumers to abandon inefficient incandescent light bulbs for more expensive LED and fluorescent alternatives. The House voted Wednesday to adopt an amendment by Burgess that would bar the Energy Department from using any funds to implement efficiency standards for light bulbs, six years after Congress first mandated the change. The provision in a 2007 energy law was designed to encourage manufacturers to produce more energy efficient light bulbs; although it didn’t rule out traditional incandescents, they would need a redesign to qualify under...

(CNSNews.com) - As part of a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Collins Inc. of Clinton, Iowa has agreed to a “re-lamping” of its facility with low-mercury fixtures at a projected cost of $76,952. The re-lamping will be a greater expense than the civil penalty to be paid. “A re-lamping project involving the replacement of high-mercury fluorescent fixtures and bulbs with low-mercury fluorescent fixtures and bulbs at its facility with a projected eligible cost of $76,952.00,” The EPA settlement says. The “re-lamping” will cost more than the $31,379 administrative civil penalty paid by Collins Inc., a manufacturer of metal...

Legislate in haste ... repent at leisure. In their haste to rid Americans of the unconscionable plague of perfectly safe if somewhat inefficient incandescent lighting, politicians in Washington have forced us to adopt more expensive technology in its place. Compact flourescent lighting (CFLs) are already known to be a considerable disposal risk, thanks to the mercury used in them. A new study reported earlier this week by Miami's CBS affiliate warns of an operational risk as well ... ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancers and even acute burns (via Katie Pavlich): Every time you turn on the lights, you...

UNDATED (NBC) - As we say goodbye to 2012, we're also saying goodbye to a fixture in America's lighting fixtures: The 75-watt incandescent light bulb. Under federal law, 75-watt bulbs can no longer be produced or imported as of January 1st, though retailers can still clear remaining stock. **SNIP** Traditional 60 and 40 watt bulbs will be phased out in 2014.