The dimming of America.
The new energy bill that Congress passed and the President signed requires a phase-out of the incandescent bulb within the next four to twelve years in favor of “energy-efficient” compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL’s).
If the cfl doesn’t provide enough light perhaps this could be an accessory to help brighten things up in your household:
Michelle Malkin points out that the CFL has many problems:
These feel-good dim bulbs give you crappy lighting, don’t live up to their longevity promises, and are a pain in the neck to dispose of–but they sure make enviro-nitwits and Big Greenie water-carriers feel good about themselves.
What happened to keeping government out of our bedroom? And our bathroom? And our utility closets?
From The B&Mi:
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The Financial Post reported in April that a broken CFL bulb cost a Maine woman more than $2,000 to clean when the state Department of Environmental Protection referred her to a cleanup company. At $5 in energy savings per bulb per month (as Davidson reported), one broken bulb could eat up 33 years’ worth of savings! The federal EPA doesn’t recommend professional cleanup for a broken bulb. It recommends you open a window, leave the room for 15 minutes, then put on some rubber gloves, scoop up the broken bits and seal them in a plastic bag, then put that bag in another plastic bag before throwing it out. Then wash your hands. But don’t worry, Tree Hugger – which calls itself the “leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream” – says the bulbs aren’t dangerous despite those recommended measures.
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The dim “Gore bulb”….
Yes let’s make no attempt to conserve energy. Let’s continue our absolute dependence on foreign oil. The Republican party never used to be the party of Luddism but it is increasingly becoming so if this little piece of wisdom is any guide. I’m not sure what purpose it serves other than to make us look stupid and out of touch with reality. And btw I have both types of bulbs in my house. The new ones are just as bright as the old ones and have caused no deaths as far as I know.
John,
The correct answer is what you are doing in your own life…you have made a personal choice regarding the use of both bulbs, which is the practice of most people in this country. CFLs are great for some things and not for others, while the same can be said for regular lightbulbs. YOU, on your very own, got to decide which bulb works best for you without having to get advice from your congressman. The point is why do we need Congress to mandate the use of CFLs when more and more people are buying them on their own? Its not an anti-technology screed that conservatives have, it’s the loss of consumer choice and elimination of market forces in the issue. Taking it further, with a ban on incandecents, what incentive do manufactures have to improve the CFL, reduce the cost of a CFL or reduce the disposal problems regarding them? So what else would you like the Federal gov’t dictate with regard to your choices of products you want to use in your own home?
One more thing John….you cite “dependance on foreign oil” So am I to assume that you are for increased oil exploration within the United States to include ANWR and coastal areas? For expansion and modernization of nuclear power? Continued exploration of clean coal technology?
I’m in the lighting industry. Most people like incandescent light. (No wonder liberals hate it. They hate people unless they control them.)
California already has draconian laws about this. Here’s what happens in wealthy homes there: they construct the house using compact fluorescent, they get their C of O, they pass the inspection, and then, as fast as they can, they take out the compact fluorescent fixtures, and put in incandescent.
Here’s the dirty little secret of incandescent. It makes people look better. It has a nice pink fire-like glow. What woman will ever voluntarily use a light in her home that makes her look ugly? This is going to be just like prohibition. There will be an underground market in incandescent fixtures and bulbs.
The $2000 cleanup bill is a urban legend, as is most of the disposal tips :
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp
Well I’ll be.
We conservative country folk would never have a problem disposin of them CFLs. Hey…we’re upstream of most of you…
John,
I read the snopes link you posted. It quotes from a newspaper article regarding the incident. State agency DID tell the woman to get an environmental clean-up crew. Clean-up guys DID give an estimate in the thousands.
FWIW — State agency no longer reccommends clean-up crews.
However, the story is not an urban legend and did in fact happen.
It happened in the sense that she insisted on getting a estimate even after the state told her it was not needed, and she never had the work done. If my cat crapped on the rug, I could spend big bucks with a contractor too, but as in the case of the bulb, a little rug cleaner and a paper towel would work too , The point of the Urban Legend was to infer that it would cost you 2K if you broke a bulb, and that’s BS.
You know, this discussion just reminded me of a related issue. The bulb in question had a amount of mercury that would make a drop about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. As a kid, we use to play with a handful of the stuff, pass it hand to hand, and drop it on the floor. Now, if you drop a thermometer on the floor in school, they evacuate the school and call in a hazmat team. How did we get so overly cautious ?
Yeah, I feel so deprived. . .I can’t sit around and enjoy the rosy glow of my old whale-oil lamp. . .damned environmentalists.
Why are we blaming liberals for this? Who signed the bill? A conservative.
Now as to the benefits of CFLs and other flouresence. Doesn’t anyone remember the studies about flourescent lights causing head aches, eyestrain…. Incandescent lights are simple they use less energy to manufacture and could be easily recycled if we used our heads.
No-one is looking longterm as usual. Just like biofuel.. How many trees will get cut down to grow the vegatation to make it? It is already affecting food prices.
Liberals, Conservatives how did you ever get into politics with out a brain? Tired of these knee jerk, stop gap bandwagons that cause more issues than they are supposed to address.